Police Awards From the Collection of John Tamplin

A fine O.B.E., K.P.M., I.P.M. group of seven awarded to Mr Cyril Weale, Assistant Inspector-General of Police in Bengal

The Order of the British Empire, O.B.E. (Civil) 2nd type; King’s Police Medal, G.VI.R., 1st issue (C. Weale, Indian Police, Bengal); British War and Victory Medals (54173 C. Weale, President V S.B.711) both renamed; Indian Police Medal, G.VI.R., 1st issue, For Distinguished Conduct (C. Weale, O.B.E., I.P., Dy. Commr. of Police, Calcutta); Jubilee 1935; Coronation 1937, very fine or better (7) £350-400

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Police Awards From the Collection of John Tamplin.

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O.B.E. London Gazette 1 January 1942: Deputy Commissioner of Police, Calcutta.

K.P.M. London Gazette 1 January 1938. The recommendation states: ‘As Superintendent of Police, Midnapore, he succeeded in breaking up the terrorist parties in that district.’

I.P.M. (awarded for gallantry) Gazette of India 19 June 1943: ‘On the afternoon of the 4th January 1943, Mr Weale and Sergeants Burr and Bullock went to the Alipore Aerodrome on receipt of information that an Indian Sepoy had run amok, had shot and killed another soldier and was sheltering at the top of a stairway with a rifle and ammunition at his disposal. On arrival they found that a second soldier had been shot at and injured by the maniac, who was found to be at the head of a staircase above the Guard Room and in a position which enabled him to fire at anyone approaching the staircase and also to command the front approach to the house through two windows in a small room at the staircase top.

‘On the instructions of Mr Weale, Sergeant Bullock fired four Tear Smoke shells up the staircase from the ground floor verandah, while Sergeant Burr covered him with a revolver. A considerable concentration of Tear Smoke was set up, but when the two Sergeants and another Sepoy went towards the staircase, the maniac fired at them twice, but fortunately missed them. It was subsequently discovered that he was using a respirator. Sergeant Bullock thereupon threw some Smoke Tear grenades up the staircase and over the roof of the house, and for the second time attempted to reach the staircase while Sergeant Burr covered him with a rifle. Two more shots from the maniac, however, rendered this attempt unsuccessful.

‘Sergeant Burr was then ordered to remain covering the staircase, while Mr Weale and Sergeant Bullock made their way through some light bamboo jungle up to a distance of about 30 yards from the front of the house. During this advance the two officers were exposed to the fire of the maniac through the windows referred to above, but were not actually fired on. From the position then reached Sergeant Bullock fired four more Tear Smoke shells at the windows, but these did not succeed in dislodging the Sepoy. Rifles were then borrowed, and Mr Weale fired three rounds and Sergeant Bullock four rounds through these windows. This attack diverted the maniac’s attention to the party at the front of the house, and while shifting his position to fire at them, he exposed himself to the fire of Sergeant Burr, who was guarding the staircase. Sergeant Burr fired two rounds, shortly after which the maniac fell down the stairs and was found to be dead.

‘In carrying out this difficult and dangerous operation these three officers displayed conspicuous gallantry and disregard of personal risk, in the face of a well-armed madman who was firing at them from excellent cover.’

Cyril Weale was born on 12 February 1900. After service during the Great War, he joined the Indian Police on 29 November 1921 as an Assistant Superintendent in Bengal. In 1924 he was posted to the Intelligence Department as Special Assistant and appointed as Additional Superintendent of Police at Dacca in March 1926, and in 1930 as Special Superintendent, Intelligence Branch. As Superintendent of Police at Midnapore he succeeded in breaking up the ramifications of the terrorist parties in that district.

In June 1933 he was appointed Principal of the Police Training College at Sardah, and was again appointed Principal of that College in January 1935. He was promoted an Assistant Inspector-General of Police in October 1936, and Deputy Commissioner of Police, at Calcutta, in May 1940. It was in this capacity that Weale was awarded the Indian Police Medal for gallantry in an encounter with an armed maniac. He left the Indian Police in 1947, and then worked in Calcutta with the firm of Messrs. Jardine Matheson & Co. Ltd., until 1957. Returning to England, he then worked as a Security Officer with the Foreign Office for about two years. Weale was an active member of the Indian Police Association, as Secretary in 1938, and Editor of The Bulletin until 1940. In 1944 he was Secretary of the Bengal Branch. He died in London on 27 July 1967, aged 67. Sold with comprehensive research including 13 original Bulletins of the Indian Police Association, 1938-46.