Findmypast adds Ireland, Dublin Metropolitan Police Prisoners

Depending on your views you may find these to include the good, the bad and perhaps a few ugly.

Ireland, Dublin Metropolitan Police Prisoners Books 1905 -1907 and 1911-1918

The collection is taken from four leather-bound, double-ledger volumes. Included are volumes 1, 3, 4, and 5. Volume 2 was lost.

• Volume 1 – arrests from 1 April 1905 to 1 January 1908
• Volume 3 – arrests from 1 January 1911 to 30 September 1913
• Volume 4 – arrests from 1 October 1913 to 31 December 1915
• Volume 5 – arrests from 1 January 1916 to 30 September 1918

The entries are handwritten and include the details of daily charge sheets. Each volume contains an index of prisoners with references to the pages containing details of the charge. The volumes contain a wide range of alleged crimes—from murder to breaking glass. Additionally, the age range represented by the accused perpetrators is equally vast—from eight to eighty. Of note, a new series of offences were introduced following the passage of the Defence of the Realm Act on 8 August 1914. These new offences were often used against political activists.

Ireland, Dublin Metropolitan Police General Register 1837-1925

The records in this collection comprise recruitment and transfers within the police force from 1837 to 1925. While the register was used up until 1975, due to data protection reasons, only the entries up to 1925 have been digitised and made available.

The general register recorded both biographical and professional details of the men in the force: warrant number, name, age, height, trade or occupation, county, parish, post town, previous public service, by whom recommended, divisions attached to, service details (dates, rank, promotions), good service pay, date and cause of removal from the force, reappointment details, and general observations. From 1858 onwards, religion was added as well.

In browsing the images linked to from the transcripts in this collection, it is worth noting that, up until 1924, entries were arranged in numerical order by warrant number. Jim Herlihy's book The Dublin Metropolitan Police: A Complete Alphabetical Listing of Officers and Men, 1836-1925 provides an alphabetical listing of the general register.