Philip Norton Banks

{{Short description|British colonial Inspector-General of Police in Ceylon (Sri Lanka)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2016}}

{{Use British English|date=May 2016}}

{{Infobox officeholder

|honorific-prefix =

|name = Philip Norton Banks

|honorific-suffix = KPM, CSE

|image =

|imagesize =

|smallimage =

|caption =

|order = 9th

|office = Inspector General of Police (Sri Lanka)

|term_start = 1937

|term_end = 1942

|predecessor = Herbert Dowbiggin

|successor = Gordon Halland

|deputy =

|office2 = Commissioner Ethiopian Imperial Police

|term_start2 = 1942

|term_end2 = 1956

|predecessor2 = Laid Low

|successor2 = Tsige Dibu

|birthname =

|birth_date = 1889

|birth_place = Kensington, England

|death_date = 2 April 1964 England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966, 1973-1995

|death_place =Colchester, Essex

|restingplace =

|restingplacecoordinates =

|profession = Police officer

}}

Philip Norton Banks KPM, CSE (1889 – 2 April 1964) was the ninth British colonial Inspector-General of Police in Ceylon (Sri Lanka).

Banks was educated at The New BeaconThe New Beacon, Sevenoaks - Archive and Bradfield College and entered the Ceylon Police in 1909 and advanced to the position of Assistant Superintendent in 1912 and then to Superintendent in 1917. Following the outbreak of World War I he returned to the UK, was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 1st Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps and saw active service on the Western Front in France and Flanders.

In 1919 following the end of the war he returned to his previous employ in Ceylon, after serving in the 5th (Reserve) Battalion of the King's Royal Rifle Corps,{{cite news|url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/31723/supplement/318|newspaper=London Gazette|title=Special Reserve of Officers|page=318|date=6 January 1920|accessdate=8 May 2016}} Banks was promoted to Superintendent of Police (Grade 1) in 1924 and to Deputy Inspector-General in the Criminal Investigation Department in March 1932. Banks was appointed Inspector-General of Police in 1937, after earlier in the year being presented with the King's Police Medal{{cite news|url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/Edinburgh/issue/15359/page/116/data.pdf|newspaper=Edinburgh Gazette|title=Colonies, Protectorates and Mandated Territories|date=5 February 1937|accessdate=8 May 2016}} by the Governor of Ceylon Sir Reginald Stubbs in a special ceremony held at Queen’s House, Colombo. The same year also saw Banks’ involvement in the proposed deportation of Mark Anthony Bracegirdle, an Anglo-Australian Marxist activist,{{cite news|url=http://archives.dailynews.lk/2011/04/30/fea03.asp|newspaper=Daily News|title=Sri Lanka's Independence and the Bracegirdle incident|first=Vinod|last=Moonesinghe|date=30 April 2011|accessdate=8 May 2016}} investigated by a Commission of Inquiry.{{cite book|title=J. R. Jayewardene of Sri Lanka : A Political Biography |author1=De Silva, K. M|author2=Wriggins, Howard|publisher=University of Hawaii|date=1994|pages=95–96|isbn=0-8248-1183-6}}{{cite journal|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1938/nov/23/inspector-general-of-police|title=Parliamentary Debates - Inspector-General of Police|work=Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)|date=23 November 1938|volume=341|accessdate=8 May 2016}} As a result of this much publicised case the Foreign Office transferred him to Ethiopia in 1942, as Commissioner of Police,{{cite book|url=https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:279293/FULLTEXT01.pdf|title=Swedes in Haile Selassie's Ethiopia, 1924-1952|author=Norberg, Viveca Halldin|publisher=University of Uppsala|date=1977 |page=81|isbn=91-554-0621-1}} where he was responsible for re-establishing the Ethiopian police force.{{cite book|title=Britain in Ethiopia: Centenary of the British Diplomatic Presence in Addis Ababa|author=Pankhurst, Richard|publisher=Foreign and Commonwealth Office|date=1996|page=14}} In July 1949 Banks was awarded the Officer of the Order of the Star of Ethiopia by the Emperor of Ethiopia Haile Selassie.{{cite news|url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/38741/page/5017/data.pdf|newspaper=London Gazette|date=21 October 1949|title=Whitehall|accessdate=7 May 2016}} In September 1956 Banks retired and was replaced by General Tsige Dibu.{{cite book|url=http://www.slideshare.net/NebiyuHailemichael/ba-thesis-44205293|title=Life in Twentieth-Century Ethiopia - Autobiographical Narrative of Brigadier General Mebrahtu Fesseha|author=Hailemichael, Nebiyu|date=August 2007|publisher=Addis Ababa University|page=22}} In July 1959 he was awarded the Commander of the Star of Ethiopia.{{cite news|url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/41828/page/6051/data.pdf|newspaper=London Gazette|date=25 September 1959|title=Whitehall|accessdate=23 September 2016}}