Oughterard District Force 1924

OUGHTERARD DISTRICT FORCE, (1924)
Sergeant Gregory Allen writes:- This is a group of the Oughterard District Force, circa 1924, based on identification of the officer-in- charge, Supt. Edmond O’Riordan. I identify him from a photograph of cadets in the Garda Siochana. One class of these cadets were recruited in an open competitive competition. attested July, 1923: Cadet,
afterwards Deputy Commr. Patrick J. Carroll winning the first place. A second competition was confined to officers of the National Army, the successful candidates attested August 1923. Cadet O’Riordan, veteran of the War of Independence was among the second intake. It is interesting that he was recommended by Major-General Michael Brennan, Chief-of-Staff, Defence Forces, until he retired in 1940; who died aged 90 on 24 October, 1986.

Cadet O’Riordan was born in 1900 at Kilbolane, Milford, Charleville, a farmer’s son.. The Oughterard station was re-formed on 27 October, 1922, and Supt. O’Riordan arrived there 6 February, 1924. He
was District Officer, Pallas, Co. Limerick, when he retired 2 February, 1963, and he died 18 July, 1970.
It is impossible to identify the others in the group. Certain individuals who served in the Oughterard District 1922-1924 are probably in this photograph; but it would be very difficult to list names relying on old records of doubtful accuracy for the earliest years.
Note that Supt. O’Riordan is wearing the regulation Number 2 uniform, with shoulder-strap rank markings of a 2nd Class Superintendent. The sergeants are identified by the Civic Guard badge of rank: the horizontal stripes worn by sergeants of the Dublin Metropoli tan Police up to c.1863. The tunic collar badge has not yet been issued: another clue to the date the  photograph was taken. In the group, six men are wearing the badge of the Pioneer Total Abstinence Association, and two are wearing the Fáinne.
In 1926, Sergeant Leo Maher (702) was posted to Oughterard as member-in-charge: a small detail which will interest members who served in the Rathfarnham District where Supt. Maher was District Officer in the 1950s. As Chief-Supt. Maher he afterwards served in Mayo, and the Dublin area.
Sergeant Allen adds that there is evidence that the Civic Guard sergeant’s badge of rank, the horizontal stripes worn by D.M.P. sergeants up c.1863, was replaced by the chevrons modelled on the sergeant’s badge of rank in the old Constabulary, on 1 October, 1925.
The date is only a detail, but it is interesting that the Constabulary insignia of rank was preferred on amalgamation of the DMP with the Garda Siochana in 1925. The Garda Sergeant today wears chevrons of the same pattern and on the upper sleeve, as in the DMP in 1925. The change from the old Constabulary- type badge or rank was made in 1954.