Charles Edward Rivett-Carnac



April 1, 1959 - March 31, 1960

Rivett-Carnac, was born on August 31, 1901 in Eastbourne, Sussex, England. During the First World War, at the age of 16, he joined the French Ambulance Corps and served on the front line. Upon demobilization, he joined his father, the Deputy Inspector General of the Imperial Indian Police in India. There he managed an elephant camp in the foothills of the Himalayas until he immigrated to Canada and joined the RCMP on July 25, 1923.

He had a wide and varied police experience in the Force. He served on a two-man team in the isolated Mackenzie River district patrolling the area on snow shoes and performing a number of legal, social, medical and administrative duties. He worked in the Arctic, western Canada and as Officer in Charge of the Special Branch at Ottawa during the famous Gouzenko case and espionage investigations. For a number of years he was the editor of the RCMP publication The Quarterly. On April 1, 1959 he was made Commissioner of the RCMP.

He made revisions to both the RCMP Act and Superannuation Act which provided for disability pensions for injuries sustained on duty. In 1960 just before leaving office, he was elected Vice President of the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol).

Rivett-Carnac was well decorated during his career. In 1935, he was awarded the Silver Jubilee Medal and in 1943 the RCMP Good Conduct Medal. He was made Honourary Aide-de-Camp and Lieutenant-Governor of Saskatchewan. In June of 1951, he was elected to the British Columbia Provincial Executive Committee of the Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, and on July 16, 1955 was made a Brother Officer of the same Order. In 1952, Rivett-Carnac joined the Canadian General Council of the Boy Scouts Association, a position he held for three years. In 1956 he was given the RCMP Long Service Medal and Silver Clasp and Star, and two years later received the Gold Clasp and Star.

He retired on March 31, 1960. On July 18, 1980 he died at Victoria, B.C. and was interred in the Force Cemetery at Depot, Regina.


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