Captain William Stratton Prince (18 April 1824 – 15 November 1881) was a

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

officer, Chief Constable of Toronto (1859–1873) and the first

warden A warden is a custodian, defender, or guardian. Warden is often used in the sense of a watchman or guardian, as in a prison warden. It can also refer to a chief or head official, as in the Warden of the Mint. ''Warden'' is etymologically ident ...

of the

Toronto Central Prison The Toronto Central Prison, also known as the Central Prison, Central Prison for Men, and more colloquially as The Toronto Jail (the third of four Toronto area jails to be given that nickname) was a prison in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was a 33 ...

(1873-1881). As chief, Prince oversaw the militarization of the Toronto police. Prince was born in

Cheltenham Cheltenham () is a historic spa town and borough adjacent to the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort following the discovery of mineral springs in 1716, and claims to be the mo ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

, the son of Colonel John Prince, and his wife, Mary Ann Millington. His father was an English barrister who emigrated to Canada in 1833 and became a member of the legislative assembly, a colonel in the militia, businessman and ultimately a judge. William Prince enlisted in the British Army in 1837 and rose to the rank of

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

. He fought in the

Crimean War The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...

in 1854, returned to Canada in 1856 and was appointed Chief Constable of the Toronto Police Department in 1859. Prince's predecessor, Samuel Sherwood, was fired along with the entire police force as the result of lack of discipline, corruption and rioting. Half of the police force was re-hired, most of them younger recruits. Under Prince, the police were organized under military discipline to the extent that unmarried constables were required to be housed in special

barracks Barracks are buildings used to accommodate military personnel and quasi-military personnel such as police. The English word originates from the 17th century via French and Italian from an old Spanish word 'soldier's tent', but today barracks ar ...

and needed approval to marry. In 1872, Prince introduced a timed beat system in which officers were to follow minute by minute schedules when walking their beat. The police force of 60 threatened to go on strike and were fired as a result. When officers asked for their jobs back, 18 were refused. Police were required to participate in drills three times a week but were also required to be moderate in their use of force in contrast to abuses that had occurred previously. Prince resigned as chief constable in 1873 in order to become the first warden of the new Toronto Central Prison at King and Strachan Streets. Imposing military discipline, the prison became known for its brutality with stories of prisoners being beaten to death and buried on the prison grounds. In 1880, Prince ordered that an American prisoner be

flogged Flagellation (Latin , 'whip'), flogging or whipping is the act of beating the human body with special implements such as whips, rods, switches, the cat o' nine tails, the sjambok, the knout, etc. Typically, flogging has been imposed on a ...

nearly to death. The American embassy in Ottawa complained and the

Attorney-General of Ontario The attorney general of Ontario is the Attorney general, chief legal adviser to Monarchy in Ontario, His Majesty the King in Right of Ontario and, by extension, the Government of Ontario. The attorney general is a senior member of the Executi ...

ordered, in 1881, that the brutality stop and that flogging not occur without his permission. Prince resigned the same month and took a position as registrar of Wellington County. He died in 1882 of

apoplexy Apoplexy () refers to the rupture of an internal organ and the associated symptoms. Informally or metaphorically, the term ''apoplexy'' is associated with being furious, especially as "apoplectic". Historically, it described what is now known as a ...

caused by

alcoholism Alcoholism is the continued drinking of alcohol despite it causing problems. Some definitions require evidence of dependence and withdrawal. Problematic use of alcohol has been mentioned in the earliest historical records. The World He ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Prince, William Stratton 1824 births 1881 deaths 19th-century police officers People from Cheltenham British Army personnel of the Crimean War English emigrants to pre-Confederation Canada Toronto police chiefs Canadian prison officials