Edward Henry - Later Life

Later Life

On 25 November 1918, Henry was created a baronet, and in 1920 he and his family retired to Cissbury, near Ascot, Berkshire.

He continued to be involved in fingerprinting advances and was on the committee of the Athenaeum Club and the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, as well as serving as a Justice of the Peace for Berkshire. He died at his home in 1931 of a heart attack, aged 80.

The Baronetcy became extinct, since his only son (he also had two daughters), Edward John Grey Henry, had died in 1930 at the age of 22.

His grave lay unattended for many years. In April 1992, it was located in the cemetery adjoining All Souls Church, South Ascot by Metropolitan Police Fingerprint Expert Maurice Garvie & his wife Janis. After a presentation by Maurice Garvie to The Fingerprint Society on the Life & Times of Sir Edward, the Fingerprint Society agreed to the funding and restoration of the grave which was completed in 1994.

In the Metropolitan Police Fingerprint Bureau Centenay Year, 2001, at the suggestion of Maurice Garvie, English Heritage in honour of Sir Edward Henry unveiled a Blue Plaque on his former London home, 19 Sheffield Terrace, Kensington, W.8. The year before, following an approach by Maurice Garvie, Berkshire County Council unveiled on Sir Edward's retirement home 'Cissbury' a Berkshire County Council Heitage Green Plaque.