Kerala Police, in its present form, dates back to 1956 when the state itself was created in the course of re-organization of states following the independence of India in 1947. In the pre-independence era, the region consisted of the princely states of Travancore and Cochin, and the Malabar region that came under the erstwhile province of Madras. Although the princely states did have their traditional forms of policing all along, the semblance of a modern police force was created in the late 19th century under the British rule. Oliver H. Bensley became the first Superintendent of Police for the state of Travancore in 1881. As the organization grew, Khan Bahadur Sayyid Abdul Karim Suhrawardy became the first Inspector General of Police of Travancore in 1938. The state of Cochin got its first IGP in 1942. The IGP of Malabar was based at Madras. Many of the handwritten records and the weaponry used by the police force over a century ago survive to this date and provide an interesting peep into the past of the organization, the way it functioned and the society it served.