Fonds PR-0403 - Thomas William Parsons fonds

Thomas William Parsons was Commissioner of the B.C. Provincial Police. Parsons was born in 1882 in Old Charleton, England. He was a police officer who served forces in three countries in the course of his career, including England (as a volunteer with the City of London Artillery and the First Bedfordshire Regiment, 1899-1904), South Africa (South African Constabulary, 1904-1909) and Canada (British Columbia Provincial Police [BCPP]) 1912-1947). He emigrated to Canada in 1909, and after ranching in Alberta for a few years, was hired as a special constable with the BCPP in Peace River, and stayed with the force for 35 years, working in every region of the province and rising through the ranks to become Commissioner in charge of the force. His contributions to the force included reorganizing it into a division-district-detachment plan in 1924, designing the BCPP uniform (also in 1924), and administering the Police Training School (from its beginning in 1929). He retired three years before the dissolution of the BCPP to become administrator of the Queen Alexandra Solarium, and continued to be active in community life as provincial commissioner of the Boy Scouts Association. Parsons died in 1960 in Victoria, BC.