Richard Catling
British colonial police officer (1912–2005)
Sir Richard Charles Catling CMG, OBE, KPM (22 August 1912 – 22 March 2005) was a British police officer who rose to the rank of Commissioner of Police in Kenya from 1954 to 1963.
Catling was previously an officer with the Palestine Police from 1935 until the British pulled out of the country in 1948, rising to the rank of assistant inspector-general of the CID in Jerusalem. After that, he went on to play a role in countering insurgencies in Malaya and Kenya.
Early life
Catling was born in Suffolk into a family of butchers and farmers. He attended grammar school in Bungay, then joined a London textile company. Finding his job dull, he was on his way home by train one day in 1935, when he spotted an old friend standing on a station platform. His friend pointed out a poster calling for volunteers to join the Palestine Police. Catling crossed the platform and volunteered.
Career
Palestine
Catling joined the political branch of the CID in Jerusalem in 1936 and rose to the rank of assistant inspector-general CID in 1945, was awarded the Kings Police Medal, and held his post until the British withdrawal in 1948.
Malaysia
He then joined the Malay Police, helping deal with the Communist insurgency and being awarded the OBE in 1951.
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This entry incorporates text from “Richard Catling” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.