A. E. Bassom (original) (raw)
Arthur Ernest Bassom OBE KPM (14 June 1865 – 17 January 1926) was a British police officer and one of the main pioneers of traffic policing with the London Metropolitan Police. Bassom joined the Royal Marine Artillery as a gunner at the age of 17 and gained the highest possible marks in his gunnery examinations and therefore almost certain promotion. However, in 1886, just before he reached 21, the minimum age at which he could be promoted, he left to join the Metropolitan Police as a constable. He was posted to "D" Division (Marylebone), and the following year was transferred to the Public Carriage Office at Scotland Yard, where he spent the rest of his career.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| dbo:abstract | Arthur Ernest Bassom OBE KPM (14 June 1865 – 17 January 1926) was a British police officer and one of the main pioneers of traffic policing with the London Metropolitan Police. Bassom joined the Royal Marine Artillery as a gunner at the age of 17 and gained the highest possible marks in his gunnery examinations and therefore almost certain promotion. However, in 1886, just before he reached 21, the minimum age at which he could be promoted, he left to join the Metropolitan Police as a constable. He was posted to "D" Division (Marylebone), and the following year was transferred to the Public Carriage Office at Scotland Yard, where he spent the rest of his career. At the PCO his hard work, encyclopaedic memory and innate understanding of traffic problems led to rapid promotion. In 1901 he was promoted to chief inspector in charge of the branch. In 1903 he saw the introduction of London's first motor cab. After completing a course in motor engineering at the Regent Street Polytechnic, he produced the Metropolitan Police Regulations for the Construction and Licensing of Hackney (Motor) Carriages, 1906 (The Conditions of Fitness for Motor Hackney Carriages). This included the requirement for a 25-foot (7.6 m) turning circle, and influenced the design of London cabs for a century. In 1906 he was promoted to superintendent on merit. It was said that he could visualise any part of the 700 square miles of the Metropolitan Police District and give an analysis of its traffic problems and possible solutions. Commissioner Sir Nevil Macready admitted that Bassom was the one man in the Metropolitan Police who was indispensable, so much so that when he reached the retirement age of 60 for officers below Chief Officer rank in 1925 he was promoted to chief constable and given the title of Director of Traffic Services in order to retain him. He died the following year, still in office. He had a detailed knowledge of motor mechanics. He visited nearly every town in the United Kingdom and many in Europe to observe their traffic problems. He framed "the Knowledge", the test undertaken by all London taxi drivers, and devised the Bassom System of London bus route numbers. He was awarded the King's Police Medal (KPM) in 1919 and appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1920 civilian war honours. (en) |
| dbo:birthDate | 1865-07-14 (xsd:date) |
| dbo:wikiPageID | 12444708 (xsd:integer) |
| dbo:wikiPageLength | 3989 (xsd:nonNegativeInteger) |
| dbo:wikiPageRevisionID | 1082914756 (xsd:integer) |
| dbo:wikiPageWikiLink | dbr:Queen's_Police_Medal dbr:List_of_bus_routes_in_London dbr:Road_policing_unit dbr:United_Kingdom dbr:Order_of_the_British_Empire dbc:Officers_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire dbr:Marylebone dbr:Chief_constable dbr:Chief_inspector dbr:Officer_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire dbr:Constable dbr:The_Times dbr:Regent_Street_Polytechnic dbr:London dbr:Commissioner_of_Police_of_the_Metropolis dbr:Public_Carriage_Office dbr:Superintendent_(police) dbc:1865_births dbc:1926_deaths dbc:English_recipients_of_the_Queen's_Police_Medal dbc:Metropolitan_Police_chief_officers dbc:Metropolitan_Police_recipients_of_the_Queen's_Police_Medal dbc:Royal_Marines_ranks dbr:King's_Police_Medal dbr:Royal_Marine_Artillery dbr:Gunner_(rank) dbr:Police_division dbr:Metropolitan_Police dbr:Naval_artillery dbr:Nevil_Macready dbr:Metropolitan_Police_District dbr:Scotland_Yard dbr:The_Knowledge |
| dbp:allegiance | United Kingdom (en) |
| dbp:awards | dbr:Queen's_Police_Medal dbr:Order_of_the_British_Empire |
| dbp:birthDate | 1865-07-14 (xsd:date) |
| dbp:deathDate | 1926-01-17 (xsd:date) |
| dbp:department | dbr:Metropolitan_Police |
| dbp:name | Arthur Ernest Bassom (en) |
| dbp:rank | dbr:Chief_constable dbr:Chief_inspector dbr:Constable dbr:Superintendent_(police) |
| dbp:serviceyears | 1886 (xsd:integer) |
| dbp:wikiPageUsesTemplate | dbt:Birth_date dbt:Convert dbt:Flagicon dbt:One_source dbt:Short_description dbt:Use_dmy_dates dbt:Death_date_and_age dbt:Infobox_police_officer |
| dct:subject | dbc:Officers_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire dbc:1865_births dbc:1926_deaths dbc:English_recipients_of_the_Queen's_Police_Medal dbc:Metropolitan_Police_chief_officers dbc:Metropolitan_Police_recipients_of_the_Queen's_Police_Medal dbc:Royal_Marines_ranks |
| gold:hypernym | dbr:Officer |
| rdf:type | owl:Thing foaf:Person dbo:Person dul:NaturalPerson wikidata:Q19088 wikidata:Q215627 wikidata:Q5 wikidata:Q729 dbo:Animal dbo:Eukaryote dbo:PoliceOfficer dbo:Species schema:Person yago:WikicatMetropolitanPoliceChiefOfficers yago:WikicatOfficersOfTheOrderOfTheBritishEmpire yago:CausalAgent100007347 yago:Defender109614684 yago:Lawman110249459 yago:LivingThing100004258 yago:MilitaryOfficer110317007 yago:Object100002684 yago:Organism100004475 yago:Person100007846 yago:PhysicalEntity100001930 yago:Policeman110448983 yago:Preserver110466918 yago:Worker109632518 yago:YagoLegalActor yago:YagoLegalActorGeo yago:Serviceman110582746 yago:SkilledWorker110605985 yago:Whole100003553 |
| rdfs:comment | Arthur Ernest Bassom OBE KPM (14 June 1865 – 17 January 1926) was a British police officer and one of the main pioneers of traffic policing with the London Metropolitan Police. Bassom joined the Royal Marine Artillery as a gunner at the age of 17 and gained the highest possible marks in his gunnery examinations and therefore almost certain promotion. However, in 1886, just before he reached 21, the minimum age at which he could be promoted, he left to join the Metropolitan Police as a constable. He was posted to "D" Division (Marylebone), and the following year was transferred to the Public Carriage Office at Scotland Yard, where he spent the rest of his career. (en) |
| rdfs:label | A. E. Bassom (en) |
| owl:sameAs | freebase:A. E. Bassom yago-res:A. E. Bassom wikidata:A. E. Bassom https://global.dbpedia.org/id/4JfPx |
| prov:wasDerivedFrom | wikipedia-en:A._E._Bassom?oldid=1082914756&ns=0 |
| foaf:isPrimaryTopicOf | wikipedia-en:A._E._Bassom |
| foaf:name | Arthur Ernest Bassom (en) |
| is dbo:wikiPageRedirects of | dbr:A_E_Bassom dbr:Bassom dbr:A.E._Bassom dbr:AE_Bassom dbr:Arthur_Bassom dbr:Arthur_Ernest_Bassom |
| is dbo:wikiPageWikiLink of | dbr:A_E_Bassom dbr:Bassom dbr:List_of_alumni_of_the_University_of_Westminster dbr:A.E._Bassom dbr:AE_Bassom dbr:Arthur_Bassom dbr:Arthur_Ernest_Bassom |
| is foaf:primaryTopic of | wikipedia-en:A._E._Bassom |