Sir Robert Edward Graham Shillington CBE (2 April 1911 – 14 August 2001) was a senior Northern Irish police officer. He served as Chief Constable of

Royal Ulster Constabulary The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) was the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2001. It was founded on 1 June 1922 as a successor to the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) Richard Doherty, ''The Thin Green Line – The History of the Roy ...

from 1970 to 1973.

Early life

Shillington was born on 2 April 1911 in Portadown, Ireland. He was the youngest of six children born to Major David Graham Shillington, who went on to become a Member of the

Parliament of Northern Ireland The Parliament of Northern Ireland was the home rule legislature of Northern Ireland, created under the Government of Ireland Act 1920, which sat from 7 June 1921 to 30 March 1972, when it was suspended because of its inability to restore o ...

. He was educated at Castle Park School, a

prep school Preparatory school or prep school may refer to: Schools *Preparatory school (United Kingdom), an independent school preparing children aged 8–13 for entry into fee-charging independent schools, usually public schools *College-preparatory school, ...

in Dublin, Ireland, and Sedbergh School a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichk ...

boarding school in Yorkshire, England. He then attended Clare College,

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

where he studied

natural sciences Natural science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer review and repeat ...

. He graduated

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

(BA) in 1932.

Police career

Shillington had originally planned to join the

Civil Service The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

, however he wanted a more varied career. He joined the

on 8 February 1933 as a cadet officer. He completed his training at the Newtownards depot in County Down. He was promoted to district inspector in 1935, and served as officer in charge of D District in Belfast. In 1944, he was promoted to 1st Class District Inspector and was posted to

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. Th ...

. In 1953, after nine years in Derry, he was promoted to County Inspector and returned to Belfast. There, he joined the Inspector General's Headquarters and served in an administrative post. On 16 January 1961, he was appointed Commissioner of Belfast City.

Honours and decorations

In the 1952

New Year Honours The New Year Honours is a part of the British honours system, with New Year's Day, 1 January, being marked by naming new members of orders of chivalry and recipients of other official honours. A number of other Commonwealth realms also mark th ...

, Shillington was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(MBE). He was promoted to Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1959 Queen's Birthday Honours. He was knighted in the 1972 Queen's Birthday Honours List.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shillington, Graham 1911 births 2001 deaths Knights Bachelor category:Chief Constables of the Royal Ulster Constabulary People from Portadown People educated at Sedbergh School Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Police officers from County Armagh