The English first began using fingerprints in July of 1858 when Sir William Herschel Chief Magistrate of the Hooghly district in Jungipoor India first used fingerprints on native contracts On a whim and with no thought toward personal identification Herschel had Rajyadhar Konai a local businessman impress his hand print 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 printsand later simply the prints of the right Index and Middle fingerson 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 predicated not upon scientific evidence but upon superstitious beliefs As his fingerprint collection grew however Herschel began to note that the inked impressions could indeed prove or disprove identity 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