British South Africa Police

In Memoriam: Jack Bond 4567

by | 21-Jan-2026 | in_memoriam

Bond, Jack Edwin, aged 94 (4567; Inspector; served from 6-Feb-1950 to 14-Dec-1964; member of the United Kingdom Regimental Association) passed away 21 January 2026 at Crowborough, Sussex, England

Notice from Hon. Sec United Kingdom
4567 Jack Edwin Bond passed away on 21 January 2026 at Heatherview Care Home, Crowborough, Sussex, England. Jack attested in the BSA Police in June 1950 and was discharged in December 1964 with the rank of Inspector. His father was 2101 William V. Bond , a former Detective Inspector. Jack was a staunch member of the British South Africa Police Regimental Association UK and as a member of the Alfriston and Cuckmere Valley Historical Association, did a great deal of research into the life of Brigadier General William Bodle who, as a Lt. Col., was the first Commissioner from 1903 TO 1909, of the amalgamated BSAP Matabeleland and Mashonaland Divisions.

In Memoriam: Robert Harper 5068

by | 1-Jan-2026 | in_memoriam

Harper, Robert Michael Anslow ‘Mike'(5068;  rank; served from 7-Jun-1953 to 31-Dec-1957) passed away 1 January 2026 at Wadhurst, East Sussex, England

Notice from Hon. Sec United Kingdom
5068 Robert Michael (Mike) Anslow Harper passed away on 01 January 2026 in Wadhurst, East Sussex. Mike attested in the BSA Police in June 1953 and was discharged in December 1957 with the rank of Constable. Later he was also a member of the Nyasaland Police and Royal Hong Kong Police. He was not a member of the British South Africa Police Regimental Association.

Notable Person Profile

by | 30-Dec-2025 | Uncategorized

James Kincaid 'Jimmy' Blatherwick

(1869-1918)

Biography

 

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Blatherwick, James Kincaid ‘Jimmy’ (1869-1918)

Blatherwick, James Kincaid ‘Jimmy’ (1869-1918)

by | 28-Dec-2025 | sergeantmajors

Regimental Sergeant Major – 1897 to June 1917

James “Jimmy” Blatherwick (Force No. 20) was born on 2 January 1869 in Cape Town, South Africa. He began his uniformed career in 1890 with the Bechuanaland Border Police, one of the frontier forces tasked with maintaining order across Britain’s expanding southern African territories. In 1896 he transferred to the British South Africa Police and, the following year, was appointed Regimental Sergeant Major—a role he would hold with distinction for nearly two decades.
Blatherwick first entered Rhodesia with the Matabeleland Relief Force during the Second Matabele War, serving in the campaign to suppress the uprising. His long service placed him at the centre of several formative conflicts, including both the Matabele rebellions and the Second Boer War, where the BSAP provided mounted infantry and border security. In 1911 he was selected for the BSAP contingent sent to London to represent the force at the Coronation of King George V, a mark of his standing within the regiment.
Promoted to Inspector in 1913, he later received a wartime military commission in February 1917, rising from Lieutenant to Captain and taking command of the Depot. Blatherwick died in Salisbury on 26 November 1918 during the influenza pandemic, shortly after the death of his wife. A memorial to him was erected at Morris Depot in 1921.

The Blatherwick Memorial: Morris Depot

A familiar and quietly imposing sight to generations of Morris Depot recruits from 1921 onwards was the Blatherwick Memorial, positioned on the northern edge of the Green Square where daily parades, inspections, and passing‑out ceremonies took place. The memorial was erected in honour of Regimental Sergeant Major George Blatherwick, one of the most respected early figures of the BSA Police, whose long service and uncompromising standards left a deep imprint on the character of the Force. His death in 1920 was felt keenly across the organisation, prompting senior officers and former colleagues to commission a permanent tribute at the Depot he had helped shape.
At the unveiling ceremony, Major General Sir Alfred H. M. Edwards, KBE, CB, MVO, the Commandant‑General of the BSA Police, paid a moving tribute to Blatherwick’s life and service. “Rhodesia has lost a true soldier, a fine character, and the Government a loyal servant… His loss to the Corps, which he loved, and for which he had done so much, is irreparable; the memory of him will, however, remain, and his example might well be accepted as the ideal to which all ranks should strive to attain.” Edwards went on to emphasise that Blatherwick had embodied the newly adopted regimental motto, Pro rege, pro lege, pro patria, the words now inscribed at the foot of the memorial tablet and long regarded as a reminder of the standards expected of every recruit who passed through the Depot.

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Graham, Malcolm David

Graham, Malcolm David

by | 27-Dec-2025 | commissioners pre

Lt. Colonel

1 March 1890 to 1892
CB; CMG; CVO (1855-1941)

Malcolm David Graham CB; CMG; CVO (1865–1941) was born on 14 July 1865 in Grahamstown, Cape Province, and educated at Haileybury College before proceeding to Sandhurst. Commissioned into the British Army in 1885, he joined the Northamptonshire Regiment and soon found himself drawn into the expanding world of southern African frontier administration. His association with the British South Africa Company Police, though brief, was formative. He first appears during the tensions with the Portuguese at Mutasa’s kraal, and was subsequently appointed Adjutant of the Company Police in Fort Salisbury. When the original quasi‑military police force was disbanded in December 1891, Graham assumed command of the newly constituted and much reduced civilian body as Inspector‑General of Police, effectively becoming one of the earliest professional heads of policing in the territory.
Returning to imperial service, Graham continued a distinguished military and administrative career. He later served with the Royal Berkshire Regiment, rose to senior staff appointments, and became Secretary at the War Office. During the First World War he saw active service and was appointed Aide‑de‑Camp to the King, reflecting his standing within the upper tiers of the British military establishment. His honours included the CB (1915), CMG (1918), and CVO (1919). He died in Durban on 16 November 1941.

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