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The problems of disbandment: the Royal Irish Constabulary and imperial migration, 1919–29

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2016

Kent Fedorowich
Kent Fedorowich*
Affiliation:
Faculty of Humanities, University of the West of England, Bristol
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Extract

When the Anglo-Irish campaign ended in July 1921, the British government, in accordance with the agreed settlement, initiated the disbandment of the Royal Irish Constabulary (R.I.C.). For over a century the Irish police force, renamed the Royal Irish Constabulary in 1867, had carried the burden of policing in Ireland, and after 1916 it bore the brunt of escalating republican intimidation and violence. Now that the conflict was over and the R.I.C. faced dissolution, a number of questions remained outstanding. What would Whitehall do to assist former members of this force once British troops had withdrawn? What contingencies, if any, had been made by the British government for the speedy removal of these men who could not remain in Ireland ‘simply because they [had] performed their duty fearlessly as loyal servants of the Crown’? Was compensation forthcoming, and if so, what forms would it take? One suggestion which received close scrutiny was their resettlement in the overseas dominions — but how receptive were the dominion governments to this proposal?

Type
Research Article
Information
Irish Historical Studies , Volume 30 , Issue 117 , May 1996 , pp. 88 - 110
Copyright
Copyright © Irish Historical Studies Publications Ltd 1996

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References

1 Commandant Maxwell, R.I.C. Camp, Gormanston, County Meath, to Commissioner of Police, London, 28 Apr. 1922 (P.R.O., MEPO 2/1814).

2 Townshend, Charles, The British campaign in Ireland, 1919–1921 (Oxford, 1975), p. 41 Google Scholar. As yet, there is no official history of the R.I.C., but for some aspects of its history and administration see Townshend, British campaign; Bowden, Tom, The breakdown of public security (London, 1977), pp 17–36, 95–140Google Scholar; Brewer, John D., The Royal Irish Constabulary: an oral history (Belfast, 1990)Google Scholar; Duggan, G.C., ‘The Royal Irish Constabulary’ in Edwards, Owen Dudley and Pyle, Fergus (eds), 1916: the Easter Rising (London, 1968), pp 91–9 Google Scholar; Hawkins, Richard, ‘The “Irish model” and the Empire: a case for reassessment’ in Anderson, David and Killingray, David (eds), Policing the Empire (Manchester, 1991), pp 18–32 Google Scholar; Moran, Mary Denise, ‘A force beleaguered: the Royal Irish Constabulary, 1900–1922’ (unpublished M.A. thesis, University College, Galway, 1989)Google Scholar; McEldowney, John F., ‘Policing and the administration of justice in nineteenth-century Ireland’ in Emsley, Clive and Weinberger, Barbara (eds), Policing in Western Europe: politics, professionalization and public order, 1850–1940 (Westport, 1991), pp 18–35 Google Scholar; Muenger, Elizabeth A., The British military dilemma in Ireland: occupation politics, 1886–1914 (London, 1991), pp. 81–125 Google Scholar; O’Halpin, Eunan, ‘British intelligence in Ireland, 1914–1921’ in Andrew, Christopher and Dilks, David (eds), The missing dimension: governments and intelligence communities in the twentieth century (London, 1984), pp 54–77 CrossRefGoogle Scholar. The most recent scholarly contribution to a growing bibliography is Lowe, W.J. and Malcolm, E.L., ‘The domestification of the Royal Irish Constabulary, 1836–1922’ in Ir. Econ. & Soc. Hist., xix (1992), pp 27–48 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

3 Finnane, Mark, ‘Governing the police’ in Smith, F.B. (ed.), Ireland, England and Australia: essays in honour of Oliver MacDonagh (Canberra, 1990), pp 201–23 Google Scholar; idem, ‘The varieties of policing: colonial Queensland, 1860–1900’ in Anderson & Killingray (eds), Policing the Empire, pp 33–51; Marquis, Greg, ‘Working men in uniform: the early twentieth-century Toronto police’ in Histoire sociale — Social History, xx (1987), pp 259–77 Google Scholar; Morrison, William R., Showing the flag: the mounted police and Canadian sovereignty in the north, 1894–1925 (Vancouver, 1985), pp 2–3 Google Scholar; McCracken, Donal P., ‘The Irish in South Africa: the police, a case study’ in Familia: Ulster Genealogical Review, vii (1911), pp 40-46Google Scholar; Lowry, D.W., ‘The Irish in Rhodesia: wild land — tame, sacred and profane’ in McCracken, Donal P. (ed.), The Irish in southern Africa, 1795–1910 (Durban, 1992), pp 242–60 Google Scholar. For examples of former R.I.C. personnel who obtained senior positions in several imperial police forces see the pension claims files for the following: Chief of Police P. Murphy, Kedah, Malay States; Chief Inspector M. O’Neill, Straits Settlements; Acting Sergeant-Major James Brackenreed, Trinidad Police; and Deputy Inspector-General T. J. Hazlett, Jamaican Police (PR.O., T 164/2/1, T 164/14/3, T 164/35/25,Т 164/43/25).

4 The controversy over pay and war bonuses was waged in the columns of the Constabulary Gazette throughout 1918–19. See also annual civil service report for R.I.C., 1922–23 (P.R.O., T 165/49). My thanks to Jane Leonard for reminding me of this dispute and for the reference.

5 Townshend, British campaign; Fitzpatrick, David, Politics and Irish life, 1913–1921: provincial experience of war and revolution (Dublin, 1977), pp 1–44.Google Scholar

6 Townshend, British campaign, pp 19–20, 48; Buckland, Patrick, Irish Unionism I: The Anglo-Irish and the new Ireland, 1885–1922 (Dublin, 1972), p. 201 Google Scholar.

7 Note on Irish situation, 25 July 1920 (P.R.O., Anderson papers, CO 904/188/1).

8 Figures vary, but the statistics were gleaned from Buckland, Irish Unionism 1, p. 201;Townshend, British campaign, pp 42, 214. Ex-R.I.C. and ex-servicemen were vulnerable targets after the truce and during the civil war: see Leonard, Jane, ‘Getting them at last: the I.R.A. and ex-servicemen’ in Fitzpatrick, David (ed.), Revolution? Ireland 1917–1923 (Dublin, 1990), pp 118–29 Google Scholar.

9 Inspector-General’s confidential monthly police reports, Cork eastern region (northern section), Mar. 1921 (P.R.O., CO 904/114); British government outrage descriptions, Galway, 18 Oct. 1920 (ibid., CO 904/225).

10 Secret weekly summary by Greenwood, 5 July 1920 (P.R.O., CAB 27/108/SIC 8).

11 Trindes to Chief Commissioner of Metropolitan Police, 28 Sept. 1920 (P.R.O., HO 45/24754/428736/1); minute by Diarmuid O’Hegarty, 11 June 1920 (N.A.I., DE 2/125); Greenwood’s weekly summaries to cabinet, 5, 12 July 1920 (P.R.O., CAB 27/108/SIC 8, 13). For the overall impact on recruitment see Townshend, British campaign, p. 209.

12 Harvey, A.D., ‘Who were the Auxiliaries?’ in Hist. Jn., xxxv (1992), pp 665–9 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

13 Jeffery, Keith, The British army and the crisis of empire, 1918–22 (Manchester, 1984), p. 85 Google Scholar. For an insight into the activities of the non-Irish members of the R.I.С see Bennett, Richard, The Black and Tans (London, 1959)Google Scholar and Duff, D.V., Sword for hire (London, 1932).Google Scholar

14 Greenwood memorandum, ‘The future of the Royal Irish Constabulary’, 10 Dec. 1921 (P.R.O., CAB 24/131/CP 3542); Committee on Ireland, 30 Oct., 2 Nov. 1920 (ibid., CAB 27/70/CI 99, CAB 27/68/CI 20); Constabulary Gazette, 1 Oct. 1921; Gregory to Craig, 16 Dec. 1921 (P.R.O.N.I., CAB 6/23); see also Gregory, Vere, The house of Gregory (Dublin, 1943), pp 88–119 Google Scholar. My thanks to Jane Leonard for the last reference.

15 Churchill memorandum, ‘The appeal of the Royal Irish Constabulary’, 17 Dec. 1921 (P.R.O., CAB 24/131/CP 3567).

16 Cabinet memorandum, ‘Disbandment of the R.I.C’, Mar. 1922 (ibid., CAB 24/134/CP 3829).

17 Austen Chamberlain to Walter Long, 19 May 1922 (B.L., Long papers. Add. MS 62405); Donoughmore to Long, 9 May 1922 (Wiltshire Record Office (henceforth W.R.O.), Long papers, 947/430). See P.R.O., T 164/18/32 for comparative pension table between the R.I.C., civil service, English police force, army pensions, war pensions and post-war disability pensions.

18 ‘Royal Irish Constabulary: terms of disbandment’ (W.R.O., Long papers, 947/427); undated memorandum discussing the disbandment and compensation allowances of the R.I.C. and the temporary forces attached to it (House of Lords, Lloyd George papers, F/l85/1/3). For the original conditions of disbandment and the revised schedules for all members of the R.I.C, including the Auxiliaries, see Royal Irish Constabulary Auxiliary Division [Cmd 1618], H.C. 1922, xvii, 785; Royal Irish Constabulary: terms of disbandment (Cmd 1618A], H.C. 1922, xvii, 787; Royal Irish Constabulary: revised terms of disbandment [Cmd 1673], H.C. 1922, xvii, 807; Royal Irish Constabulary: return showing rates of pay and maximum and minimum compensation allowances payable on disbandment [Cmd 1719], H.C. 1922, xvii, 815; Constabulary (Ireland) Bill: memorandum on financial provisions [Cmd 1649], H.C. 1922, xvii, 819.

19 Greenwood to Treasury, 24 Feb. 1922 (P.R.O., CAB 24/134/CP 3829).

20 Greenwood memorandum, 10 Dec. 1921 (ibid., CAB 24/131/CP 3542); minutes of Irish Committee, 29 June 1922 (ibid., CAB 16/42/SS(IC)8).

21 Sturgis diary, 15 Dec. 1921 (P.R.O., 30/59/5).

22 Sturgis to Anderson, 6 Mar. 1922 (ibid., HO 45/24754/428736/4a).

23 Dublin Castle to Anderson, 7 Mar. 1922 (ibid.).

24 Ibid. Intelligence was indeed supplied by disaffected R.I.С or those with nationalist sentiments (Pádraig О Caoimh, secretary of Sinn Féin, to secretaries of Sinn Féin clubs, July 1920 (University College, Dublin, Archives, Mulcahy papers, P7/A/40)); report by Jeremiah Mee, 7 Oct. 1920 (N.A.I., DE 2/161); see also Gaughan, J.Anthony, Memoirs of Constable Jeremiah Mee (Dublin, 1975).Google Scholar

25 Moran, ‘A force beleaguered’, p. 216.

26 Constabulary Gazette, 6 Aug. 1921.

27 P. A. Marrinan, R.I.C. county inspector, to Midleton, 26 Mar. 1922 (P.R.O., Midleton papers, 30/67/49).

28 Sturgis diary, 15 Dec. 1921 (P.R.O., 30/59/5).

29 Bates to Craig, 9 Mar. 1922 (P.R.O.N.I., CAB 6/33).

30 Shiells, Derek, ‘The politics of policing: Ireland 1919–1923’ in Emsley, & Weinberger, (eds), Policing in Western Europe, p. 141 Google Scholar; Farrell, Michael, Arming the Protestants (London, 1983), pp 167–209 Google Scholar; Brewer, Royal Irish Constabulary, pp 117–27; Brady, Conor, Guardians of the peace (Dublin, 1976).Google Scholar

31 Spender to Gregory, 20 Dec. 1921 (P.R.O.N.I., CAB 6/33).

32 Farrell, Arming the Protestants, p. 189.

33 Moran, ‘A force beleaguered’, p. 233; Farrell, Arming the Protestants, pp 187–91.

34 C. Doubleday to W. M. Trickett, 13 Feb. 1923 (P.R.O., T 160/125/F4669/03/1); Allen, Gregory, ‘Policemen in your family tree’ in Dublin Hist. Rec., lvi (1993), pp 121–8 Google Scholar. My thanks to Jane Leonard for the last reference.

35 Chief Commissioner of Metropolitan Police to Under-Secretary of State for the Home Office, 18 Oct. 1920 (P.R.O., HO 45/24754/428736/1).

36 Home Office minutes, 28, 30 Oct. 1920 (ibid.).

37 Rafter to Under-Secretary of State for the Home Office, 12 Jan. 1922 (ibid., HO 45/24754/428736/2).

38 Anderson circular to county and borough chief constables, 27 Sept. 1922 (ibid., HO 45/24754/428736/6); minute by Chief Commissioner of Metropolitan Police, 25 Jan. 1922 (ibid.). For some recent work on the English police forces see Emsley, Clive, The English police: a political and social history (London, 1991)Google Scholar; Englander, David, ‘Police and public order in Britain, 1914–1918’ in Emsley, & Weinberger, (eds), Policing in Western Europe, pp 90–138 Google Scholar.

39 Samuel to Churchill, 11 Dec. 1921 ( Gilbert, Martin, Winston S. Churchill, iv: Companion, pt 3: Documents, Apr. 1921 - Nov. 1922 (London, 1977), p. 1689 Google Scholar); Wilson to Congreve, 10 Dec. 1921, 10 Jan. 1922 (Imperial War Museum, Wilson papers, HHW 2/52B/40, 47); Wilson diary, 9 Dec. 1921 (ibid., DS/Misc/80) (emphasis is Wilson’s). Quotation from the Wilson papers is by kind permission of the trustees of the Imperial War Museum.

40 ’Notes on the British gendarmerie’, 3 Jan. 1923 (Middle Eastern Archive, St Antony’s, Oxford, A. J. McNeil papers); Smith, Steven, ‘Communal conflict and insurrection in Palestine, 1936–18’ in Anderson, David and Killingray, David (eds), Policing and decolonisation (Manchester, 1991), p. 63 Google Scholar; Doubleday toTrickett, 13 Feb. 1923 (P.R.O., T 160/125/F4669/03/1); lists of 151 former Black and Tans and R.I.C. who served in Palestine (ibid., CO 733/128/9). See also ibid., CO 733/128/3-5, 8 for individual pension and compensation cases. For some ex-R.I.C. reminiscences about Palestine see Brewer, Royal Irish Constabulary, pp 117–27; Duff, D.V., Bailing with a teaspoon (London, 1953).Google Scholar

41 Secret cable, Winston Churchill, Secretary of State for the Colonies, to Lord Byng, Governor-General of Canada, 31 Jan. 1922 (National Archives of Canada (henceforth N.A.C.), RG 7, G21, vol. 654, f. 38691).

42 Secret cables, Byng to Churchill, 17, 22 Mar., 8 Apr. 1922 (ibid.); Weekly Irish Times, 27 May 1922. In the same paper of 22 July 1922 there was an advertisement for ex-R.I.C men to join Divisional Commissioner R. F. Cruise and help establish a co-operative fruit and market-garden settlement near Kamloops, British Columbia. J. Obed Smith, Assistant Superintendent of Emigration, to F. C. Blair, secretary of the Department of Immigration and Colonisation. 11 Apr. 1922 (N. A.C., RG 76, vol. 182, file 65067); Blair to S. Maber, secretary of the S.S.B.. 31 Oct. 1922 (ibid.).

43 Colonial Office minutes, Apr. 1922 (P.R.O., CO 532/208/18605).

44 Marquis, ‘Working men in uniform’, pp 262–5, 273.

45 Lord Jellicoe, Governor-General of New Zealand, to Churchill, 23 Feb. 1922 (P.R.O., CO 532/207/8739); С A. Harris, Governor of Newfoundland, to Churchill, 28 Feb. 1922 (ibid., CO 532/207/9807); Lord Forster, Governor-General of Australia, to Churchill, 6, 21 Mar. 1922 (ibid.); Agent-General Ashbolt to Premier’s Department, 10 Apr. 1922, and minute by Hayes, 13 Apr. 1922 (Archive Office of Tasmania, Premier’s Department papers, PD 1/55/15/22); Prince Arthur of Connaught, Governor-General of South Africa, to Churchill, 17 Feb. 1922 (P.R.O., CO 532/207/7861).

46 Minute by Macnaghtcn, 12 Feb. 1922 (P.R.O., CO 532/207/6327).

47 McKernan, Michael, ‘Catholics, conscription and Archbishop Mannix’ in Australian Historical Studies, xvii (1976-7), pp 299–314 Google Scholar; Murphy, D.J., ‘Religion, race and conscription in World War I’ in Australian Journal of Politics and History, xx (1974), pp 151–63 Google Scholar.

48 Forster to Churchill, 9 Mar. 1922 (P.R.O., CO 532/207/11426).

49 Plant to Whiskard, 4 Oct. 1922 (ibid., T 161/184/S 16952); minute by Macnaghten, 26 Jan. 1922 (ibid., CO 721/39/1755).

50 Whiskard to E. L. Cuthbertson, Treasury representative on O.S.C., 7 Oct. 1922 (ibid., T 161/184/S 16952).

51 Acting superintendent to secretary of Prime Minister’s Department, 14 Sept. 1922 (Australian Archives, CRS A458, item H154/16).

52 Colonial Office memorandum, 20 Mar. 1922 (P.R.O., T 164/18/32). Igoe commanded a special force of R.I.C. whose task it was to identify and apprehend leading I.R.A. gunmen who came to Dublin on the run. ‘For this purpose’, Whiskard reported to the Treasury, ‘Igoe found it necessary to be handier with his gun than the gunmen were with theirs. Hence his extreme unpopularity.’ (Whiskard to G. C. Upcott, Treasury official, 13 June 1922 (ibid., T 164/25/20))

53 Minutes of meeting held at the O.S.C., 3 Feb. 1922 (ibid., T 164/452).

54 Winter to Amery, 17 Feb. 1922 (ibid.). When in Ireland, Winter had also been given the task of establishing a British intelligence network (see Greenwood to Winter, 23 Oct. 1922 (P.R.O., CO 904/177/2)). For a personal insight see Winter, Ormonde, Winter’s tale (London, 1955)Google Scholar. Intelligence operations are discussed by O’Halpin, Eunan, ‘Intelligence and security in Ireland, 1922–15’ in Intelligence and National Security, v (1990), pp 50–83 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

55 Minutes on draft of Constabulary Bill, Mar. 1922, and Niemeyer to Sir T. L. Heath, National Debt Office, 9 Mar. 1922 (P.R.O., T 164/467). For a contradictory view see ‘Commutation for the purpose of emigration’, n.d. (P.R.O.N.I., D989 B/2/3a);’cheese-paring’ reference in Weekly Irish Times, 22 Apr. 1922.

56 Unofficial report of the R.I.C. tribunal, Mar. 1928 (P.R.O., HO 45/13029/49523/3).

57 Ibid.

58 Ibid.

59 Whiskard to the secretary of the Treasury, 29 Oct. 1923 (P.R.O., HO 45/20485/588223/1); memorandum by unidentified Home Office official, 2 May 1930 (ibid., HO 45/20482/582627/4); Fedorowich, Kent, ‘The migration to Canada of British ex-servicemen and the role of the Naval and Military Emigration League, 1899–1914’ in Histoire sociale — Social History, xxv (1992), pp 75–99 Google Scholar; Blair to Thomas Gelley, Commissioner of Immigration, Winnipeg. 13 Sept. 1922 (N.A.C., RG 76, vol. 182, file 65067).

60 This figure is cited in Fitzpatrick, Politics & Irish life, p. 45.

61 ‘Hemming to Sir Edward Troup, chairman of the R.I.C. tribunal, 13 Dec. 1923 (Bodl., Hemming papers).

62 S. J. Baker, Home Office official, to E. T. Crutchley, Colonial Office official, 5 Jan. 1928 (P.R.O., DO 57/67/1755); Rory F. Egan to author, 6 May 1993.1 would like to thank John and Reginald Egan of London, who, in a chance encounter while investigating their own family history at the P.R.O., put me in contact with the Canadian branch of the Egan family in Mississauga, Ontario.

63 Quotation cited in Moran, ‘A beleaguered force’, p. 226; original source in Weekly Irish Times, 2 Sept. 1922.

64 Inspector Roland S. Browne of Commonwealth Investigation Branch (Melbourne) to Commonwealth Treasury, 30 Jan. 1930 (P.R.O., HO 45/20482/582627/4); case of unnamed pensioner, 25 May 1931 (ibid., DO 35/406/11407/12, DO 3/40). For additional pension cases involving R.I.C. personnel who had emigrated to Australia and Canada see J. H.Walton to W. С Roberts, 4 Aug. 1949 (ibid., T 164/467).

65 Home Office memorandum, 12 May 1920 (ibid., HO 45/20482/582627/4); reports by district officers of the Queensland police on ex-R.I.C. personnel working and farming in northern Queensland, 1923 (Queensland State Archive, Police Department papers, Commissioner’s Office, 1451 M A45483).

66 Fitzpatrick, Politics & Irish life, p. 45.

67 Hemming to Troup, 13 Dec. 1923 (Bodl., Hemming papers).

68 Report by Baker, Jan. 1925 (P.R.O., T 164/54/12). In percentage terms, the tribunal was able to recommend 67.8 per cent of the total number of applications: 94.8 per cent of the total number of applications for emigration, 55.2 per cent for home commutation, and 56.3 per cent of the applications for further commutation.

69 The commutation figures for the purposes of emigration are unavailable for Feb.-Dec. 1924, although Baker suggests that just over two-thirds of the 151 applications for this period were approved. However, returns for nine months of 1925, Jan.-Feb. 1926 and Aug. 1927 reveal that an additional 151 applications were approved. (Report by Baker and monthly returns enclosed in file (P.R.O., T 164/54/12); see also ibid., T 164/36/2 for additional examples of emigration and home commutations)

70 Interim report submitted by R.I.С tribunal, 26 Feb. 1924, and report by Baker, Jan. 1925 (ibid., T 164/54/12).

71 Brewer, Royal Irish Constabulary, p. 117.

72 One newspaper claimed that 244 men from the old R.I.C. were known to have moved to Britain, and that 2, 055 had expressed their intention of going (Weekly Irish Times, 15 Apr. 1922). In the Irish Independent of 24 Sept. 1924 an ex-R.I.C. man wrote to the editor stating that ‘thousands’ of R.I.C. exiles were anxious to return to Ireland from Britain. This was no doubt somewhat of an exaggeration, but it raises the important point that many Irish recruits migrated across the Irish Sea to escape persecution.

73 Table of 103 R.I.C. pensioners serving in overseas police forces (in which at least five were Irish enlistments) contained in J. Mahood, Paymaster-General’s Office, to T. K. Bewley, Treasury, 28 Jan. 1929 (P.R.O., T 160/266/F11130); compensation cases nos 1048 and 1078 (Irish Military Archives, Dublin, S 12587). The two men who were the subject of these cases resigned from the R.I.C. in 1920, emigrated to Queensland, and found work as policemen in Brisbane. For reasons of confidentiality, names cannot be cited from the compensation files held in the Irish Military Archives. However, names acquired from P.R.O. material do not have such restrictions.

74 Memorandum for Canadian Deputy Minister of Immigration and Colonisation, 17 Oct. 1923 (N.A.C., RG 76, vol. 182, file 65067).

75 The helpful comments of Jane Leonard, Phil Ollerenshaw, Martin Thomas and Peter Young on an earlier draft of this article are gratefully acknowledged, as is the feedback from members of the history seminar, Australian Defence Force Academy (1989), imperialism seminar, Institute of Historical Research (1992), and participants at the Belfast conference of the British Association of Canadian Studies (1992). Thanks are also due to David Fitzpatrick for several timely references and contacts, and to the Nuffield Foundation for a grant in aid of research.