William Whatley
Served 1915-1924
Weaver, John: Social Control, Martial Conformity, and Community Entanglement: The Varied Beat of the Hamilton Police, 1895-1920: Whatley, hired October 1910 had seven years of experience with the South African Constabulary. He introduced the revolver practice in 1912 and ordered the breaking up of a Socialist meeting in 1914. Centennial History, Gord Torrance: Deputy Chief William R. Whatley was elevated to Chief June 12th, 1915, and thoroughly modernized the motor equipment of the Department. Motorized patrol wagons and an ambulance had been in operation for some years when motorcycles were added by 1921.
Dave Coulter had been Inspector of the Eastern Division prior to Chief Smith’s death in 1915. At this time, he became Deputy Chief under Chief Whatley. Sergeant Cruikshanks was promoted to Inspector of the Eastern Division at Sherman Avenue. Constable John Clark was promoted to Patrol Sergeant and Constable Ince to the patrol station to succeed Clark.
On September 18th, 1918, the Board of Commissioners of Police approved that all members of the Department be granted one day off each week with the understanding that the men report for duty on days off when required to do so by the Chief or in his absence, by the Deputy Chief. Prior to this, policemen worked seven days a week.
Cab fares were 5 cents in 1918 and in 1920 rose to 10 cents. On February 21st, 1919, Constables Crocker, Chamberlain and J. Thompson were appointed Acting Detectives.
The following names are mentioned in Chief Whatley’s Orders of 1920 and 1921
Constables H. Hagan, R. Hagan, Waddington, McBride, Black, Bizley, Hewitt, Fisher, Wheeler, Green, Lentz, McMillan, Badly, Myers, John Duffey, Hill, Fleming, Hurst, Eddenden, Boecher, McNair, Miller, Wilkinson, Curtis, Rouse, Maddock, Roughead, Pryer, McLean, Page, Hawthorne, Kay, Edwards, Robinson, Morgan, Wallace, Snelling, Bleakley, Stuart, Stewart, Etherington, Booth, Fleming, Gillespie, Smith, Rolfe, Calback, Sindall, Gravelle, Sullivan, Burville and G. Sharpe.
By 1923, Donald Campbell was Inspector of Detectives. This position was formerly held by Inspector McMahon. Detectives were Harry Sayer, Ernie Goodman, Joseph Crocker, Joseph Chamberlain, John Thompson, Albert Speakman and Eddie Buckett.
From a Newspaper article: “A 6’6” Englishman who would parade along King Street carrying an ebony cane with a silver handle, he organized the first visit of the then Prince of Wales. A great administrator, he was originally with the South African Constabulary. During the great MacKay’s Dry Goods Store fire on King Street East, he told the crowd ‘Stand back or in the name of the Law, I’ll have you put back!’ And he did too!”
From Bessie Perri, Queen of the Bootleggers, by Rose Keefe
‘A scandal sheet called Hush linked her romantically with William Whatley, Hamilton’s tall and handsome police chief. Whatley, so the story went, ran into Bessie one night at the racetrack and a ‘friendship’ formed. Whatley was probably accepting bribes, and if his association with Bessie Perri was anything more than payor and payee, Rocco didn’t seem to mind. Such a compromising relationship could be used to his benefit
Bob Rankin wrote in “The Way We Were”
In September1910, 33 year-old William Whatley must have cut quite a figure as he strode into the presence of the Hamilton Police Commissioners to be interviewed for the Deputy Chief’s position. Standing 6’3″withan erect, military bearing, the impact of his appearance and credentials were such, that he was sworn in less than a month later.
A farmer’s son, Whatley was born in Yoevil, Somerset, England, in 1878. By time he was twenty, he was in South Africa fighting the Boers with the Cape Mounted Police. When hostilities ended there, he returned to England and in 1907, made his way to Canada. There he wooed and married local school-teacher Annie Nicolson, with whom he had four daughters. Also, he obtained a lieutenancy in 10 Company, 23rd Northern Pioneers, based at Parry Sound thus upholding the family tradition – unbroken since 1727 – of enlisting in the military.
Whatley, carrying his ever-present ebony cane with a silver handle, soon became a familiar figure about town. Only two days in office, he came to the notice of the press when he ran after and overtook a horse and wagon, which had bowled over an elderly woman at King and Hughson Streets. Fortunately, the woman was only stunned and refused all offers of help.
One of the first changes he made was to the structure of the Force, by arranging the city into Divisions. Another was to “mount a sustained and highly successful campaign against gamblers, gambling houses, opium dens and houses of disrepute to which young girls were taken.” To him, the connection between moral issues and social problems was crystal clear, so he had no difficulty in ordering gambling house operators to close down. If they refused, he prosecuted them out of existence. His success in that area was due in large measure to his use of “out of town detectives” in undercover roles; a ploy which fooled the operators who knew all the local policemen.
When Chief Alexander Smith died suddenly on 5th June, 1915, Whatley was the Commissioners’ unanimous choice to succeed him. As Chief he immediately boosted morale by resolving a long festering grievance: he changed the officers’ days off from one every two months to one a week bringing them in line with their Toronto counterparts. He also moved forcefully against city bootleggers, including local kingpin, Rocco Perri.
By March 1924 however, scandals surrounding some members of the Force had been aired in the press. Two involved Whatley directly. One hinted at his relationship with Perri, something that would have been abhorrent to his very nature and the other, a lawsuit brought against him and his brother-in-law, businessman Norman Nicholson, by a local lawyer
Charles S. Morgan. The allegations were Conspiracy and Malicious Prosecution against both plus Slander against Nicholson. Although not fully disclosed, the substance of the action was said to relate to Morgan’s dealings with Nicholson’s company and his subsequent incarceration in the local asylum.
While in custody, the resourceful Morgan had contrived an escape during a supervised visit to a nearby ice rink. He slid a curling stone the length of the rink, chased it broom in hand and vanished through an open window and made off through the trees. While on the run, he gathered evidence he was sure would prove him sane. He needn’t have bothered because, when he turned himself in, he was taken back to the asylum and locked in the homicidal ward.
C.W. Hunt in his book Whisky and Ice: The Saga of Ben Kerr, Canada’s Most Daring Rumrunner”, Dunham Press, Toronto, Oxford, 1995; suggests that Ben Kerry and Rocco Perri the bootlegger may have been “business associates.” He suggests that a man by the name of Alf Wheat, who worked for Ben Kerr, may have been introduced to Kerr by Rocco Perri. He identifies Detective Alec Roughead of the Hamilton Police as a good friend of Wheat and goes on to say that Roughhead ” kept Alf posted on police movements (“in time for him to move the beer.. to another location.”)
Information: Courtesy Hamilton Public library, Special Collections Section and Ruth Whatley.
Even though the Hamilton Police Commissioners started to investigate Morgan’s allegations, Magistrate Jelfs made it clear that he was solidly behind the Chief by publicly declaring him to be “…the best Chief Hamilton ever had”
Within two weeks Whatley was confined to bed suffering from pleurisy and threatened pneumonia, possibly complicated by an infection from extensive dental work. In any event, the combined effect was to prevent him from testifying at the enquiry. He was never to recover and died in his home at 79 Flatt Avenue, Hamilton, on 12 April, 1924 at the age of forty-six at the height of his career.
With his death, the investigation and legal action were abandoned unresolved.
Roses he planted at the house
still bloom to this day.
Chief Whatley, his wife and two daughters
are buried in the Hamilton Cemetery.