National Archives - Royal Irish Constabulary records

[my-irish-family]

Hello

I wonder if anyone could advise or guide me in the right direction. I had an ancestor, Thomas Ross (approx 1800 - 1865) who was a Borough Constable with the Irish Constabulary upon his death in 1865.  He was residing in Clooney, County Londonderry at the time.

I was advised there may be records I could look up at the National Archives re his time with the Irish Constabulary, but I think these would all be hard copies. Would anyone have any experience of searching these records, to know what (if any) information may be able to be found? I am unable to search in person as I don't live in Ireland.

Any guidance greatly appreciated.

Thank you
Lara

[Kiltaglassan]

Have you tried searching the subscription sites FindmyPast and Ancestry?
Both have access to the Ireland, Royal Irish Constabulary Service Records 1816-1922.

https://search.findmypast.co.uk/search-world-records/ireland-royal-irish-constabulary-service-records-1816-1922
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/6087/

[athacliath62]

FindMyPast has various registers for the R.I.C, the most useful is probably the general registers. A quick search shows possibly three separate Thomas Ross entries. one of these an officer.

Two of these seem a little too recent to be the Thomas you mentioned, e.g. one is 27 when he joined in 1851, another born in the 1890s, the third is the officer from county Down - who also doesn't seem to fit as he was still serving during the 1870s

Your Thomas might have been part of some local constabulary and not in the R.I.C.

added : as far as I know Ancestry do not have register images for RIC records, just an index or partial transcripts

[heywood]

From your information, this one seems unlikely - he is a Sergeant

Newspaper snippet
8th February 1865, Londonderry Standard
mentions ‘Sergeant Thomas Ross is unwell and unfit for duties’ with a recommendation to superannuate him.

[Elwyn Soutter]

The Londonderry Borough Police was a separate force which amalgamated with the RIC in 1870. Suspect he served with them rather than the RIC. I am not sure whether their records have survived. You could try PRONI or the PSNI museum in Belfast.

https://www.psni.police.uk/about-us/our-history/genealogy#no-back

There’s reference here to the Corporation hanging on to their records when the Borough Police force was disbanded, but many older Londonderry Corporation records are now in PRONI so maybe they ended up there.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Londonderry_Borough_Police

[my-irish-family]

Thank you everyone! I suspect it was the Londonderry Borough Police, as you mention Elwyn. He was recorded as being a borough constable when he died in 1865 in Londonderry.

It mentioned RIC on one of his children’s death records later on, although suspect this should be taken with a pinch of salt.

Heywood - the newspaper snippet you found is definitely him! I will see if I can locate that article.

Thank you!