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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 March 2016
For two weeks in late July and early August 1882 newspapers in Ireland and London carried accounts of discontent among members of the Royal Irish Constabulary (R.I.C.), which policed the whole of Ireland except Dublin. The Irish land war of 1879–82 was ending, and the R.I.C. had burnished their reputation for stolid loyalty among British officialdom and the Irish public at large. Problems among Ireland’s police may have been disquieting, particularly at Dublin Castle and in landowner circles, but in the news accounts and other papers that survive there were few expressions of surprise that, at the end of three years of often intense duty during the land war, the men of the R.I.C. were tired, restive and eager to draw attention to their concerns. By mid-1882 the morale and financial resources of individual members of the R.I.C. were drained. The problem of unreimbursed expenses incurred on land war duty, a special problem for married men with families, impinged on policemen’s living standards. Fatigue, frustration and, in individual cases, actual hardship compelled members of the R.I.C. at stations throughout the country to adopt the unusual expedient of public agitation. The excitement among the Irish police during the summer of 1882 resulted in remedial legislation and changes in working conditions that proved to be a defining point in the development of the R.I.C. as a career for young men in Ireland, rather than a stopover on the way to emigration.
1 The register of papers received by the Chief Secretary’s Office for the period 1 Aug. – 5 Sept. 1882 (N.A.I., C.S.O., C.R., 178–9, between nos 32973 and 37121) contains citations for at least twenty documents pertaining to the R.I.C. agitation which have not yet been found.
2 Lowe, W.J., ‘Policing Famine Ireland’ in Éire–Ireland, xxix, no. 4 (winter 1994), pp 47–67 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
3 Land League meetings: return of, in each county from Apr. 1879 to 31 Dec. 1880, 10 Jan. 1881 (N.A.I., Chief Secretary’s Office, Registered Papers, 1881/1251 (henceforth C.S.O., R.P.)); count of entries in C.S.O., R.P. indexes for 1881; Vaughan, W.E., Landlords and tenants in mid-Victorian Ireland (Oxford, 1994), p. 231 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
4 The word ‘station’ is used instead of ‘barrack’ because it is the predominant way in which the buildings in which the men of the R.I.C. lived and worked were described in official correspondence and publications.
5 Returns of police protecting sheriffs, 7 Aug., 28 Aug., 14 Sept. 1882 (N.A.I., C.S.O., R.P., 1882/33701, 36253, 38175).
6 An R.I.C. officer in the Kanturk district recorded 18 land meetings, 9 evictions and 96 agrarian offences (Diary of Sub-Inspector E. J. Kerin, 1880–82 (MS in the possession of E. L. Malcolm, Institute of Irish Studies, University of Liverpool)).
7 J. McSheehy, R.M., to Chief Secretary James Lowther, 15 Jan. 1880 (N.A.I., C.S.O., R.P., 1880/4200); outrage report of Sub-Inspector T. Fitzsimon, 5 Jan. 1881 (ibid., 1881/901).
8 Diary of County Inspector Andrew Reed, 12, 13, 14 May 1881 (MS in the private papers of Inspector-General Sir Andrew Reed held by his grandson, Tonbridge, Kent).
9 Lloyd, C.D. Clifford, Ireland under the Land League: a narrative of personal experiences (EEdinburgh & London, 1892), pp 6–13, 221–4, 231–5, 238–41Google Scholar.
10 The constabulary’s role at evictions was established three decades earlier during the Famine-era clearances. Evictions were, legally, private affairs, which the police could be called upon to protect. But they could not participate in displacing inhabitants or taking possession of dwellings or holdings. See Lowe, ‘Policing Famine Ireland’, pp 59–60.
11 Freeman’s Journal, 5 Aug. 1882.
12 File on dismissal of Sub-Constable Hugh Coyle, 13 June 1881 (N.A.I., C.S.O., R.P., 1881/22472).
13 Information provided by Niall Brunicardi.
14 Information provided by John Rooney.
15 Report on gratuity, Robert Bruce to Trevelyan, 1 Aug. 1882 (P.R.O., 30/60/6); R.I.C. circular, 13 May 1882 (ibid.). Citations provided by Stephen Ball.
16 Limerick Chronicle, 29 July 1882; The Times, 31 July 1882.
17 Limerick Chronicle, 29 July 1882.
18 Cork Examiner, 31 July 1882; The Times, 2 Aug. 1882. The Irish Times, which was later than the London papers in picking up the story, also printed a story about demands for an increase of 1s. per day (2 Aug. 1882).
19 Cork Examiner, 3 Aug. 1882.
20 ‘Complaint of the Limerick police’, 28 July 1882 (P.R.O., 30/60/6); Spencer to Trevelyan, 5 Aug. 1882 (B.L., Althorp papers, K.26). Citations provided by Stephen Ball.
21 The use of the term ‘circular’ to describe communications from police protesters is ironic, since the continuous flow of special information, as well as changes or updates to the published R.I.C. Code, from headquarters at Dublin Castle were also called circulars.
22 The Times, 4 Aug. 1882; Cork Examiner, 4 Aug. 1882; Irish Times, 4 Aug. 1882.
23 Limerick Chronicle, 5 Aug. 1882.
24 Henry A. Blake, a former R.I.C. officer and special R.M. who knew the Irish police well, thought the movement was ‘contemplated for some time, and that a large number of men have been engaged in it’ (H. A. Blake to E. G. Jenkinson, 5 Aug. 1882 (B.L., Althorp papers, K.200, miscellaneous correspondence, 1882)). Citation provided by Richard Hawkins.
25 Irish Times, 5 Aug. 1882.
26 Freeman’s Journal, 5 Aug. 1882.
27 Belfast News-Letter, 5 Aug. 1882.
28 Hansard 3, cclxxiii, 741–3 (4 Aug. 1882).
29 Ibid., 754–6.
30 Ibid., 927–45 (5 Aug. 1882).
31 Spencer to Harcourt, 7 Aug. 1882 (B.L., Althorp papers, K.17); Harcourt to Spencer, 8 Aug. 1882 (ibid.); see also Townshend, Charles, Political violence in Ireland: government and resistance since 1848 (Oxford, 1983), p. 176 Google Scholar.
32 Trevelyan to Spencer, 7 Aug. 1882 (B.L., Althorp papers, K.26); see also Trevelyan to Spencer, 2 Aug. 1882 (ibid., K.17); Spencer to Harcourt, 7 Aug. 1882 (ibid., K.26).
33 R.I.C. circular, 4 Aug. 1882 (T.C.D., Goulden papers, MS 7377/5/11).
34 Spencer to Trevelyan, 5 Aug. 1882 (B.L., Althorp papers, K.26); Trevelyan to Spencer, 7 Aug. 1882 (ibid.).
35 Spencer to Trevelyan, 5 Aug. 1882 (ibid.); Bruce to Trevelyan (report on constabulary agitation), n.d. (P.R.O., 30/60/6). Both citations provided by Stephen Ball.
36 Information supplied by Dr Linde Lunney, Dictionary of Irish Biography; D.N.B. entry; Lloyd, Ireland under the Land League, p. 229.
37 Hansard 3, cclxxiii, 754–6 (4 Aug. 1882).
38 A letter from a ‘Limerick Sub’ [sub-constable] published on 12 Aug. 1882 complimented the Limerick Chronicle on the ‘independent, impartial and able manner’ in which it covered the R.I.C. agitation in that city.
39 Limerick Chronicle, 5 Aug. 1882.
40 Irish Times, 7 Aug. 1882.
41 Lloyd, Ireland under the Land League, pp 1–2, 13, 25–7.
42 Ibid., pp 40–41.
43 Ibid., pp 100, 51.
44 Ibid, pp 156, 158, 162–8.
45 See Townshend, Political violence in Ireland, pp 71, 76–7, 83–4; Muenger, E.A., The British military dilemma in Ireland: occupation politics, 1886–1914 (Dublin, 1991), pp 89–97 Google Scholar; Crossman, Virginia, Politics, law and order in nineteenth-century Ireland (Dublin, 1996), pp 140–41, 145–7Google Scholar.
46 Lloyd, Ireland under the Land League, pp 36–7. Lloyd is unable to offer a compliment to the R.I.C. without a barb. In describing the training received by R.I.C. recruits as a ‘transformation’ that turned a ‘wild Irishman’ into a ‘steady, loyal, respectable, thoughtful, and disciplined member of society’, Lloyd thought it showed, ‘on the one hand, the natural weakness of the Irish character, and on the other, the facility with which it can be moulded and turned to good account’ (PP 52–3).
47 Lloyd to Spencer, 5 Aug. 1882 (B.L., Althorp papers, K.42, Lloyd correspondence). Citation provided by Richard Hawkins.
48 ‘Inspector-general’s proceedings at Limerick on 5th inst.’, 10 Aug. 1882 (N.A.I., C.S.O., R.P., 1882/34131).
49 The Times, 7 Aug. 1882.
50 Cork Examiner, 7 Aug. 1882; ‘Inspector-general’s proceedings at Limerick on 5th inst’, 10 Aug. 1882 (N.A.I., C.S.O., R.P., 1882/34131).
51 Spencer to Trevelyan, 7 Aug. 1882 (B.L., Althorp papers, K.26); Trevelyan to Spencer, 7 Aug. 1882, 9 Aug. 1882 (ibid.).
52 H. A. Blake to Courtenay Boyle, 9 Aug. 1882 (B.L., Althorp papers, K.200, miscellaneous correspondence, 1882). Citation provided by Richard Hawkins.
53 Cork Examiner, 7 Aug. 1882.
54 Belfast News-Letter, 7 Aug. 1882.
55 Freeman’s Journal, 7, 8 Aug. 1882.
56 The Irish Times carried a story about an R.I.C. escort party at Cappoquin, County Waterford, that held a meeting and resolved to support the agitation during an unresisted eviction (Irish Times, 10 Aug. 1882).
57 Ibid., 7, 8 Aug. 1882.
58 H. A. Blake to E. G. Jenkinson, 5 Aug. 1882 (B.L., Althorp papers, K.200, miscellaneous correspondence, 1882). Citation provided by Richard Hawkins.
59 Spencer to Trevelyan, 6 Aug. 1882, 7 Aug. 1882, 8 Aug. 1882 (B.L., Althorp papers, K.26); Spencer to Harcourt, 7 Aug. 1882 (ibid., K. 17); Spencer to E. G. Jenkinson, 8 Aug. 1882 (P.R.O., HO 144/72/a19). All citations provided by Stephen Ball.
60 Belfast News-Letter, 8 Aug. 1882.
61 Cork Examiner, 9 Aug. 1882.
62 The Times, 10 Aug. 1882; Belfast News-Letter, 10, 11 Aug. 1882; Irish Times, 10 Aug. 1882; Cork Examiner, 10, 11 Aug. 1882; Limerick Chronicle, 10 Aug. 1882.
63 Spencer to Harcourt, 9 Aug. 1882 (B.L., Althorp papers, K.17).
64 As the R.I.C. agitation was ending, there were reports that members of the Dublin Metropolitan Police (D.M.P.) were ‘extremely jealous’ of the favourable attention shown to the R.I.C. By early September 1882 jealousy turned into insubordination and some D.M.P. men left duty. More than 200 D.M.P. men were dismissed, but were reinstated when the agitation ended. See The Times, 9, 28, 31 Aug., 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9 Sept. 1882. The description of the R.I.C. agitation in Charles Townshend’s Political violence in Ireland confuses the R.I.C. and D.M.P. protests (p. 176).
65 Draft circular from the lord lieutenant, 10 Aug. 1882 (T.C.D., Goulden papers, MS 7377/5/11); Hansard 3, cclxxiii, 1626–7 (12 Aug. 1882).
66 H. A. Blake to Courtenay Boyle, 9 Aug. 1882 (B.L., Althorp papers, K.200, miscellaneous correspondence, 1882).
67 H. Hill to N. Chamberlain, 20 Nov. 1907 (N.A.I., C.S.O, R.P., 1908/20333).
68 Constabulary agitation: précis of reports received [by county] on 10, 11 Aug. 1882 (ibid., 1882/37393).
69 Irish Times, 14 Aug. 1882.
70 The Times, 14, 15 Aug. 1882.
71 Ibid., 30 Aug. 1882. For other negative comment see Galway Vindicator, 6 Sept. 1882, and the coverage in English papers reported in the Freeman’s Journal of 31 Aug. 1882.
72 Cork Examiner, 31 Aug. 1882; The Times, 31 Aug. 1882. For additional information on the Limerick transfer problem see The Times, 14, 15, 28, 29, 30 Aug., 1 Sept. 1882; Limerick Chronicle, 26, 29, 31 Aug., 2 Sept. 1882; Cork Examiner, 28, 30 Aug. 1882; Belfast News-Letter, 28 Aug. 1882; Freeman’s Journal, 29, 31 Aug. 1882; Galway Vindicator, 6 Sept. 1882; R. G. C. Hamilton to Bruce, 28 Aug. 1882 (T.C.D., Goulden papers, MS 7377/5/11); R. F. H. Fanning for Bruce to county inspectors, 28 Aug. 1882 (ibid.).
73 Statistics reproduced in the appendix of Griffin, Brian, ‘The Irish police: a social history, 1836–1914’ (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Loyola University of Chicago, 1990), pp 859-61Google Scholar.
74 Lowe, W.J. and Malcolm, E.L., ‘The domestication of the Royal Irish Constabulary, 1836–1922’ in Ir. Econ. & Soc. Hist., xix (1992), pp 43-4Google Scholar.
75 Cutting, newspaper not identified, Apr. 1859 (N.L.I., Larcom papers, 7617/16); Curtis, Robert, History of the Royal Irish Constabulary (Dublin, 1869), pp 136-41Google Scholar.
76 Henry Brownrigg, 1863 report (N.L.I., MS 915, pp 44–7); Griffin, ‘The Irish police’, pp 114–15.
77 Constabulary, Ireland: report of commissioners [C 3658], H.C. 1866, xxxiv, 167; Report of the commissioners appointed … to enquire into the condition of … the Royal Irish Constabulary [C 831], H.C. 1873, xxii, 131; Griffin, ‘The Irish police’, pp 116–18,121-2,859-61. Inspector-General John S. Wood wrote in 1873 that he hoped an anticipated pay increase would help to stop resignations (circular cited in The Times, 13 Jan. 1873).
78 Royal Irish Constabulary: report of the committee of inquiry: 1883, pp 5–6, 15 [C 3577], H.C. 1883, xxxii, 259–60, 269; Griffin, The ‘Irish police’, pp 118–20, 666.
79 R.I.C. report, 1883, pp 15–16 [C. 3577], H.C. 1883, xxxii, 271–2.
80 Lowe & Malcolm, ‘Domestication of the Royal Irish Constabulary’, pp 27–48.
81 R.I.C. report, 1883, p. 4 [C 3577], H.C. 1883, xxxii, 260. The committee also found widespread resentment in the R.I.C. at the apparent authority of special resident magistrates such as Clifford Lloyd (ibid., p. 21 [277]).
82 H. A. Blake to E. G. Jenkinson, 4 Aug. 1882 (B.L., Althorp papers, K.200, miscellaneous correspondence, 1882).
83 An act to amend the laws relating to the pay and pensions of the Royal Irish Constabulary and the Police Force of Dublin Metropolis; and for other purposes (46 Vict., c. 54).
84 R.I.C. circular, 9 May 1883 (N.L.I., 13522 R3); The Times, 5 May 1883.
85 Lowe & Malcolm, ‘Domestication of the Royal Irish Constabulary’, pp 41–8. Brian Griffin’s conclusion that the pay adjustment of 1872 was the beginning of the stabilisation of the R.I.C. as a respectable, long-term career prospect (‘The Irish police’, p. 130) is called into question by the fact of the 1882 agitation and the analysis of the R.I.C. personnel records described in Lowe & Malcolm, ‘Domestication’.
86 Brewer, John D., ‘Max Weber and the Royal Irish Constabulary: a note on class and status’ in British Journal of Sociology, xl, no. 1 (Mar. 1989), pp 82–96 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
87 Hansard 3, cclxxviii, 1947–8 (4 May 1883); The Times, 5 May 1883.
88 The generous assistance of two scholars has enabled me to improve this paper significantly. Mr Stephen Ball, University of London, shared the results of his research on the government’s response to the constabulary agitation in, particularly, the Althorp papers (British Library). Mr Richard Hawkins, New History of Ireland and Dictionary of Irish Biography, also provided material from the Althorp papers and other helpful observations. All citations from the Althorp papers are courtesy of Stephen Ball and Richard Hawkins, whose insightful comments are also gratefully acknowledged. Robert A. H. Smith, Assistant Keeper, Department of Manuscripts in the British Library, furnished current citations for material in the Althorp papers; I must also thank the British Library Board for permission to make use of this collection.