Robert Bridges, taken in October 1914 just after he had joined the RIC.
The following information is from forum member:
"It was taken in a photographers studio in Lower Sackville St. in Dublin. He would have been 22 at the time and was from Drumshanbo in Co. Leitrim, although the family were originally from the parish of Ardcarne in Co Roscommon.
His first posting was to the village of Donnard in Co Wicklow, where he met my grandmother, Elizabeth Hughes. She was from Rathmolyn in Co Meath and was working in Donnard post office at the time.She was a cousin of the Hughes brothers who founded HB ice cream. I still have his RIC whistle and helmet badge, and his first ever RIC notebook. In the notebook he has listed all his postings but I can only make out a couple of them. One is Gormanstown and the last is Cullingtree road in Belfast. After partition he joined the RUC.At the back of the notebook is a little pocket which contains two locks of my grandmothers hair which she had cut off as a keepsake after he had to leave Donnard.
My grandfather had 7 brothers and sisters and seven half brothers and sisters.One of his brothers was William Bridges and he also joined the RIC, no. 65429. However in 1915 he joined the Irish Guards and was posted to France where he was badly wounded during the Somme offensive in 1916. He also joined the RUC after partition."
"The other picture is of the grave of Thomas Bridges, no. 69992, a cousin of my grandfather.
He was ambushed along with two other constables at Drumcollagher Co. Limerick in May 1921, just a week short of his 22nd birthday. The graveyard is attached to Ardcarne Parish church in Co. Roscommon and that is where my great grandfather, Jeremiah Bridges married Sarah Grace in 1880. She was a widow of an RIC man by the name of Grace.
The grave also contains Thomas's father, also called Thomas who died in 1907 and his brother in law Frederick Carr, who was killed on the Western Front in September 1918. There had been Bridges in that part of Roscommon for about 200 years but as far as I am aware there are none left there now."
The killing of Constable Bridges was one of many in the bloody Whit period of May 1921. See also http://irishconstabulary.com/sreply/352/t/Robert-Redmond.html
The following information is from forum member:
"It was taken in a photographers studio in Lower Sackville St. in Dublin. He would have been 22 at the time and was from Drumshanbo in Co. Leitrim, although the family were originally from the parish of Ardcarne in Co Roscommon.
His first posting was to the village of Donnard in Co Wicklow, where he met my grandmother, Elizabeth Hughes. She was from Rathmolyn in Co Meath and was working in Donnard post office at the time.She was a cousin of the Hughes brothers who founded HB ice cream. I still have his RIC whistle and helmet badge, and his first ever RIC notebook. In the notebook he has listed all his postings but I can only make out a couple of them. One is Gormanstown and the last is Cullingtree road in Belfast. After partition he joined the RUC.At the back of the notebook is a little pocket which contains two locks of my grandmothers hair which she had cut off as a keepsake after he had to leave Donnard.
My grandfather had 7 brothers and sisters and seven half brothers and sisters.One of his brothers was William Bridges and he also joined the RIC, no. 65429. However in 1915 he joined the Irish Guards and was posted to France where he was badly wounded during the Somme offensive in 1916. He also joined the RUC after partition."
"The other picture is of the grave of Thomas Bridges, no. 69992, a cousin of my grandfather.
He was ambushed along with two other constables at Drumcollagher Co. Limerick in May 1921, just a week short of his 22nd birthday. The graveyard is attached to Ardcarne Parish church in Co. Roscommon and that is where my great grandfather, Jeremiah Bridges married Sarah Grace in 1880. She was a widow of an RIC man by the name of Grace.
The grave also contains Thomas's father, also called Thomas who died in 1907 and his brother in law Frederick Carr, who was killed on the Western Front in September 1918. There had been Bridges in that part of Roscommon for about 200 years but as far as I am aware there are none left there now."
The killing of Constable Bridges was one of many in the bloody Whit period of May 1921. See also http://irishconstabulary.com/sreply/352/t/Robert-Redmond.html
