The Revenue Police were first established in 1832, as armed escorts to the Customs & Excise. The Excise Service was charged with suppressing illicit
distillation of alcohol, which was a cause of lost revenue and treated very seriously then, as now. Initially the members of the Revenue Police were of low
quality and both poorly trained and led. However by 1836 a new commander, Colonel William Brereton, was appointed and set about reorganising the force. For the
most part, a Revenue Police (R.P.) candidate was literate, single, of good character and under 25 years old. The bulk of the force was stationed in the West of
Ireland, and rose to about 1100 in the 1850's. The headquarters was the Customs House, Dublin.
The constables were armed with carbines and a unique type of socket bayonet, secured to its scabbard by a spring catch so that it could not be seized during arrests of illicit distillers. They were organised along the lines of a Light Infantry and patrolled in groups of 20-30 men. However, their sudden appearance from their station, in their very distinctive uniforms, was easily spotted by those whose trade they sought to limit. Nonetheless, over time their persistent and continued success in suppressing poitin making created tghe circumstances whereby a separate Revenue Police force was no longer required, and by 1857 they were disbanded and the remnants absorbed into the Irish Constabulary.
Source: PICA 289; Dec 1995/65 & Jim Herlihy (the Royal Irish Constabulary)
Tower percussion carbine, Lovells pattern. Irish Revenue Police 1851.
The constables were armed with carbines and a unique type of socket bayonet, secured to its scabbard by a spring catch so that it could not be seized during arrests of illicit distillers. They were organised along the lines of a Light Infantry and patrolled in groups of 20-30 men. However, their sudden appearance from their station, in their very distinctive uniforms, was easily spotted by those whose trade they sought to limit. Nonetheless, over time their persistent and continued success in suppressing poitin making created tghe circumstances whereby a separate Revenue Police force was no longer required, and by 1857 they were disbanded and the remnants absorbed into the Irish Constabulary.
Source: PICA 289; Dec 1995/65 & Jim Herlihy (the Royal Irish Constabulary)
Tower percussion carbine, Lovells pattern. Irish Revenue Police 1851.
