Edward Tyrer

Edward Tyrer (born Egg; Traditional Chinese: 戴磊華, formerly 邰華, 19 September 1917 – 24 August 2004) was a senior British colonial police officer who was Commissioner of Police, Hong Kong, from December 1966 to July 1967.

When the leftist riots broke out in May 1967, he was unable to command the Force because he had been on vacation leave in Britain. Shortly after returning in mid-June, he suddenly flew to London on 14 July to report the latest development to the Commonwealth Office. And on 21 July, he was approved for early retirement on "health grounds", leaving many speculations as to the real reasons behind his decision. A few pieces of confidential official documents declassified and released in 2012 revealed that Tyrer was instructed to apply for immediate early retirement because he had refused to follow the instructions of the acting governor Michael Gass to suppress the riots.

Tyrer joined the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service as a police cadet in 1937 and was promoted to the rank of Assistant Superintendent the next year. During World War II, he saw active service in the Army from 1939 to 1942 before serving briefly in British India's police force. In September 1945, he joined the British provisional military administration of Hong Kong as a captain, handling policing matters in the territories. He was later appointed an Assistant Superintendent of the Hong Kong Police in 1946, an Assistant Commissioner in 1953, and Deputy Commissioner in 1963. He was sent to Britain for advanced police training in 1952, 1956 and 1963 prior to becoming Commissioner.

Biography

Early years Edward Tyrer was born Edward Tyrer Egg in British Guiana (now Guyana) on 19 September 1917. (Sinclair's news article in 2004 claims that Tyrer was born in London.) Both his parents- Richard Tyrer Egg, who was a native colonial legal officer in British Guiana, who later became a high court judge in the Gold Coast (now Ghana). and Lilian Maude Egg-were of English descent.

Tyrer spent his early childhood in British Guiana before receiving an education in England, where he entered, firstly, St Paul's School in London, and followed by Exeter College, Oxford. He began his law enforcement career when he joined the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service as a police cadet in 1937. He was promoted to the rank of Assistant Superintendent the next year. During the war he was first commissioned as 2nd. Lt Edward Tyrer Egg (service No. 338545) on 15 June 1944. At the end of the war in 1945 he relinquished his command and was promoted upon discharge as Hon. Captain E. Tyrer (service No. unchanged : 338545) but minus his surname "Egg". According to Sinclair, he then briefly served in the police force of British India before joining the civil administration in Hong Kong. He was sent to the National Police College in Ryton-on-Dunsmore, Warwickshire, to receive advanced police training in 1952. He returned to Hong Kong in August the same year and was appointed an acting Assistant Commissioner. He was later formally promoted to that rank in February 1953.

From May to June 1956, Tyrer was sent to the National Police College for a second time to attend a colonial police commanding course. As Deputy Commissioner, he acted as Commissioner for a couple of times when his chief, Henry Heath, was on leave. In the capacity as acting Commissioner, he officiated at the opening of the new wing of Mongkok Police Station on 12 August 1965.

In October 1966, the Secretary of State for Commonwealth Affairs agreed to appoint Tyrer to succeed Heath, who had reached the normal retiring age of 55, as Commissioner of Police. He formally took up the appointment in December while Ted Eates, a Senior Assistant Commissioner, was in turn appointed Deputy Commissioner. On 6 May, clashes between the strikers and the police began and the situation turned so serious that a curfew in East Kowloon was declared by the government on 11 May. On 16 May, the leftists formed the Anti-British Struggle Committee, aimed at "fighting against the oppressive colonial-rule of the British" and becoming a threat to the colonial authority.

Commonwealth Office (now Foreign and Commonwealth Office) in London.

Just before the outbreak of the civil disorder, it happened that Tyrer had been on vacation leave and had left Hong Kong for Britain since 3 May, leaving the Force to his deputy, Ted Eates. On the next day, the leftist rioters staged another attack in the downtown on Queen's Road West, where a 21-year-old ethnic Chinese police officer was fatally attacked with a hook while on duty. However, one week later on 21 July, it was announced by the Commonwealth Office that Tyrer could not return to Hong Kong on "health grounds" and had been approved for early retirement by the Secretary of State for Commonwealth Affairs. On 18 April 1967, he was even healthy enough to join the Force's blood donation day. Since he had never been reported to have health problems, his decision to retire early sparked speculations. Both the British government and the Hong Kong government refused to disclose further details surrounding the early retirement of Tyrer but in later years it became known that Prime Minister Harold Wilson was very angry about the situation at the onset. Many years later, he died at his home in Bedfordshire on 24 August 2004, aged 86, taking the secret of his departure in 1967 to his grave. Kevin Sinclair, a reporter of Hong Kong's South China Morning Post, attempted to search for documents in relation to Tyrer's early retirement from Hong Kong's Public Records Office and the Records and Historical Department of the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 2004.

Honours