The Irish Revenue Police

La 4e de couv. indique : "In the period 1832 to 1857, some 4,000 men served in the Irish Revenue Police, working to supress illicit distillation. In this book, Jim Herlihy shows how to find information on them, providing an excellent resource for those interested in the history of the force, and of the period. A chapter on the history and origin of the Irish Revenue Police and its predecessor forces engaged in 'still-hunting' is followed by one describing what a career in the Revenue Police might have been like, another on tracing your ancestor in the IRP, and a short memoir by IRP Lieutenant Matthew Power (1820-84). All this is followed by an extensive series of appendices filled with detailed information on the Irish Revenue Police and those who served in it, from the force's rank structure, to the distribution across Ireland of its divisions, stations and parties. The centrepiece of this is a complete list of every man who served in the force from 1830 to 1857. There is also information on what happened to Irish Revenue Police members after the force was disbanded in 1857, including the gratuities many were given, and lists of those who went on to join the Royal Irish Constabulary, the Dublin Metropolitan Police and the Londonderry Borough Police."

This new, revised and expanded edition brings back into print an excellent resource for those interested in the history of the RIC and the revolutionary period generally. In the period 1816 to 1922 some 85,000 men served in the RIC and its predecessor forces. Information on all these policemen is available, constituting a quarry for their descendants in Ireland, the US and elsewhere. The book consists of chapters on the history of policing in Ireland (to illustrate the type of men in the Force, their background and their lifestyle etc.), followed by a section on 'Tracing your ancestors in the RIC'. New appendices to this edition identify members of the RIC who were rewarded for their service during the Young Ireland Rising, 1848; the Fenian Rising, 1867; the Easter Rising, 1916; and the War of Independence, 1919-21. Also members of the RIC who volunteered for service in the Mounted Staff Corps and the Commissariat during the Crimean War; members who served as drivers and orderlies on secondment to the Irish Hospital in the South African War in 1900; and members who served in the British Army in the First World War are identified. RIC recipients of the King George V, Coronation (Police) Medal, 1911; the Constabulary Medal; and the Kings Police Medal are listed, as are ex-RIC men who transferred to the Royal Ulster Constabulary in 1922 and received additional bravery medals. [Subject: 19th Century History, 20th Century History, Policing, Genealogy & Archives, Ireland]

Some 12,566 men enlisted in the Dublin Metropolitan Police between the force's formation, in 1836, and its amalgamation with the Garda Sfochbna, in 1925. Herlihy is interested less in providing a formal history of the force, he writes, than in positioning the DMP in its historical context, showing t

"Francis O'Neill was Chicago's larger-than-life police chief, starting in 1901- and he was an Irish immigrant with an intense interest in his home country's music. In documenting and publishing his understanding of Irish musical folkways, O'Neill became the foremost shaper of what "Irish music" meant. He favored specific rural forms and styles, and as Michael O'Malley shows, he was the "beat cop" -actively using his police powers and skills to acquire knowledge about Irish music and to enforce a nostalgic vision of it"--

From 6 January 1920 recruiting to the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) was extended outside of Ireland to candidates with military experience to supplement the native Irish force, then depleted by massive resignations, suffering IRA attacks and widespread social exclusions. This new force was called the RIC Special Reserve. By July 1921 a total of 7,683 candidates recruited in Britain (381 Irish-born) had arrived in Ireland. From 3 September 1920 a second and separate group of 2,189 'Temporary Constables' (312 Irish-born) were recruited and attached to the newly-opened headquarters of the motorised division of the RIC at Gormanston Camp in Co. Meath. A third group known as the Veterans & Drivers Division attached to Gormanston Camp comprising of 1,069 (190 Irish-born) were recruited. Due to huge volume of recruits being immediately required and arriving in Ireland at such short notice, there was a shortage of complete regular 'rifle-green' RIC uniforms being available, they were fitted initially with ill-fitting khaki trousers and green tunics and vice-versa and collectively by March 1920 gained the title 'Black & Tans.' Even though the uniform situation was sorted by December 1920,