Some time ago we published a photo of a group of new recruits arriving in Bermuda on a BOAC flight way back in September 1963 (CLICK HERE to see photo in our Who, Where and When column). It was noted that one recruit failed to arrive because he missed the flight. The missing recruit was Ian “Baby” Douris who finally arrived safely a few days later and went on to serve in the Bermuda Police from September 1963 to August 1970.
We believed that he eventually settled somewhere in New England and appealed for anyone with information about his whereabouts to contact us.
We have finally received an answer, but sadly, it was just a few days after Ian passed away at the end of July 2015. The news came from his daughter, Christine, who wrote a brief note to our website. We have written back to Christine who has sent us several great photos and has also promised to get together with her mother, Kathy, to provide us with more information about her father who she describes as, “the sweetest man I ever met and no one could say a bad word about him.”
Clearly it is the same Ian we all knew - but he did have a penchant for getting into occasional “hot water”!
As mentioned, Ian arrived in Bermuda in September 1963, and after attending a Basic Training Course he was posted to Central Division (Hamilton Police Station), and was later transferred to Operations Division (Cycle Squad), and then to Western Division (Somerset) before resigning in 1970.
We are not sure exactly why but he was soon given the nickname “Baby“ or “Baby Dour”, probably because he looked so young when he first arrived here. Ian played football with the Police Team where he always gave 100% effort. He also played rugby on at least one occasion – in an inter-Divisional seven-a-side competition when his team from Traffic were the winners.
Ian was a highly intelligent young man who loved participating in the then very popular Quiz Nights held at the Police Recreation Club. He eventually took over from fellow Scotsman, Crawford Rae, as quizmaster for these events. He was blessed with an excellent memory which he used to good effect when he was transferred to Cycle Squad. At that time the Police used to keep a list of all “removed” (stolen) motor cycles and auxiliary cycles, and Ian was able to instantly recall every cycle on the list with 100% accuracy.
He did, however, have a few disciplinary issues! Perhaps the most memorable was the night he was on guard duty at Government House where the officer on duty was supposed to stand outside the guard hut and make regular checks around the grounds. The Sergeant on duty in Hamilton would make occasional visits to check on the G.H. officer, and on this particular night he was shocked to find Ian sitting way up in a tree apparently asleep.
It’s not our policy to divulge “convictions” for disciplinary offences, and I should say that his file shows Ian was never put on a “charge” for the tree infraction, but his Police record indicates that he was reprimanded after pleading guilty to “Whilst on guard duty in a cell with a prisoner on 29.3.64 did fall asleep.” So, sleeping up a tree sounds entirely plausible!
Ian was also said to have been told off for standing on a street corner in full uniform with his hat under his arm, eating an apple!
Ian was a betting man. In his article about the History of the Police Tug o’ War Team (CLICK HERE to view) , Pat McBride specifically mentioned that Ian was quick to take on a £20 bet from a Marine who mistakenly thought that his huge fellow marines would quickly dispose of a much smaller police team. Big mistake! Our Police Team never lost a single competition – ever.
We know that Ian benefitted financially when the Celtic football team visited the Island in 1966 at the start of their tour of the United States. This was a brilliant young team who went on to be crowned European Champions in the 1966-1967 season. Celtic played two exhibition games here in Bermuda. The team spent a lot of time at the Police Club where Ian and a few other Scots placed a small wager with Celtic players that they could NOT score 10 or more goals in one of their matches against a Bermuda team being held at Devonshire Recreation Club. On the night of the match Ian worked his way through the spectators placing bets with anyone and everyone that Celtic would score in double figures! The final score was 10-1, with Jimmy Copeland, a former player with Kilmarnock scoring Bermuda's only goal. Ian was smiling all the way back to the Police Club.
Ian was a great character who will always be fondly remembered by those who knew him. We encourage you to let us have your own personal anecdotes about “Baby Dour”.
In the meantime we express our sincere condolences to Christine and Kathy and the Douris family at their loss.