1856 SIR WILLIAM HERSCHEL
Sir William Herschel, Chief Magistrate of the Hooghly district in Jungippor, India, became interested in the use of hand/fingerprints on contracts made with the local people.
On a whim, and with no thought toward personal identification, Hershel had Rajyadhar Konai, a local businessman, impress his handprint on the back of a contract. The idea was merely, to “frighten him out of all thought of repudiating his signature.” The native was suitably impressed, and Herschel made a habit of requiring palm prints, and later, simply the prints of the right index and middle fingers on every contract made with the locals. Personal contact with the document, they believed, made the contract more binding than if they simply signed it. Thus, the first wide-scale, modern-day use of fingerprints was started, not upon scientific evidence, but on superstitious beliefs.
By conducting his own experiments with colleagues and friends, taking their fingerprints over periods of time, and with careful notation, Herschel established the principle of ‘Persistence’ and ‘Immutability’. While his experience with fingerprinting was admittedly limited, Sir Herschel’s private conviction that all fingerprints were unique to the individual, as well as permanent throughout that individual’s life, inspired him to expand their use.
Using his various posts as a Magistrate, including the control of prisons, he introduces the use of fingerprints to prevent impersonation, and suggested that this practice should be more universally used.
© Centrex, National Training Centre