| Sir William Herschel, Bt | |
| Birth Date: | 9 January 1833 |
| Birth Place: | Slough, England |
| Fields: | Fingerprints, forensics |
Sir William James Herschel, 2nd Baronet (9 January 1833 – 24 October 1917)[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] was a British ICS officer in India who used fingerprints for identification on contracts.[2] [6] [7]
He was born in Slough in Buckinghamshire (now Berkshire), the third child (of twelve) and the eldest son (of three) of the astronomer, John Herschel. His younger brothers were Alexander and John.
On 19 May 1864 he married (Anne) Emma Haldane, youngest daughter of Alfred Hardcastle of Hatcham House, Surrey. She died at the birth of their second son, having borne him 4 children:
He lived at Warfield in Berkshire and at Littlemore in Oxfordshire.[8] Upon his death the baronetcy passed to his son.
Herschel is credited with being the first European to note the value of fingerprints for identification. He recognized that fingerprints were unique and permanent. Herschel documented his own fingerprints over his lifetime to prove permanence. He was also credited with being the first person to use fingerprints in a practical manner. As early as 1858, working as a British officer for the Indian Civil Service at Jangipur in the Bengal region of India, he started putting fingerprints on contracts.[2] [9]
He worked from his late teens constantly until two years before his death.
| Escutcheon: | Argent on a mount Vert a representation of the forty feet reflecting telescope with its apparatus Proper a chief Azure thereon the astronomical symbol of Uranus or the Georgium Sidus irradiated Or. |
| Crest: | A demi-terrestrial sphere Proper thereon an eagle wings elevated Or. |
| Motto: | Coelis Exploratis [10] |