Head dress as a symbol

If you ask a foreigner what typifies the British Bobby, they will answer "the helmet".  It is also a singularly requested item of memorabilia by overseas collectors.

However, as every student of police history knows, helmets have only been worn for around 150 years.  Before that, officers wore "stove-pipe hats" to deliberately blend with a public wearing the same head dress and to be distinguishable from the military.

Even in the military, helmets are only commonly worn from the Napoleonic war’s eara onwards.

But what if I told you that one commonly worn piece of uniform dates back three millennia?  The same piece was worn so that the wearer could be distinguished from others and identified them as being someone in authority.

I'm talking here about the Turban.

Cast your mind back to Primary School (depending where you are from) and the annual ordeal of the Christmas Nativity Play.

Head dress played an important part and has signalled rank and status since artists first created impressions of the scene in Bethlehem.

The Shepherds usually wear the Arabic Ghutrah and Agal.  A very practical item of clothing in the Levant and Arabian Peninsula.

Something which could be pulled over the head to make a sun shade or used as a mask in conditions of blowing sand.

The three Wise Men or Kings, depending on the version of scripture, are usually pictured wearing turbans.

This is because in the history of the head dress, they were worn by the rulers and leaders of Persia and ancient India, from where the Magi are believed to have originated.

Historical documents from 2350 BC depict a ruler wearing a turban in Mesopotamia.  The turban was picked up by various religions, but pre-dates Christianity and the Muslim faith by some centuries.  What is clear is that the head dress was used as a symbol of power and authority by both spiritual leaders and royalty.

Over aeons, the styles have changed. Turbans have grown and shrunk in size.  They have been adorned with gold and jewellery of immense value, and have been worn completely plain.

In the 20th century they have been worn from the Balkans to the Caucuses, across Asia, the Middle East, in North and Saharan Africa.  They have been worn as a religious symbol, or to denote ethnicity or the tribe to which the wearer belonged.

Styles and colours have varied because of the materials and dyes that were available locally.  They have also been worn by both men and women.

It is known that the ancient Babylonians wore Turbans as did soldiers in the Byzantine army in the period 400 - 600 AD.  The Islamic prophet, Muhammad, who lived between 570–632 AD, wore a turban in white, the most holy colour. The style of turban he introduced was a cap with a cloth tied around it. This headwear is known as 'Imamah' and was emulated by Muslim kings and scholars throughout history. Shiah clergy today wear turbans.

In both WWI and WWII British Commonwealth soldiers wore turbans into battle.

However today the Turban is perhaps best known as an important symbol of the Sikh religion.  However they are often worn by the police and military across the Indian Sub-Continent, regardless of the religion of the wearer.

Anyone lucky enough to have been able to see the competitive daily "Sunset" ceremony at the Wagah-Attari border gate, a border crossing between present day India and Pakistan will have seen the similarity ceremonial turban head dress worn by both armies.

When I received a police Turban, which came as a 'flat pack', I suddenly realised that I had no idea how to turn lengths of cloth and a cone shaped pagri,  into the beautifully ornate police head dress.

In my complete naivety, I had presumed that like our helmets, police turbans came from the stores in different sizes and were ready to wear.  Not so.

They take time, care, expertise and pride to fashion the cloth to the head of the wearer.

Unlike the helmet, it is not something which should or can quickly be put on or taken off.

There are several parts to a turban.  I am using the name generically here, because  what in English would be so described goes by man local and dialect names in different countries.

The Pagri is the cloth winding which is wrapped around the head of the wearer a large number of times.  This length of cloth can be between 15 and 25 meters in length/

The Khulla is the cap which is worn especially by Muslims, but also forms part of the turbans worn accross the indian sub-continent.

The Shamla is the decorated pleated or folded cockade worn to the side of the head dress, as in this current Punjab Police turban.

The Khulla is in gold thread in the centre.

There are records of people from different parts of the British Empire coming to the UK and making it their home, from the mid 19th century.  But it was not until the 1960's that large numbers of people from Asia really arrived and settled.

There is no record of who the first Sikh police officer was, or even which force they joined and when.

They would have been in one of the large metropolitan forces where there was a big Asian population, somewhere like the West Midlands Police, West Yorkshire Constabulary or the Metropolitan Police.  Or just perhaps one of the constituent forces from those areas, like Bradford City, Birmingham City or Wolverhampton Borough.

What there is no doubt about is that they would have been issued with a helmet.  What has been  recorded is the first person, a Special Constable in London, who wore a Turban as part of his uniform.

It was only in the early 1970's, when there was a push to recruit officers from the ethnic minorities, so the force makeup matched the local demographic profile, that a turban was allowed to be worn as an alternative to the traditional helmet.

I recall reading in the Police Review that this or that force was now allowing Turbans, but at the time had no inkling of the behind-the-scenes correspondence that was taking place over what was then a thorny issue.

The 1960's was a decade of change in the British Commonwealth countries.  Many were seeking and obtaining independence from the British Empire.  In East Africa, independence was granted to Kenya, Uganda, Tanganyika and Zanzibar in the early 1960's.  Each time, a wave of Asians came to Great Britain.

However it was President Idi Amin of Uganda who ordered the expulsion of all his country's Asian minority population in August 1972, that created the largest wave of migration to the UK.

From the very beginning of the migration, the incoming Asians mainly settled in London and the West Midlands, with smaller groups in West Yorkshire and the East Midlands.

Several of those who settled in London were Sikhs who had served in the Police services of the former East African Empire countries before or during independence. 

The Colonial Police Services, administered by Britain had had Sikh police officers in them since the 19th century.

By 1965 a small number of these former Colonial Police Officers had joined the Metropolitan Police in London as Civil Staff. There were also a two Sikh Special Police Constables in the Met Police as well.

The first known application by a turban wearing Sikh, to join Metropolitan Police Force was in January 1969. He was a former senior Police Officer in Kenya.

The decision whether to allow a turban to replace the standard issue helmet was difficult and took rather a long time and the applicant decided on a different career before he was offered a position.

In 1967 Norman Goodchild, the Chief Constable of the West Midlands Police asked the Home Office whether he should allow a Sikh, who wished to become a traffic warden in the city of Birmingham, to wear a turban instead of the regulation uniform cap. The Home Office in turn sought the views of the Commissioner of Metropolitan Police.

Sir Joseph Simpson, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner said in his reply in November 1967 that while he supported the proposal that Sikh Traffic Wardens should be permitted to wear turbans, "I am just as clear in my view about the possible extension of this to the police and in this respect I take the opposite view. Whatever the Uniform Committee may recommend to the Police Advisory Board, I shall take a very strong stand on the wearing of helmets in London".

The Home Office view was that it was "a simple matter, in isolation, to decide that Sikh traffic wardens should be allowed to wear a turban, because this accords with practice in the armed services and in the colonial police forces".

The then Home Secretary James Callaghan approved the wearing of Turbans by Sikh Traffic Wardens in the UK, in March 1968.

However, as it transpired, in January 1969 the Metropolitan Police received an application by a Sikh to join the police force and wear a turban because of his religious faith.

By then Sir Joseph Simpson had retired and the Commissioner was Sir John Waldron.  He wrote to the Home Office on 10th February 1969 for a view saying,  "Personally I am much against it, as I would be any other peculiarity which tended to make one policeman different from another."

"There would be certain duties such as patrolling on a motor cycle or taking part in demonstrations where a turban would be unsuitable because it would not provide the necessary protection."

"Prompt recognition by police or public in a crowd is essential; this a helmet provides. It would be inconvenient if any man accepted into the Force was restricted in the duties that he was able to do."

"For these reasons alone I consider that anyone who joins the Service, whatever his religion, race or ethnic origin may be, must dress in the standard uniform of the Force."

"In addition it might well produce strong objections from the Federation, who at the best are never anxious to accept applicants of foreign origin into the Service. There is a danger of ridicule. On the whole I think we must lay down that any man who wants to become a policeman must comply with the standard conditions".

The Home Office, after inter departmental consultations and having consulted Douglas Osmond (Chief Constable Hampshire Constabulary), President of Association of Chief Officers (ACPO) and Dick Pamplin, Secretary of the Joint Central Committee of the Police Federation, wrote to the Commissioner on 18th April 1969 that it was the Home Secretary's (James Callaghan) conclusion that it would be right to permit any Sikh who joins the police service to wear a turban.

The letter pointed out that "the Home Secretary fully appreciates the considerations mentioned in your letter but has come to the conclusion that, on balance, it would be right to permit any Sikh who joins the police service to wear a turban. He had in mind particularly that, although there is a case for insisting on uniformity of dress on a uniformed and disciplined service, the fighting services have found it satisfactory to accommodate Sikhs wearing turbans; and he does not think that the special considerations which apply in the police service -including the possibility that a man wearing a turban could not be employed on every aspect of police duty would outweigh the general desirability of putting no obstacle in the way of a Sikh recruit".

The applicant, a former police officer from Kenya , however, did not join the Metropolitan Police in the end as he had found other employment.

In November 1969, when Harbans Singh Jabbal, a former Detective Chief Inspector in Kenya Police joined the Metropolitan Police Force as a Special Constable, he faced no issues wearing a turban with his uniform.

The Metropolitan Police Specials at that time did not wear the traditional police helmet. There was, however, a lot of media interest when he went out patrolling the streets of East London on 27 January 1970.

Around the same period, Ajmer Singh Matharu had emigrated from Uganda and settled in Leicester. Matharu, who had joined Uganda Police as a sub-inspector in 1956, retired in 1968 as a Deputy Superintendent of Police. In 1961 when he was a Chief Inspector, he attended a three month C.I.D. Course in Wakefield Training Centre, West Yorkshire Constabulary, England.

His policing background prompted him to join the Leicester and Rutland Constabulary as a civilian Communication Officer in 1969 and after a few months applied to join as a regular officer.

Sir James Anderton CBE was then the Assistant Chief Constable of Leicestershire and Rutland Constabulary at the time when Matharu applied to join.

Sir James recalled some 44 years later "I began my own civil police career in Manchester in 1953, following my two and a half years service in the Royal Military Police. I moved to the Cheshire Constabulary after a series of promotions and then to Leicestershire in 1968 as a young Assistant Chief Constable. One of my responsibilities was recruitment of constables."

"The normal dress for constables included the traditional helmet. Clearly Mr Matharu could not wear one, so I suggested he wore a dark blue turban with a police badge on the front of it. I contacted the Home Office who, after considerable deliberations, agreed my proposal. As far as I was concerned there was no legitimate or substainable reason to deny his wish tojoin the police force."

Ajmer Singh Matharu became the first turban wearing Sikh Police Officer in the UK when he joined Leicestershire and Rutland Constabulary on 6th April 1970 at the age of 35. He retired in October 1989.

Even so, there was confusion as no national policy statement was issued by the Home Office on the acceptability, or otherwise, of the turban as far as police uniform was concerned. The matter only came to light at a meeting in 1971 when the question of Sikhs wearing a turban was raised. Anderton, who was at this meeting, informed those present that there were already two Sikh Officers serving in Leicestershire who wore turbans.

Later whilst Assistant to HMCIC, Anderton was able to clarify the Home Office decision.

It was perhaps the far-sightedness of Anderton's policy that paved the way for other religious practitioners to join the police forces.

Additionally, on the 15th November 1976, the Motor-Cycle Crash Helmets (Religious Exemption) Act 1976, an Act of Parliament to exempt turban wearing Sikhs from wearing crash helmets on motorcycles received Royal Assent. Turbane wearing police officers could now undertake motorcycle policing duties, thus the concerns of Commissioner Waldron diminished in the passage of time.

There is no records of any Sikh officer using this exemption. This religious exemption exists to this day.

This landmark decision, by Anderton, ultimately led to turbaned Sikhs joining the police service throughout the country.

Today in police forces across the world, Sikh officers, both male and female, wear a turban rather than a cap or helmet and the turban is worn by many different ranks.