Sir Charles Carter Chitham CIE JP (13 September 1886 – 25 September 1972) was a British policeman who served most of his career in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

Early life

Chitham was born in

Market Bosworth Market Bosworth ( ) is a market town and civil parish in Leicestershire, England. At the 2001 Census, it had a population of 1,906, increasing to 2,097 at the 2011 census. It is most famously near to the site of the decisive final battle of the ...

, Leicestershire, the son of Samuel Chitham by his marriage in 1877 at

Longthorpe Longthorpe is an area of the city of Peterborough, in the ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire, England. Located west from the city centre, the area covers . For electoral purposes it forms part of Peterborough West ward. A 1st century Roman fo ...

to Elizabeth Hannah Carter, the eldest daughter of George Carter, of Milton. Carter, who died in 1889, was huntsman to the Fitzwilliam Hunt. Chitham had two older sisters, Isabel (1878–1963) and Clara (1880–1962). By 1887 Samuel Chitham was the school attendance officer for Bosworth, and in 1907 and 1911 he was vaccination officer in

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population was 106,940. Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire and seat of the Borough of Bedford local government district. Bedford was founded at a ford (crossin ...

. Chitham was educated at

Bedford School Bedford School is a 7–18 Single-sex education, boys Public school (United Kingdom), public school in the county town of Bedford in England. Founded in 1552, it is the oldest of four independent schools in Bedford run by the Harpur Trust. Bed ...

.''Kelly's Handbook to the Titled, Landed and Official Classes'', Volume 95 (1969), p. 454

Career

In 1906 Chitham joined the Indian Police,CHITHAM, Sir Charles Carter
, in ''

Who Was Who ''Who's Who'' is a reference work. It has been published annually in the form of a hardback book since 1849, and has been published online since 1999. It has also been published on CD-ROM. It lists, and gives information on, people from around ...

'' (A & C Black, 1920–2016); online edition at ukwhoswho.com by Oxford University Press, 2014 (subscription site). Retrieved 19 July 2016 and by December 1912 he was an Officer of the

Central Provinces The Central Provinces was a province of British India. It comprised British conquests from the Mughals and Marathas in central India, and covered parts of present-day Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra states. Nagpur was the primary ...

Police at

Nagpur Nagpur (; ISO 15919, ISO: ''Nāgapura'') is the second capital and third-largest city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is called the heart of India because of its central geographical location. It is the largest and most populated city i ...

. By 1915 he was an Assistant Superintendent of Police in the Central Provinces, and in April 1915 was posted to

Port Blair Port Blair (), officially named Sri Vijaya Puram, is the capital city of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a union territory of India in the Bay of Bengal. It is also the local administrative sub-division (''tehsil'') of the islands, the headqu ...

as 3rd Assistant Superintendent in the Andaman and Nicobar Police. In 1926 Chitham was promoted from District Police Superintendent to Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Crime, and Railways, in the Central Provinces. In 1931 he was appointed as Inspector-General of Police for the Central Provinces, was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

in 1936, and was Federal Public Service Commissioner at Delhi in 1937 and 1939. Returning to Britain, he served as Acting Inspector of Constabulary for the South West Region of England from 1940 to 1945. Chitham's mother died at home, 89, Beverley Crescent, Bedford, in March 1931, and his father, Samuel Chitham, died there in May 1932. In England Chitham settled at the Old Rectory, Great Cheverell, Wiltshire, a house he and his uncle Frank L. Carter had bought about 1939. In 1945 he became a Justice of the Peace and was also elected to

Wiltshire County Council Wiltshire Council, known between 1889 and 2009 as Wiltshire County Council, is the local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Wiltshire in South West England, and has its headquarters at County Hall in Trowbridge. Since 2009 it has bee ...

and appointed as a governor of

Dauntsey's School Dauntsey's School is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (Private schools in the United Kingdom, fee-charging boarding school, boarding and day school) for pupils aged 11–18 in the village of West Lavington, Wiltshire, England. T ...

. On 6 July 1961, as chairman of the Wiltshire Standing Committee, he laid the foundation stone of the new

Wiltshire Police Wiltshire Police, formerly known as Wiltshire Constabulary, is the territorial police force responsible for policing the county of Wiltshire (including the Borough of Swindon) in South West England. The force serves 722,000 people over an area ...

headquarters at

Devizes Devizes () is a market town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. It developed around Devizes Castle, an 11th-century Norman architecture, Norman castle, and received a charter in 1141. The castle was besieged during the Anarchy, a 12th-cent ...

. Chitham's older sister, Isabel, died unmarried while living with him in Wiltshire in 1963. Chitham died in 1972. A small housing development at Great Cheverell is named "Chitham Close" in his memory.

Honours

King's Police Medal The King's Police Medal (KPM) is awarded to police in the United Kingdom for gallantry or distinguished service. It was also formerly awarded within the wider British Empire, including Commonwealth countries, most of which now have their own hono ...

(KPM), 1931 * Companion of the

Order of the Indian Empire The Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire is an order of chivalry founded by Queen Victoria on 1 January 1878. The Order includes members of three classes: #Knight Grand Commander (:Knights Grand Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire, ...

(CIE), 1934 *

Knight Bachelor The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised Order of chivalry, orders of chivalry; it is a part of the Orders, decorations, and medals ...

(Kt), New Year Honours, 1936, investiture by

Viceroy of India The governor-general of India (1833 to 1950, from 1858 to 1947 the viceroy and governor-general of India, commonly shortened to viceroy of India) was the representative of the monarch of the United Kingdom in their capacity as the Emperor of ...

16 April 1937''The London Gazette'' dated 20 April 1937
p. 2549
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Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chitham, Charles Carter 1886 births 1972 deaths Companions of the Order of the Indian Empire Knights Bachelor Members of Wiltshire County Council People educated at Bedford School English justices of the peace Colonial recipients of the Queen's Police Medal Inspectors of Constabulary British people in colonial India