Sir Robert Anderson

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Sir Robert Anderson

Sir Robert Anderson, KCB (1841 - 1918) was a police official at Scotland Yard in the late 19th century. Born in Dublin, Ireland, he was of Scottish descent, being the son of Matthew Anderson, a Crown Solicitor.

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[edit] Biography

Robert Anderson, though of Scottish descent, was born in Dublin on 29 May 1841 His father, Matthew Anderson, was Crown Solicitor in the Irish capital, a distinguished elder in the Irish Presbyterian Church, and was descended from one of the "No Surrender" group of Derry defenders. In the biographical sketch found in Kregel Publications recent reprints of his works it states that he described himself as an anglicized Irishman of Scottish extraction.

He had been brought up in a devout Christian home, and had led what is known as a religious life, with occasional transient fits of penitence and anxiety, but, in his late teens he had doubts about his own conversion. The Irish Evangelical Revival (1859-60) touched Robert's sister, who persuaded her brother to attend one of the services, held in Dublin by Rev Joseph Denham Smith, but the popular hymns disturbed him and he got very little out of the message. The light came the following Sunday evening when he attended a service in his own church and heard the Rev. John Hall (afterwards of New York), who "boldly proclaimed forgiveness of sins, and eternal life as God's gift in grace, unreserved and unconditional, to be received by us as we sat in the pews. His sermon thrilled me," Sir Robert said when describing the event, "and yet I deemed his doctrine to be unscriptural. So I waylaid him as he left the vestry, and on our homeward walk I tackled him about his heresies ... At last he let go my arm, and, facing me as we stood upon the pavement, he repeated with great solemnity his gospel message and appeal. 'I tell you,' he said, 'as a minister of Christ, and in His name, that there is life for you here and now if you will accept Him. Will you accept Christ, or will you reject Him?' After a pause — how prolonged I know not — I exclaimed, 'In God's name I will accept Christ.' Not another word passed between us; but after another pause he wrung my hand and left me. And I turned homewards with the peace of God filling my heart."

On leaving school, Robert was given a good opening for a business career in a large brewery; but after eighteen months he turned away from this. aAfter studying at Boulogne and Paris he entered Trinity College, Dublin, where he graduated B.A. in 1862 with Moderator-ship and medal and in 1863 was called to the Irish Bar Bar. He received the L.L.D. of his Alma Mater in 1875.

He married Lady Agnes Alexandrina Moore in 1873, sister of the Earl of Drogheda. She was a leader in many branches of women's work in London.

He was especially close to some of the greatest biblical teachers of his day, including James M. Gray, Cyrus Ingersoll Scofield, A. C. Dixon, and E. W. Bullinger. He also preached with J N Darby in the West of Ireland. Anderson was a member of the Plymouth Brethren, first with Darby (1800-1882) then with the Open Brethren party before returing to his Presbyterian roots. R.A. was a copius author of numerous religious works, most of which are still in print to this day and enjoying an increasing circulation.

Anderson was a close friend of Lady Hope (born Elizabeth Reid Stapleton-Cotton, she married Admiral Sir James Hope in 1877), a Christian evangelist, who worked among the poor of rural England during the final years of the nineteenth century. Lady Hope claimed to have spoken to Charles Darwin, the father of the theory of evolution, eight months before the great man's death. During their final conversation, probably on September 28, 1881, Darwin allegedly voiced serious misgivings about his theory of evolution. Darwins family denied the two ever met, let alone that the father of evolutionary thought expressed regrets about his work. However, Moore says it was Anderson, of Scotland Yard, who provided testimony of the meeting. He wrote, "...a friend of mine who was much with Darwin during his final illness assures me that he expressed the greatest reverence for the scriptures and bore testimony to their value" (Moore, 48).

In 1865 the Fenians were at work (a secret society attempting to overthrow British rule in Ireland), and he assisted the Irish government in interrogating prisoners and preparing legal briefs. In 1877 his special knowledge of the methods and manners of conspirators led to his appointment as Irish Agent at the Home Office. As an intelligence officer in London he had the responsibility from 1876 onward to spy on and disrupt the Fenians. As part of this anti-Irish effort, he personally forged documents to try to implicate Irish leader Charles Stewart Parnell in terrorist activities. In 1888, when London was in the grip of the "Jack the Ripper" scare, he moved into Scotland Yard as Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police and Chief of the Criminal Investigation Department. Anderson remained in London as a Home Office adviser in matters relating to politically motivated crime. In 1887 he became the Secretary of the Prison Commissioners until August of 1888, when he replaced James Monro as Assistant Commissioner of the Criminal Investigation Department, which was then just starting the investigation into the Jack the Ripper murders. Almost immediately after being promoted he went on an extended vacation in France, leaving others in charge. He was called back after a month because of increased bad publicity over the Ripper murders.

Arthur Conan Doyle was entertaining London at that time with his Sherlock Holmes stories, but it was Anderson and his staff who were working at ridding the city of crime and criminals. Records show that crime decreased in London during that period.[citation needed] He directed this work until 1901, when he retired and was made K.C.B. [knighthood with special distinction].

He died 11:00 p.m. on November 15, 1918. He and his wife are buried in Kensal Green cemetery, London NW.

W.H. Smith, on the floor of the House of Commons, stated that Sir Robert "had discharged his duties with great ability and perfect faithfulness to the public." Raymond Blathwayt, in Great Thoughts, wrote: "Sir Robert Anderson is one of the men to whom the country, without knowing it, owes a great debt."

[edit] Published works

[edit] Political subjects

  • Criminals and Crime, 1907
  • The Lighter Side of my Official Life, 1910
  • Sidelights on the Home Rule Movement

[edit] Religious subjects

  • The Coming Prince
  • The Bible and Modern Criticism
  • The Bible or the Church
  • The Buddha of Christendom
  • Daniel In The Critics' Den
  • A Doubter's Doubts about Science and Religion
  • Entail of the Covenant
  • Forgotten Truths
  • The Gospel and Its Ministry
  • The Honour of His Name
  • Human Destiny
  • The Lord From Heaven
  • Misunderstood Texts of the Bible
  • Pseudo-Criticism
  • Redemption Truths
  • The Silence of God
  • Types In Hebrews
  • Unfulfilled Prophecy
  • The Way

[edit] References

  • The Ultimate Jack the Ripper Sourcebook by Stewart Evans and Keith Skinner, ISBN 0-7867-0768-2
  • Sir Robert Anderson and Lady Agnes Anderson by A.P. Moore-Anderson
  • "Representative Men at Home: Dr. Anderson at New Scotland Yard" from Cassell's Saturday Journal, June 11, 1892, as reprinted in Ripper Notes, July 2004.
  • Sir Robert Anderson is featured as a character in the novel "To Kingdom Come" by Will Thomas.
  • The Darwin Legend by J. Moore, Hodder 1995.

[edit] External links

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