Brief
Biography:
Hugh Annesley was born in and educated in Dublin attending St Andrews Preparatory School and Avoca School for Boys, Blackrock, before joining the Metropolitan Police, London, in 1958. His career in the force was marked by a series of promotions through the ranks and in 1974 he was appointed Chief Superintendent (1974-76). This was then followed in 1976 by a move to become Assistant Chief Constable in the Sussex Police (1976-81) and during his time in this position he was selected to attend courses at the Royal College of Defence Studies. These experiences saw him return to the Metropolitan Police in 1981 as Deputy Assistant Commissioner for central and north-west London (1981-85) and four years later in 1985 he was made Assistant Commisssioner with responsibilty for training and personnel (1985-89). In 1987 his responsibilties were extended to entail control of specialist operations which involved groups such as Special Branch and the coordination of anti-terrorist work in Britain. At the same time Annesley's work was recognised by his appointment as Britain's representative on the executive committee of Interpol (1987-90 and 1993-94) with its objective of coordinating the work of various police forces on a worldwide basis.
In spite of this range of experience his appointment as the Chief Constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) (1989-96) by the Northern Ireland Police Authority (NIPA) in June 1989 surprised many observers. In his new role Annesley's brief was to be an extremely challenging one, attempting to deal not only with the ongoing campaign of Irish Republican Army (IRA) but a fresh wave of attacks from loyalist paramilitaries. Furthermore he faced the task of politically sensitive matters such as attempts to improve relations between the RUC and the nationalist community in Northern Ireland. Here too difficulties were to occur particularly over widespread concerns of the leaking of sensitive security documents on suspected republican terrorists which were then apparently used by loyalists to attack members of the catholic community. In spite of a number of high profile investigations into these matters, allegations of collusion by the security forces continued to provoke ongoing controversy. Despite this controversy his service to the police forces in which he had served was awarded by a knighthood in 1992.
As chief constable of the RUC at the time of the calling of the first IRA ceasefire in August 1994, he responded cautiously drawing attention to the fact that the word 'permanent' had not been used in the statement. Later however following the calling of a ceasefire by loyalist paramilitary groups in October 1994, he began to take a more positive approach on the course of future events believing that there would be no immediate return to violence by either side. In addition he also contributed to the debate over what form and shape policing should take in the absence of any terrorist campaign. Whilst he recognised the need for some sort of reform to the RUC, Annesley made it clear he was not prepared to countenance any sort of radical change that would involve the breakup of the force. In the wake of the ending of the IRA ceasefire in February 1996, he found himself having to reverse some of the measures that had been taken and to once again increase security measures. Following his announcement in May 1996 that he intended to retire in November 1996, Annesley's final months in office were marred by a series of problems which led to some calling for his resignation. To begin with his relations with the NIPA deteriorated initially over the future size of the RUC and in July 1996 he faced widespread criticism for his decision to reverse the ban imposed on an Orange Order march proceeding down the Garvaghy Road, Portadown against the wishes of local nationalist residents.
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