Audiobook: Tales Of The Royal Irish Constabulary

The Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC, simply called the Irish Constabulary 1836–67) was the armed police force of the United Kingdom in Ireland from the early nineteenth century until 1922. About seventy-five percent of the RIC were Roman Catholic and about twenty-five percent were of various Protestant denominations, the Catholics mainly constables and the Protestants officers. In consequence of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, the RIC was disbanded in 1922 and was replaced by the Garda Síochána in the Irish Free State and the Royal Ulster Constabulary in Northern Ireland. This book of stories about the RIC, written by a staunch Crown Loyalist, was published a year before its dissolution. A few terms: Sinn Fein were insurgents fighting to establish an independent Irish state; Volunteers were local members of the Sinn Fein; Black and Tans were a force of temporary constables formed to assist the RIC; Auxiliaries or Auxiliary Cadets or merely Cadets were another group in aid of the RIC; “gone to America” was a euphemism usually meaning death (unless the context showed that it really meant emigration); “Castle” meant Dublin Castle off Dame Street, Dublin, Ireland, was until 1922 the seat of the United Kingdom government’s administration in Ireland. ( david wales)