Walter Edgeworth-Johnstone
{{Short description|Irish boxer and police commissioner}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{use Hiberno-English|date=September 2022}}
{{Infobox sportsperson
| name = Walter Edgeworth-Johnstone
| full_name =
| image = File:Edgeworth Johnstone Vanity Fair 9 July 1896.jpg
| caption = {{center|"Hard Hitter"
Edgeworth-Johnstone as caricatured by Spy (Leslie Ward) in Vanity Fair, July 1896}}
| nationality = Irish
| sport = boxing
| birth_date = {{birth date|1863|6|24|df=y}}
| birth_place = Kingstown, County Dublin, Ireland
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1936|1|4|1863|6|24|df=y}}
| death_place =
}}
Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Walter Edgeworth-Johnstone {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|KBE|CB}} (24 June 1863 – 4 January 1936) was an Irish sportsman and police official who held the Amateur Boxing Association of England 1895 and 1896 heavyweight titles. He was chief commissioner of the Dublin Metropolitan Police from 1915 to 1923.{{cite book |author=Bernard Shaw and Dan H. Laurence |title=Collected Letters |year=1995 |publisher=Bodley Head |quote=Walter Edgeworth-Johnstone (d. 1936) was Chief Commissioner of the Dublin Metropolitan Police 1915-23. ...
| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cF08AAAAIAAJ&q=walter+Edgeworth+Johnstone+dies |isbn= 9780370302034}}
Life
He was born Walter Johnston in 1863 in Kingstown (now Dún Laoghaire), County Dublin, Ireland.[http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai000911256/ 1901 census] He later changed his name by deed poll to Edgeworth-Johnstone. In 1895 and 1896 he was Amateur Boxing Association of England heavyweight champion. He was also an excellent footballer and cricket player, and won numerous titles in fencing,{{cite news |title= Lieut.-Colonel Sir W. E.-Johnstone |work=The Times |page= 16 |date=6 January 1936 }} including the sabre title at the 1898 and 1900 British Fencing Championships.{{cite web|url=https://www.britishfencing.com/uploads/files/british_champions.pdf |title=British Champions |website=British Fencing |access-date=8 October 2022}}
He was commissioned a lieutenant in the Royal Irish Regiment on 25 August 1886, and promoted to captain on 5 April 1893. In February 1900 he was appointed to act temporarily as assistant inspector of gymnasia at Aldershot.{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Naval & Military intelligence|date=3 February 1900 |page=14 |issue=36056}}{{London Gazette|issue=27167|page=1173| date=20 February 1900}} He transferred to the Curragh Camp where he was superintendent of gymnasia from 5 February 1901 to 30 September 1902.{{London Gazette|issue=27488|page=6807| date=28 October 1902}}
Edgeworth-Johnstone was chief commissioner of the Dublin Metropolitan Police from 1915 to 1923. The unarmed Dublin Metropolitan Police stayed largely neutral during the Irish War of Independence.
=Honours=
Edgeworth-Johnstone was named a companion of the Order of the Bath in the 1918 New Year Honours. He was invested as a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1924, and promoted to lieutenant-colonel.
=Personal life=
In 1897, Edgeworth-Johnstone married Helen Gunning Walker Waters. They had two sons and two daughters. One of his sons was Robert Edgeworth-Johnstone, a chemical engineer. Walter Edgeworth-Johnstone died 4 January 1936 in Regent's Park Terrace, London.
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp56902/sir-walter-edgeworth-johnstone Walter Edgeworth-Johnstone] at the National Portrait Gallery
- [http://www.garda.ie/Documents/User/Arms,%20the%20Dublin%20Police%20&%20the%201916%20Rising%20sm.pdf Paper on the role of Edgeworth-Johnstone during the 1916 rising] by Gregory Allen (Sep 1977)
- [http://cricketeurope4.net/CSTATZ/irelandall/bio/j/johnston_we.html Profile at CricketEurope]
- {{cite TIWW |article=Edgeworthe-Johnstone, Lt.-Col. Walter |page=72 }}
- {{ESPNscrum|691}}
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{{succession box | title=Chief Commissioner of the Dublin Metropolitan Police | years=1915–1923 | before= | after=W. R. E. Murphy}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Edgeworth-Johnstone, Walter}}
Category:People from Dún Laoghaire
Category:Sportspeople from Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown
Category:England Boxing champions
Category:Chief Commissioners of the Dublin Metropolitan Police
Category:Companions of the Order of the Bath
Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Category:Royal Irish Regiment (1684–1922) officers
Category:Boxers from County Dublin
Category:Military personnel from County Dublin
Category:Police officers from County Dublin