Barbara Denis de Vitré

Barbara Denis de Vitré OBE (6 November 1905 – 8 August 1960) was a British police officer who rose to be the highest ranking in Britain as women became accepted members of the British police.

Life De Vitré was born at Eling Farm, Hampstead Norreys, Berkshire in 1905, youngest daughter of George Theodosius Denis de Vitré (1861/2-1932), an estate manager, and Harriet Isabel (1866-1955), née Beeching. Her parents paid for her to attend a boarding school and she then moved on to the University of Manchester. Her career was chosen when she began a six-week course under Mary Allen's Women Auxiliary Service. Allen was a controversial figure as she had been a militant suffragette and she went on to be a leading fascist. This was helpful to her career as that constabulary had a more enthusiastic attitude to women in the force and she impressed the chief constable, Percy Sillitoe. When she arrived she had two policewomen and the following year there were nearly 150.

The following year she was promoted into a national role in Her Majesty's Inspectorate. She became the most senior ranking woman police officer in Britain as she took a leading role in seeing a massive growth in the number of women serving within Britain's police.

De Vitré died in 1960 in Westminster of cancer.