Oriel Duke

Oriel St. Arnaud Duke , known as Konks (* 22. June 1896 in Montserrat , † 5. May 1976 in Redhill ) was a British colonel and a police officer , in his last use of police chief (Police Commissioner) of Barbados .

Life

Oriel Duke was the second child of the Irish doctor Mansergh Pace Duke (1851-1919) and his second wife Emily, née Wilkin (1869-1932), whom he married in 1893 after the death of his first wife Louisa Anna Buckley († 1890).

At the age of 16, Oriel Duke entered the public service in St. Kitts and Nevis . During the First World War he volunteered in the British West India Regiment and then served in the 10th Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers , most recently in the rank of sergeant .

In 1919 he went to Trinidad and Tobago . In the early 1920s he entered the colonial police service. In the 1930s he served as Inspector of Police ( Police Inspector ) of the Leeward Iceland Police Force (now Royal Virgin Islands Police Force ) in Dominica . In 1939 he was appointed police chief of the Royal Barbados Police Force (RBPF). He remained in this position until his retirement in 1949.

After his retirement he worked at Harrison's Bridgetowner department store until 1955 . He then lived in the retirement homes St. Anne's Court and Stafford House, both in the historic Barbadian district of St. Ann's Garrison, which was known as "The Garrison". He traveled to England in April 1976 for hip surgery, where he died of old age in East Surrey Hospital in Redhill. His urn was buried in Putney Vale Cemetery .

Awards

• 1917: Military Medal
• 1918: Military Medal and Bar
• 1932: Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE)
• 1935: King George V Silver Jubilee Medal
• 1937: King George VI Coronation Medal

Individual evidence

1. ↑ David O'Carroll : Colonel Oriel Duke MM MBE 1896–1976 (PDF file), November 18, 2013.