£10,000 reward for information on ‘murdered’ Irish policemen

Dublin, 26 January 1920 - Dublin Castle authorities have issued a proclamation offering £10,000 for information relating to the murders of members of Ireland’s police forces during the past year.

The reward, the proclamation makes clear, will be paid on conviction by the Chief Commissioner of the Dublin Metropolitan Police (DMP), or the Inspector General of the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC).

A further reward of £1,000 is offered for ‘such secret information’ that leads to the same result. Recipients of these rewards would also be entitled to a ‘free pardon and the special protection of the Crown in any part of His Majesty’s dominions’, assuming they did not commit the crimes themselves.

This announcement comes in the wake of more violence towards police officials across Ireland.

In Dublin, William Redmond, a Second Assistant Commissioner in the DMP, was shot dead on Harcourt Street on 21 January.

Left: Assistant Commissioner William Redmond. Right: The doorway on Harcourt Street where Redmond was shot (Images: Evening Telegraph, 23 & 24 January 1920)

Redmond was returning home after his shift when the attack occurred. The fatal bullet severed his spinal cord and led to an almost instantaneous death. An inquest has described the incident as an act of ‘willful murder’.

In another incident, Constable Luke Finnegan of the RIC was shot in Thurles on 20 January, died from his injuries at Steeven’s Hospital in Dublin two days later.

Immediately after Constable Finnegan’s shooting, according to the Irish Independent, the armed forces of the government flooded the streets and ‘practically sacked’ the town, breaking windows and firing indiscriminately into the houses of ‘unoffending citizens’.

Both of these cases are listed among those for which the Dublin Castle authorities are now seeking information.

The full list of cases cited in the proclamation offering the rewards are as follows:

DMP 30 July 1919: Detective Sergeant Patrick Smyth fired at and grievously wounded at Millmount Avenue, Drumcondra – he died on 8 September 1919 12 September 1919: Det. Constable Daniel Hoey killed at Townsend Street 19 October 1919: Constable Michael Downing was killed when fired at High Street 29 November 1919: Det. Sergeant John Barton murdered at College Street 21 January 1920: Assistant Commissioner William Charles Redmond was murdered on Harcourt Street

RIC 21 January 1919: Constables James McDonnell and Patrick O’Connell at Soloheadbeg, Co. Tipperary 6 April 1919: Constable Martin O’Brien was murdered in Limerick workhouse 23 June 1919: D.I. Michael Hunt was murdered at Thurles, Co. Tipperary 4 August 1919: Sergeant John Riordan and Constable Michael James Murphy were murdered at Ballyranneen, Co. Clare 31 October 1919: Constable William Agar was murdered at Ballivor Barrack, Co. Meath. 14 December 1919: Constable Edward Bolger was murdered at Kilbrittan, Co. Cork 21 January 1920: Constable Luke Finnegan was murdered at Thurles, Co. Tipperary

[Editor's note: This is an article from Century Ireland, a fortnightly online newspaper, written from the perspective of a journalist 100 years ago, based on news reports of the time.]