#Dublin Metropolitan Police

[stairnaheireann]

#OTD in 1922 – An Garda Síochána | Guardians of the Peace of Ireland is founded.

Prior to the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921, Ireland was policed by the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) and Dublin Metropolitan Police. Needless to say, due to their loyalty to the old British regime and their association with the Auxilliaries and Black and Tans, the RIC was totally unacceptable to the vast majority of Irish people it was therefore a necessity to form a new…

[streetsofdublin]

PEARSE STREET GARDA STATION

Police barracks built for the Dublin Metropolitan Police, replacing the former barracks on College Street. Commissioned in 1910, it was built to designs by the Office of Public Works under the supervision of M.J. Burke

POLICE STATION Police barracks built for the Dublin Metropolitan Police, replacing the former barracks on College Street. Commissioned in 1910, it was built to designs by the Office of Public Works under the supervision of M.J. Burke, with H.G. Leask and A. Robinson as job architects. Built in a Scottish Baronial style, evident in the gables and mullioned windows. The bow end to College and…

[reasonsforhope]

"Thousands of demonstrators converged opposite the White House on Saturday to call for an end to Israeli military action in Gaza, while children joined a pro-Palestinian march through central London as part of a global day of action against the longest and deadliest war between Israel and Palestinians in 75 years.

People in the U.S. capital held aloft signs questioning President Joe Biden’s viability as a presidential candidate because of his staunch support for Israel in the nearly 100-day war against Hamas. Some of the signs read: “No votes for Genocide Joe,” “Biden has blood on his hands” and “Let Gaza live.”

Vendors were also selling South African flags as protesters chanted slogans in support of the country whose accusations of genocide against Israel prompted the International Court of Justice in the Hague, Netherlands, to take up the case...

The plight of children in the Gaza Strip was the focus of the latest London march, symbolized by the appearance of Little Amal, a 3.5-meter (11.5-foot) puppet originally meant to highlight the suffering of Syrian refugees.

The puppet had become a human rights emblem during an 8,000-kilometer (4,970-mile) journey from the Turkish-Syrian border to Manchester in July 2001.

Nearly two-thirds of the 23,843 people killed during Israel’s campaign in Gaza have been women and children, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run territory...

“On Saturday Amal walks for those most vulnerable and for their bravery and resilience,“ said Amir Nizar Zuabi, artistic director of The Walk Productions. “Amal is a child and a refugee and today in Gaza childhood is under attack, with an unfathomable number of children killed. Childhood itself is being targeted. That’s why we walk.”

London’s Metropolitan Police force said some 1,700 officers would be on duty for the march, including many from outside the capital...

The London march was one of several others being held in European cities including Paris, Rome, Milan and Dublin, where thousands also marched along the Irish capital’s main thoroughfare to protest Israel’s military operations in the Palestinian enclave.

Protesters waved Palestinian flags, held placards critical of the Irish, U.S. and Israeli governments and chanted, “Free, free Palestine.″

In Rome, hundreds of demonstrators descended on a boulevard near the famous Colosseum, with some carrying signs reading, “Stop Genocide.”

At one point during the protest, amid the din of sound effects mimicking exploding bombs, a number of demonstrators lied down in the street and pulled white sheets over themselves as if they were corpses, while others knelt beside them, their palms daubed in red paint.

Many hundreds of demonstrators gathered in Paris’ Republic square to set off on a march calling for an immediate cease-fire, an end to the war, a lifting of the blockade on Gaza and to impose sanctions on Israel. Marching protesters waved the Palestinian flag and held aloft placards and banners reading, “From Gaza to Paris. Resistance.”"

-via AP News, January 13, 2023

[scotianostra]

Patrick Colquhoun was born born in Dumbarton, on March 14th 1745.

Colquhoun was sent to the new world and served an apprenticeship as a sixteen-year-old in Virginia in North America. Likely working in a tobacco store.during the American Revolution he was part of the Government militia, in what was a Glasgow regiment to contribute to the government’s war effort. This part of history is being explored at the moment in the hit show Outlander.

On his return to Glasgow he became one of the city’s famous/imfamous ‘Tobacco Lords’. He had multiple commercial interests and was also a co-partner in the Glasgow-West India firm, Colquhoun & Ritchie, that traded with Jamaica and Antigua. As such, his wealth was derived from transatlantic slavery and its commerce, perhaps this is why he is not as well known in his native Scotland, we have a habit of brushing over the shame in the abhorrent trade of human beings.

In 1782 he built Kelvingrove House - in what is now Kelvingrove Park - as his residence. Colquhoun was Lord Provost of Glasgow, 1782-1784 and founder and the first Chairman of Britain’s oldest Chamber of Commerce in Glasgow in 1783. He was an honorary graduate of the University and the Colquhoun Lectureship in Business History is named for him. He moved to London in 1789 where he became a magistrate and published pamphlets on policing and other social issues of the day.

It is due to his work in London and those writings on policing he is credited with being the founder of the first regular investigative police force in England, The Thames Valley Police the first regular professional police force in London. Organised to reduce the thefts that plagued the world’s largest port and financed by merchants, the force was directed by Patrick Colquhoun and consisted of a permanent staff of 80 men and an on-call staff of more than 1,000. Two features of the marine police were unique. First, it used visible, preventive patrols; second, officers were salaried rather than stipendiary, and they were prohibited from taking fees. The venture was a complete success, and reports of crimes dropped appreciably. (In 1800 the government passed a bill making the marine police a publicly financed organisation.) This was a decades before Robert Peel established the Metropolitan Police, and it has to also be noted around the turn of the 18th City of Glasgow Police was established.

Colquhoun’s treatises on police also inspired the foundation of police in Dublin (Ireland), Sydney (Australia), and New York (USA).

Colquhoun’ has also been criticised for his violent oppression “wholly in the service of an industrialist and property-holding class in the earliest incarnation of socio-economic warfare in the Atlantic economy.” He “organised political surveillance by spies and snitches of those opposing slavery. In addition to his Virginia cotton interests he owned shares in Jamaican sugar plantations.” So by many accounts a nasty piece of work.

Colquhoun has been called ‘the Father of Glasgow’ because of his role in promoting Glasgow’s trade and manufacturing during the late 1700s. In fact, he referred to himself in this way when drawing up his will in 1817. We have a name for such people in Scotland, and it really fits this guy- Baw Heid.

[archivist-crow]

On this day:

IRELAND'S CROWN JEWELS STOLEN

On July 6, 1907, the cleaning woman at Dublin Castle's Bedford Tower discovered the first evidence that a daring theft had taken place practically in front of four guards. She found that the door to the strong room where the crown jewels of Ireland were kept had been left open overnight. That afternoon a porter, returning a gold and enamel collar to the safe, gave the alarm that the safe was already open. The jewels were gone. The robber would have had to obtain keys to the tower's main door, the strong room, and finally the safe. Police reported it would have required at least ten minutes to remove the rubies, emeralds, and diamonds from their casings. The thief and jewels were never found.

It was the time of the Irish International Exhibition in Dublin. A policeman and a soldier had been on guard outside the castle day and night. Within fifty yards of the castle were the headquarters of the metropolitan police, the Royal Irish Constabulary, the Dublin detective force, and the military garrison.

The four men specifically responsible for protecting the jewels were dismissed. Over time, they all died tragically. One died in a car accident. Another was killed while out shooting alone. A third, jailed for fraud, was on his release from prison when he vanished. The body of the fourth was found in the garden of his home, riddled with bullets.

Two weeks earlier in Ascot, England, on a table on the lawn in back of the grandstand, the prestigious Ascot Cup, a twenty-carat gold trophy thirteen inches high and six inches in diameter, weighing just over four pounds, disappeared in front of a policeman and another official guarding it, as well as a crowd of gawking admirers. The thief and cup were never found.

Text from: Almanac of the Infamous, the Incredible, and the Ignored by Juanita Rose Violins, published by Weiser Books, 2009

[mea-gloria-fides]

Dublin Metropolitan Police, circa 1911-22.

[detectivist]

STAND UP , YOU'VE GOT TO MANAGE / I WON'T SYMPATHISE ANYMORE

#DETECTIVIST : scarred emotionally and physically, lipstick stained teeth, violently independent, unsolved trust issues, recurring nightmares, cracking a glass in one's own hand, emotional meltdown haircuts, no strings attached, repressing as a coping mechanism, ripped stockings, sleeping on the couch, storms named after women, a missing ring, a missing finger, [...]

TW : parent death, corruption, murder, attempted murder, loss of a finger [...]

-- ABOUT

NAME: Oona Doherty ALIAS: Detective Doherty, Number One, Red, [...] AGE: Thirty-six GENDER: Cis Female SEXUALITY: Bisexual MARITAL STATUS: Divorced

Her ex-husband is currently awaiting trial for identity theft, conspiracy, the murder of two attorneys and two other attempted murders; one on the solicitor general and another on Oona herself.

DOB: December 10th BIRTHPLACE: Dublin, Ireland CURRENT RESIDENCE: London , England ; recently moved to a new apartment right next to Acton Town station. Her humble home is still very much empty. Oona couldn't bring herself to keep anything from her old apartment. OCCUPATION: Detective Constable for the Metropolitan Police

--- APPEARANCE

FACE: Sarah Snook HEIGHT: 5'5" / 1.65 m ETHNICITY: Irish-British HAIR: Light red, thin and wavy though she often straightens it. When long it is usually found tied in a high pony-tail, but nowadays Oona likes to keep it short for the sake of practicality. EYES: Pale blue, sharp and hooded, Oona has no issues with staring and holding another's gaze. She is constantly looking for something, lies, weak spots, details she might want to save for later. Either way, being the target of Oona's attention often feels intimidating. PHYSIQUE: With wide hips and a narrow waist, Oona often struggles with her own femininity, especially in the workplace. She visits the gym often and is clearly in good shape. Her legs are toned and, despite not being particularly tall, the way Oona carries herself makes her seem larger than her most imposing peers.

DISTINCTIVE MARKS: Oona is missing half of her right hand's ring finger and has a large scar on her palm. These are the results of a stabbing attack carried out by Oona's ex-husband. The detective was also left with a gnarly scar across her stomach from that encounter. The flesh right above her bellybutton is a pink and lumpy half-circle; Oona is somewhat self-conscious regarding that particular scar. Most of her skin is also riddled with freckles.

--- PERSONALITY

ALIGNMENT: Neutral Good STRENGTHS: Committed, perceptive, resilient, confident, intelligent, brave, loyal, pragmatic, charismatic, forthright, active, strong-willed, righteous, [...] WEAKNESSES: Sarcastic, passive-aggressive, cold, manipulative, vindictive, suspicious of others, distant, impulsive, snarky, workaholic, haunted, [...]

SKILLS: Fluent in Spanish, some knowledge in the field of psychology, good leadership skills, particularly good with interrogations, excellent cardio levels, can drive a car or a motorcycle, good under pressure, knows her way around firearms, makes a mean martini. HABITS: Smoker, though usually only when under stress. Visits the gym at least three times a week. Drinks quite often and, perhaps, a bit too much.

--- HISTORY

> Born in Dublin, parents divorced when she was only 5. Oona stayed with her mother only for her to pass away two years after in a car accident.

> Oona goes to live with her father in Manchester, England. It's not particularly amazing but it's not bad either. Her father isn't the most expressive/sensitive guy but he tries his best. Oona grows to become a strong but cold teenager.

> Her dad works as a cop. Oona wants to make papa proud and tells him she wants to join the force too. He doesn't seem too happy about it. She gets excellent grades. He'd much prefer if she studied medicine or went into law. Oona doesn't listen.

> Good grades at the police academy. A lot of the old-timers speak highly of her dad. Oona doesn't feel overshadowed at all. In fact, she's proud to be associated with her dad's name. She becomes a member of the force.

> Later in life, after being moved to London and working as an officer, Oona works her way into detective work. She's focused and sharp and intuitive but her father still seems uncomfortable about her working in the same field as him.

> It becomes clear why when in 2017: just after Oona began her work as a detective, news broke out about a huge anti-corruption operation within Manchester's police force. Her father's name was amongst the list of cops who had been taking bribes in order to turn a blind eye on certain white-collar crimes. This broke Oona's heart.

> In comes Xavier, a man Oona fell head over heels for (a rare occurrence). A man's man but with hidden depths and plenty of mystery; he claimed to work overseeing a trucking business. They married after only a few years of dating and everything seemed right. This couldn't be further from the truth.

> Turns out Xavier was actually a murderer who had already taken the life of two attorneys back in 2010 and who had recently attempted to kill the current solicitor general. Oona figured this out and, when trying to confront the love of her life, she got stabbed on her stomach and hand, causing her to lose half of her right hand's ring finger. Her ex-husband is currently awaiting trial and Oona still bares plenty of scars from that relationship (physical and emotional).

> She is currently drowning herself with work, fearing that if she stops for one moment she might actually fall apart or bite someone's head off due to all the pent up anger and disappointment she has for mankind.

--- EXTRAS

INSPIRED BY: Clarice Starling (Silence of the Lambs), Dorothy Lyon (Fargo S5), Cersei Lannister (Game of Thrones), [...] WANTED DYNAMICS: Under co.

[crimechillers]

Dublin Police Investigates Ciara O'Sullivan on Hacking Charges

Dublin, the capital city of Ireland known for its rich history, vibrant culture, and tech-savvy population, is currently in the spotlight for a reason that’s ruffling feathers in cybersecurity circles. The Dublin Metropolitan Police (DMP), the guardians keeping the city’s digital infrastructure secure among their other duties, have been conducting an intricate investigation regarding serious…

[aoawarfare]

Recap of the Anglo-Irish Treaty

The Anglo-Irish Treaty is a very controversial document that sparked the Irish Civil War. But how was it created and what did it actually do?

Truce

A truce between Britain and the IRA was declared on July 11th, 1921. According to the truce, the British agreed to:

Stop the raids and searches

Restrict military activity to support police during their normal duties

Remove the curfew restrictions

Suspend reinforcements from England

Replace the RIC with the Dublin Metropolitan Police

The IRA agreed to

Avoid provocative displays

Prohibit the use of arms

Cease military maneuvers

The IRA released a bulletin, announcing the truce which added additional terms. The British also agreed to:

No incoming troops or munitions

No military movements

No pursuit of Irish officers or men or war material

No secret agents spying

No pursuit of lines of communication

The IRA agreed to:

No attacks on crown forces and civilians

No provocative displays of forces

No interference with government or private property

No disturbing of the peace

Neither side was happy. The British claimed that waving the Sinn Fein flag was provocative and that they had to exert all discipline while the Irish didn’t have to. GHQ complained that according to the treaty the military couldn’t move freely in Ireland. After several disagreements, the British backed down and recalled its forces into their barracks. Meanwhile the IRA believed this was a temporary truce and continued to recruit, drill, and prepare for the resumption of war.

For DeValera, the preliminary negotiations were a chance to reassert himself as the leader of the Dail and Irish liberation.

Preliminary Negotiations

DeValera and an Irish delegation which comprised of Arthur Griffith, Austin Stack, Robert Barton, Count Plunkett, and Erskine Childers traveled to London on July 12th to begin preliminary discussions with Lloyd George. Dev would meet with Lloyd George 4 times between July 14th and the 21st. Lloyd George’s proposal was to turn Ireland into a Dominion but they would have no navy, no hostile tariffs, and no coercion of Ulster. Dev refused, saying that “Dominion status for Ireland would never be real. Ireland’s proximity to Britain would not allow it to develop as dominions thousands of miles away could.” Even though Dev rejected his proposal, Lloyd George continued to honor the truce and Dev returned to Dublin.

DeValera had a proposal of his own, known as Document No. 2 or External Associations, a point of controversy. This document proposed that Ireland would not be a Dominion but it would still have associations with England. When he explained it to Erskine Childers and Robert Brennan, he drew five circles inside a large circle. The large circle was England and the other circles were the Dominions it currently ruled. He then drew a circle outside of the big circle but connecting it and that was supposed to be Ireland. Unfortunately, he was either never able to properly explain his plan to his fellow Irishmen or the British cabinet or it was simply too much for people. Many of the diehard republicans found it baffling or a betrayal and the British couldn’t see how it was different from having an alliance with an independent state (and thus unacceptable). He formally shared this document with his cabinet on July 27th, but refused to share it with Lloyd George, fearing that it would be too revealing if sent to the British in its current form. It seems that Dev wanted to keep it as a compromise he might ultimately accept but wanted to see how far they could push the British before being forced to offer a compromise of their own. He sent a formal reply to Lloyd George rejecting Dominion status with a vague description of his external association plan. The British and Irish agreed to continue negotiations. A new team was to be created to represent Ireland. A team Dev refused to be a member of.

The Irish Delegation

The Irish cabinet met once more on September 9th to discuss who would go negotiate on Ireland’s behalf. This is maybe one of the most controversial moments in a rather controversial process and war. When the cabinet met that day, they were met by DeValera’s bombshell that he would not lead the Irish delegation. Additionally, he required that all of Britain’s offers be reviewed by the Dail before the Irish delegation made any agreements.

The second point of controversy was whether the goal of the negotiations was to walk away with a republic or if it was to walk away with any level of independence from Britain. Lloyd George had already made it clear that Britain would never accept a republic or full Irish independence. But where did the Irish stand?

For the entirety of the war, Dev’s title had been President of the Dail Eireann, and was changed to the President of the Irish Republic on August 26th. Was that a signal that the Republic was the goal or a formality? Members like Brugha and Mary MacSwiney were under the impression that either the British promised to recognize an Irish Republic or it was back to war. Yet, Michael Collins went on record saying that “the declaration of a Republic by the leaders of the rising was far in advance of national thought” and MacSwiney accosted Harry Boland and his and Dev’s perceived lack of commitment to a republic, and warned him to "please leave your Dual Monarchy nonsense behind you. Our oaths are to the Republic or nothing less.” Dev didn’t help at all by refusing to provide any sort of guidance to the delegation and it seems that, if Dev truly believed the republic or the External Association idea was ideal for Ireland, he never told the members of the delegation.

Finally, to make matters worse, Dev was sending the delegation as plenipotentiaries, who technically should have full powers to handle negotiations, but Dev crippled their powers by requiring that they refer back to the cabinet for major questions and with "the complete text of the draft treaty about to be signed". However, the British assumed they were normal plenipotentiaries and could not, as Viceory Lord FitzAlan told Lloyd George, “take advantage of De Valera’s absence to delay and refer back to him”

The cabinet protested Dev’s proposal strenuously, but Dev persisted and despite all this ambiguity and disbelief that Dev would not go to London, the cabinet approved the following appointments:

Arthur Griffith who would be Chairman

Michael Collins

Robert Barton, the minister of economic affairs

Eamonn Duggan, a lawyer and chief liaison officer for implementing the truce

George Gavan Duffy, another lawyer and Dail’s envoy to Rome

And Erskine Childers, Fionan Lynch, Diarmund O’Hegarty, and John Chartres as a secretaries.

DeValera dismissed Duggan and Duffy as mere legal padding, but hoped that Barton would be stubborn enough to limit the amount of compromises the Irish would have to make and trusted Childers to serve as a source of strength for Barton. Dev seems to have ignored the fact that Griffith despised Childers.

Their instructions were to negotiate and conclude a treaty of settlement, association, and accommodation between Ireland and the community of nations known as the British Commonwealth.

Treaty Negotiations

The Irish delegation arrived in London on October 8th (Collins would arrive on October 10th) and took residence at 22 Hans Place and 15 Cadogan Gardens in Kensington. The Irish representatives had accreditations that said they were negotiating on the behalf of an Irish Republic, but the British never asked to see them and Griffith never offered them, so Britain never knew it had indirectly recognized the Republic’s existence.

The first meeting took place on October 11th, at 10 Downing Street. The Irish were facing the likes of

David Lloyd George

Winston Churchill, Secretary of State for the Colonies

Lord Birkenhead, Lord Chancellor

Austen Chamberlain, Lord of the House of Commons

Sir Laming Worthington-Evans BT, Secretary of State for War

Sir Gordon Hewart, Attorney General

And Sir Hamar Greenwood, chief Secretary for Ireland

It cannot be denied the British team was more experienced and were better prepared than the Irish. They also had the benefit of being in agreement that a republic was out of the question and the goal was to get the Irish to agree to a Dominion status. They had a document all written up outlying their proposal whereas the Irish had Dev’s vague external association document and his unconnected thoughts about Ulster’s future. Yet despite their formidable reputation and skills, all were not cozy in the British delegation. For one thing, it was missing a very important player in British politics at the time: Bonar Law, the man who nearly pushed the Conservatives to civil war during the 1912 crisis and the man who would lead the Tory revolt against this very treaty that ended Lloyd George’s career. Lloyd George also had the extreme pressure from Ulster not to give an inch when it came to the Ulster exception.

David Lloyd George

[Image Description: A black and white photo of a blonde haired, white man with a thick mustache that takes over his entire lip. He is facing the camera. He is wearing a white button down shirt with a grey tie and and a grey suit]

The delegation would meet seven times between October 11th and 24th while also breaking out into three different committees: the Committee on Naval and Air Defense, the Committee on Financial Relations and the Committee on the Observance of the Truce, which consisted of members from both delegations. These committees would meet between October 12th to November 10th. After October 24th, the negotiations would be conducted through sub-conference, which met 24 times in various locations until the signing of the treaty on December 6th.

Because of the complex nature of the Irish-British relationship, a lot of time would be spent trying to figure out Irish fiscal autonomy. However, the two points that caused the most trouble between the negotiating parties was Ireland’s unity and allegiance to the Crown.

In regard to Ulster, Lloyd George had already promised the Unionists that Ulster would not be coerced and effectively recognized partition as the only solution. Lloyd George proposed creating an Ulster parliament and a boundary commission to determine the borders of the new states. Collins and Griffith hated the compromise because it was partition, but Lloyd George warned them that if they didn’t agree he would be forced to resign and they’d be facing Bonar Law, a British politician even more opposed to Irish interest than Lloyd George. They grudgingly agreed.

The nature of Ireland’s relations to the crown was a thornier problem since the Irish wanted complete legal sovereignty and the British demanded an oath of loyalty. For the British the oath represented a desperate symbol of control as they lost a part of their empire. For the Irish the oath was a literal vow of subjugation. Griffith and Collins were quick to understand that symbols meant nothing if Ireland could be guaranteed real power over her own destiny. He believed that the treaty was a stepping stone to further independence for Ireland. Put another way, what power would Britain truly have over Ireland if Ireland had an Irish government, Irish police force, Irish Army, and Irish courts?

Michael Collins and Arthur Griffith

[Image Description: A picture of two white men in suits. The man on the left is leaning to the left. He is a white man with brown hair. He is wearing a white button down shirt and a black tie with small dots. he is wearing a dark grey vest and a light grey suit. The man on the right is sitting straight with his hand in his lap. He is white with brown hair, a thick brown mustache, and round, wire frame glasses. He is wearing a white, button down shirt, a light tie, and a dark suit with black lapels]

The negotiations dragged on, pushing Lloyd George to the brink of despair. The British delegation split the Irish delegation in half and worked mostly with Griffith and Collins, creating great disgruntlement in the Irish camp. This would spell disaster for Collins and Griffith when they returned to Ireland. Fed up, Lloyd George sent the Irish an ultimatum: either they sign the treaty as it stands or refuse to sign and resume the war.

The Irish delegation was badly split. Griffith, Collins, and Duggan were in favor of the treaty while Barton and Gavan Duffy were against the treaty. Lloyd George put the pressure on the Irish delegation, claiming that he was preparing to tell Craig, his cabinet, and parliament that the negotiations had broken down. For their part, the Irish delegation was in constant communication with DeValera, insisting he come to London now and help them, but he refused. Lloyd George first got Griffith to agree to the treaty, which then forced the other Irish delegates to follow suit. The Irish delegation returned to 10 Downing Street and signed the treaty at 2:10 am on December 6th.

What exactly did they sign? In the end the treaty promised nothing that wasn’t part of the proposal prepared in July. Its main clauses were as follows:

Crown forces would withdraw from most of Ireland.

Ireland was to become a self-governing dominion of the British Empire, a status shared by Australia, Canada, Newfoundland, New Zealand and the Union of South Africa.

As with the other dominions, the King would be the Head of State of the Irish Free State (Saorstát Éireann) and would be represented by a Governor General

Members of the new free state’s parliament would be required to take an Oath of Allegiance to the Irish Free State. A secondary part of the oath was to “be faithful to His Majesty King George V, His heirs and successors by law, in virtue of the common citizenship”.

Northern Ireland (which had been created earlier by the Government of Ireland Act) would have the option of withdrawing from the Irish Free State within one month of the Treaty coming into effect.

If Northern Ireland chose to withdraw, a Boundary Commission would be constituted to draw the boundary between the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland.

Britain, for its own security, would continue to control a limited number of ports, known as the Treaty Ports, for the Royal Navy.

The Irish Free State would assume responsibility for a proportionate part of the United Kingdom’s debt, as it stood on the date of signature.

The treaty would have superior status in Irish law, i.e., in the event of a conflict between it and the new 1922 Constitution of the Irish Free State, the treaty would take precedence.

Irish Reaction

While the Treaty was celebrated in England and Lloyd George considered it a massive victory, the reaction in Ireland was quite different. DeValera refused to read the treaty and when it was published in the newspaper, he was furious it had been published without his review or approval. He publicly announced he could not “recommend the acceptance of this treaty”. Many IRA soldiers were confused and upset over the treaty’s terms, especially the oath of loyalty to the king. They couldn’t believe Collins would agree to this kind of treaty. DeValera planned to request the resignation of the three plenipotentiary members who were also in the cabinet: Collins, Griffith, and Barton, but Cosgrave convinced him to hear them out first.

Most of the military high command were in favor of ratifying the treaty, providing their reasoning during the private Dail debates on December 17th and 20th. Sean MacEoin reported that he had five hundred Volunteers and enough ammunition for seven minutes of fighting and that the British would wipe them out. Eoin O’Duffy agreed and Sean Hales, MacEoin, and O’Duffy pointed out that the intelligence situation had drastically changed as well. During the second meeting all the officers who made up GHQ and were members of the Dail and several who held commands in the country agreed that resuming the war would only end in disaster for the IRA.

Mulcahy sent out one of his many memos insisting that the army should stay out of politics and since it was an instrument of the state, it should have no opinion on public affairs. However, there were emergencies in which the State must consult with the Army heads and there were questions the army was entitled to answer.  He did not believe the IRA could win militarily if the treaty was rejected and war resumed.

Griffith and Collins were under no illusions of what waited for them in London. Collins even wrote on the day he signed the Treaty:

“When you have sweated, toiled, had mad dreams, hopeless nightmares, you find yourself in London’s streets, cold and dank in the night air. Think – what have I got for Ireland? Something which she has wanted these past seven hundred years. Will anyone be satisfied at the bargain? Will anyone? I tell you this: early this morning I signed my death warrant. I thought at the time how old, how ridiculous – a bullet may just as well have done the job five years ago.” - Ronan Fanning, Fatal Path

On December 8th, the cabinet met with Collins, Barton, Griffith, and Cosgrave stating they would recommend approval of the Treaty to the Dail. De Valera, Brugha, and Stacks opposed them. They decided that the president would issue a press statement defining the position of the minority and that the Dail would hold public sessions on December 14th. During his statement Dev made it clear that he was opposed to the Treaty, starting the Dail debates on an even rockier foot and making himself the lightning rod for everyone who wanted to reject the Treaty.

The public debates broke down to two camps, the treatyites and the anti-treatyites. Those who supported the Treaty argued that the IRA had done all it could militarily do and to continue the war would be a disaster. They argued that the goal was never to drive the British to the sea but to break down that prestige which the enemy derived from his unquestionable superior force. To believe otherwise was fantasy. Collins offered his steppingstone argument and Hales argued that this was a jumping off point, and in a year or ten, Ireland will have freedom. Collins even told Hales in private that “the British broke the Treaty of Limerick [which ended the Jacobite war in 1691] and we’ll break this Treaty too when it suits us, when we have our own army.”

The Anti-treatyites refused or were unable to see Collins’ logic that this was the best they could do for now. Many did not want to accept partition, remain a part of the British empire, and especially despised the oath. And there were those in the middle, who looked to their comrades for an explanation or opinion on what to do. The problem for the anti-treatyites is that they didn’t have an alternative to offer. De Valera tried to introduce his external association idea, but it died in the water and while the anti-treatyites were full of principle, they had little else. For the treatyites it was all about accepting this limited victory in order to achieve a bigger one. As Collins put it this Treaty didn’t give the ultimate freedom, but “the freedom to achieve that end” and Mulcahy would say it provided a “solid spot of ground on which the Irish people can put its political feet.”

The Dail took a recess during Christmas and during this time, public opinion, the press, and the Church swung towards accepting the treaty. While the anti-treatyites would ignore or dismiss how the people felt, the treatyites used it to support their cause. As Christmas passed (the first Christmas Ireland had not been at war one way or another since 1914), the Dail reconvened and the attacks became increasingly personal which the Freeman’s Journal denouncing DeValera as lacking the ‘instinct of an Irishman in his blood’ and Dev accused Griffith of crookedness, and Brugha claimed that Collins was a hack who deliberately sought notoriety and had been built up as a heroic figure which he was not.

On January 7th, the final vote was taken and the Dail approved the Treaty by 64 to 57.  De Valera resigned as president of the Dail Eireann on January 9th and stood for re-election. On January 10th, DeValera was defeated in the vote for the Dail presidency by 60-58 votes. He and all anti-Treaty deputies walk out, “as a protest against the election as President of the Irish Republic of the Chairman of the delegation, who is bound by the Treaty conditions to set up a state which is to subvert the republic.”

Griffith was elected President of Dáil Éireann. The Dáil was adjourned until 11 February. On January 14th the provisional government was established with Collins as Chairman.

The stage was set for Civil War

References

The Republic: The Fight for Irish Independence by Charles Townshend, 2014, Penguin Group

Fatal Path: British Government and Irish Revolution 1910-1922 by Ronan Fanning, 2013, Faber & Faber

Richard Mulcahy: From the Politics of War to the Politics of Peace, 1913-1924 by Padraig O Caoimh, 2018, Irish Academic Press

A Nation and Not a Rabble: the Irish Revolution 1913-1923 by Diarmaid Ferriter, 2015, Profile Books

Fatal Path: British Government and Irish Revolution 1910-1922 by Ronan Fanning

[vintageoculus]

In the long arms of the law! by National Library of Ireland on The Commons Via Flickr: In this lovely if damaged glass plate from the Clarke Collection a member of the Dublin Metropolitan Police appears to have at least one prisoner on their way to the station. In the background some onlookers are watching the action! Photographers: J. J. Clarke Collection: Clarke Photographic Collection Date: Catalogue range c.1897-1904? NLI Ref: CLAR73 You can also view this image, and many thousands of others, on the NLI’s catalogue at catalogue.nli.ie

[stairnaheireann]

#OTD in 1923 – The Civic Guard is renamed the Garda Síochana.

An Garda Síochána (meaning “the Guardian of the Peace”), more commonly referred to as the Gardaí (“Guardians”), is the police force of Ireland. The service is headed by the Commissioner of An Garda Síochána who is appointed by the Irish government. Its headquarters are in Dublin’s Phoenix Park. The force was originally named the Civic Guard in English, but in 1923 it became An Garda Síochána in…

[author145]

The Death of Detective Sergeant John Barton

The Death of Detective Sergeant John Barton

“the very scum that kept us in British bondage.” If he had died today, and in the line of duty, Detective Sergeant John Barton of the Dublin Metropolitan Police (DMP) would probably be declared a national hero. At the time, ‘The Irish Times’ editorial for 1 December 1919 did proclaim him to be “one of the bravest, most vigilant, and most intelligent defenders of the city’s peace”. ‘The Irish…

[thefivedemands]

LEO VARADKAR: "L'IRLANDA DOVREBBE ESSERE ABBASTANZA MATURA PER RICONOSCERE IL NOSTRO PASSATO"

LEO VARADKAR: “L’IRLANDA DOVREBBE ESSERE ABBASTANZA MATURA PER RICONOSCERE IL NOSTRO PASSATO”

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar ha affermato che l’Irlanda dovrebbe essere “abbastanza matura” per riconoscere tutti gli aspetti del nostro passato”, nel tentativo di difendere la decisione del governo di ospitare una commemorazione della Royal Irish Constabulary

La cerimonia si terrà al Dublin Castle, venerdì 17 gennaio.

Saranno commemorati sia coloro che prestarono servizio sia nella Royal Irish…

[professorfaber]

The British ruling elite in the late 18th and early 19th century faced serious threats both at home and overseas. In its burgeoning overseas territories, the ‘age of revolution’ rocked the British Empire in North America, the Caribbean and Ireland. Domestically, dispossessed artisans and a nascent industrial working class threatened elite power with subversive ideas about democratic participation. New notions of the rights of man were rendering brute military crack-downs counter-productive and liable to generate more unrest than they quelled. A fresh institution was needed, one better able to cloak the forcible management of the colonised and proletarianised in a veneer of consent. What was needed was a police force.

Colonial Ireland presented itself as the ideal testing ground for this novel institution. Irish Secretary in the British cabinet, Robert Peel, established a professionalised, semi-armed police force in Dublin, focused on the enforcement of the colonial order and situated between the army and the civilian population. The new force embedded social control more intimately within the population, normalising the presence of state intelligence-gathering and enforcement agents throughout towns and villages across Ireland.

A decade later, now as Home Secretary and faced with a wave of domestic unrest, Peel used his work in colonial Ireland as a direct model for the state’s problems closer to home. Despite widespread liberal parliamentary and working-class opposition to the establishment of the new institution, Peel successfully founded the London Metropolitan Police in 1829. As Randall Williams notes, the police bills introduced in the British parliament were ‘nearly identical in every detail’ to those introduced earlier in Ireland. From the 1780s onwards Ireland functioned, in the words of Stanley Palmer, as a ‘testing ground for English ministers’ ideas on police’.

[18thfoot]

Royal Irish Regiment History

Captain Walter Edgeworth-Johnstone of the Royal Irish Regiment. Born in 1863 and commissioned in 1886, Edgeworth-Johnstone was an all-round sportsman who held the Amateur Boxing Association of England Heavyweight title in 1895 and 1896 as well as the Irish and Army titles. He was also an Army fencing champion at the time this photo was taken for The Navy and Army Illustrated in October 1896.  Edgeworth-Johnstone rose to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel and was Commissioner of the Dublin Metropolitan Police from 1915 to 1923. He died in London in 1936.

[scotianostra]

Patrick Colquhoun was born born in Dumbarton, on March 14th 1745.

Patrick was sent to the new world and served an apprenticeship as a sixteen-year-old in Virginia in North America. Likely working in a tobacco store.during the American Revolution he was part of the Government militia, in what was a Glasgow regiment to contribute to the government's war effort. This part of history is being explored at the moment in the hit show Outlander.

On his return to Glasgow he became one of the city’s famous ‘Tobacco Lords’. He had multiple commercial interests and was also a co-partner in the Glasgow-West India firm, Colquhoun & Ritchie, that traded with Jamaica and Antigua. As such, his wealth was derived from transatlantic slavery and its commerce, perhaps this is why he is not as well known in his native Scotland, we have a habit of brushing over the shame in the abhorrent trade of human beings.

In 1782 he built Kelvingrove House - in what is now Kelvingrove Park - as his residence. Colquhoun was Lord Provost of Glasgow, 1782-1784 and founder and the first Chairman of Britain's oldest Chamber of Commerce in Glasgow in 1783. He was an honorary graduate of the University and the Colquhoun Lectureship in Business History is named for him. He moved to London in 1789 where he became a magistrate and published pamphlets on policing and other social issues of the day. 

It is due to his work in London and those writings on policing he is credited with being the  founder of the first regular investigative police force in England, The Thames Valley Police the first regular professional police force in London. Organised to reduce the thefts that plagued the world’s largest port and financed by merchants, the force was directed by Patrick Colquhoun and consisted of a permanent staff of 80 men and an on-call staff of more than 1,000. Two features of the marine police were unique. First, it used visible, preventive patrols; second, officers were salaried rather than stipendiary, and they were prohibited from taking fees. The venture was a complete success, and reports of crimes dropped appreciably. (In 1800 the government passed a bill making the marine police a publicly financed organisation.) This was a decades before Robert Peel established the Metropolitan Police, and it has to also be noted around the turn of the 18th City of Glasgow Police was established. 

Colquhoun's  treatises on police also  inspired the foundation of police in Dublin (Ireland), Sydney (Australia), and New York (USA).

Colquhoun' has also been criticised for his violent oppression "wholly in the service of an industrialist and property-holding class in the earliest incarnation of socio-economic warfare in the Atlantic economy." He "organised political surveillance by spies and snitches of those opposing slavery. In addition to his Virginia cotton interests he owned shares in Jamaican sugar plantations." So by many accounts a nasty piece of work.