The 1950s editions of the Kelly’s Directory for Eastbourne show the occupant of 50, St John’s Road, Meads as “SILLITOE. Sir Percy K.B.E.”   This is remarkable considering that Sir Percy was the head of MI5 and was a noted opponent of violent street gangs.

Percy Joseph Sillitoe was born in London on 22^nd May 1888 and was educated at St Pauls Cathedral Choir School.  At the age of 20 he left England to join the South African Police and just three years later had been promoted to be an officer in the Northern Rhodesian Police. He wrote that he once spent nine months at an isolated police post where his only companion was a wild leopard!. In 1917 he became an ‘Assistant Political Officer’ and in 1921 he took over a province in Tanganyika from the Belgians, raising the Union Flag over the territory for the first time.  

In 1923 he returned to England where, at the age of 35, he became the Chief Constable of Chesterfield.  (In those days a military rather than a police background was often the criteria for running a police force) Chesterfield had a small police force and Sillitoe soon moved on, becoming the Chief Constable of the East Riding of Yorkshire Police. During this time he was involved in a minor case which showed he was ‘his own man’.  Colonel Wilson, the son of Dowager Lady Nunburnholm, had made a formal complaint against a young constable for interrupting  one of his hunting expeditions.  The constable told his chief that the Colonel had sworn at him several times so, contrary to the class expectations of the time, rather than uphold the complaint, the Chief Constable summonsed the Colonel for using abusive language to one of his staff! The gentrified magistrates dismissed the case which led to pressure for Sillitoe to resign. 

Sillitoe’s next post was the Chief Constable of Sheffield where he took up duty on the first day of the General Strike.  At the time the city was plagued by violent ‘razor-gangs’ but his tough stance on policing put many of them behind bars.  

Now a noted ‘no-nonsense’ police officer, Percy Sillitoe was next appointed the Chief Constable of the Glasgow City Police and not only reorganised the force but took on the infamous Glasgow gangs known as ‘Billy Boys’.  He was ruthless in exposing corrupt police officers and local councillors; he has been described as the greatest police-chief Glasgow has ever had. In 1932 he was responsible for introducing the black and white band around police caps to make police officers more visible to the public. Over time, this idea was adopted by most UK police forces and was known as the ‘Sillitoe Tartan’.  

Under his command, Glasgow was also the first police force in the country to have police-boxes where constables on the beat could be contacted by telephone. Over three hundred were installed across the city and these iconic blue police-boxes soon appeared in England, first at Brighton and secondly at Eastbourne. 

In 1933 Sillitoe travelled to Chicago where he met with FBI Chief J.Edgar Hoover to discuss gang crime. 

In May 1940 he sought permission to arm the Glasgow City Police ‘in case of German invasion’. A memo from the Scottish Office said ‘A watch should be kept on Glasgow to ensure that Sillitoe does not used armed police in numbers or positions in which they are likely to be more danger to themselves than the enemy’   He is credited for introducing many innovations to policing in Scotland including the use of radios and ensuring that every offender was fingerprinted and photographed. 

Sillitoe was knighted in 1942 and the following year became the Chief Constable of the Kent County Constabulary. He was the first head of an amalgamated County Police force in the UK.  On appointment, he was shocked to hear that there were only two policewomen in the whole of Kent – the following year there were 150! He campaigned for better road safety, commenting that annually more people were killed on the roads of Kent than had been by German bombing.  He once organised a weapons amnesty when 601 weapons were handed in to the Kent police including two machine guns and a cannon!

He retired from the Police in 1950 and moved to a flat in Carlisle Road, Eastbourne however his career was not over as he was appointed to lead MI5, being described at the time as ‘Britain’s top spy’. He commuted from Eastbourne to MI5 every day preferring to travel 3^rd class. During his tenure he was responsible for detecting treason and handling the Coronation of the Queen.  His Eastbourne address was reported in the local press.

Off-duty Percy  enjoyed sport and in October 1950 became the vice-president of Eastbourne United F.C. and the following year campaigned for a new stand to be built. 

In 1954 he became the head of the ‘International Security Organisation’ travelling around the world giving advice on policing and security matters. In 1960 he became the head of the newly established private security company ‘Security Express’. He surprised everyone by taking an active part in the role, travelling from Eastbourne to London three days a week to actually ride in the security vans as they made deliveries of bullion and jewellery. This makes it even stranger that his name and address appeared in local directories! 

In 1955 he published his autobiography in which the then Prime Minister, Clement Attlee,  wrote the foreword. 50, St Johns Road, Meads, Eastbourne  was built for Percy and his wife in 1955.  It is reported (Eastbourne Gazette 27^th August 1986) that the flagstones in the front garden came from the original Scotland Yard!

Sir Percy enjoyed living at Eastbourne and was happy to participate in social events, once assisting with the Eastbourne Carnival. 

In 1962 Sir Percy got pneumonia and decided to celebrate his recovery by taking his wife on a Caribbean Cruise. Such was Sir Percy’s fame, his holidays were reported in the national press! When asked if he would be keeping a beady eye on the other cruise guests he replied “I am not going on board wearing a false beard  but you can’t shake off a lifetime of police work”.

Sir Percy died aged 73 years on 5^th April 1962 at his Eastbourne home. His obituaries described him as a ‘Gang -buster’, ‘Britain’s number one spy’ and ‘The most experienced policeman in the world’. I have not been able to trace a grave for Sir Percy Sillitoe but he has a memorial plaque inside St Pauls Cathedral. 

Sources: Glasgow Live, National Newspaper Archives, The Guardian newspaper, National Portrait Gallery, Local Eastbourne Directories.  policeboxes.com findagrave.com