Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A 1920 ‘Defence of Camp Barracks’ Constabulary Medal (Ireland) to Constable W. Dunphy, Royal Irish Constabulary, a native Irish-speaking Peeler; according to contemporary newspapers this early Defence of Barracks action was seen as a ‘’Sensation” throughout County Kerry and it triggered a withdrawal of the R.I.C. from many rural areas

Constabulary Medal (Ireland), 2nd type, ‘Reward of Merit Royal Irish Constabulary’, reverse inscribed, ‘Constable William Dunphy, 64671, 1920’, with straight bar swivel suspension and silver brooch bar, good very fine £2,200-£2,600

Provenance: Dix Noonan Webb, June 2006.

Medal authorised 11 March 1920.

William Dunphy was born in Kilkenny on 28 June 1889 and baptised as a Roman Catholic in both Kilkenny and Dublin. He first attempted to join the Royal Irish Constabulary in March 1909, but was unable to pass the medical exam. He tried again in July 1910, and was accepted. The R.I.C. had not relaxed its requirements in any way, and was fully aware that Dunphy had been rejected just 15 months earlier, so his health must have improved. Apart from this, he was a typical ‘Peeler’ recruit of the period.

Dunphy described himself as a farmer’s son (as such he would be used to working outdoors), met the height requirement and was recommended by a local Head Constable. After his initial training at the R.I.C. Depot he was assigned to the four-man Curry Police Hut at Glore, Co. Westmeath. The R.I.C. seldom carried firearms in rural areas before 1916, crime was low, and one of the extra duties assigned by Government to the R.I.C. was taking the Census in their district. In the 1911 Census return for his police hut, Dunphy was listed by his colleagues as able to speak Irish in addition to English (his three fellow Peelers could not speak Irish).

Dunphy was reassigned to Camp Barracks in County Kerry from July 1919, just after an R.I.C. patrol had been attacked nearby and disarmed. During the evening of Thursday 19 February 1920 all telephone lines to Camp Barracks were cut and roads were blocked by trees and other obstacles to prevent reinforcements arriving from three nearby R.I.C. barracks. At around 10:30 p.m. an I.R.A. force of about forty men led by Dan Jeffers began to attack the barracks, which was a two-storey semi-detached house with steel shutters over the windows. Sergeant McDonagh was in command at Camp, with a garrison of six Constables, including Dunphy, who were armed with rifles, revolvers and hand grenades.

The attackers used crowbars to dig holes in the gable wall for placing explosives, while gunmen kept the police holed up inside the building with small-arms fire. Sergeant McDonagh was shot through the cheek and after an hour the I.R.A. succeeded in blowing the end wall off the building. They called on the defenders to surrender. The police refused, and kept up a cautious return fire, as their stock of ammunition was low. They fired flares to attract attention and signal that they were under attack. Realising that a frontal assault would be costly, the I.R.A. withdrew under cover of darkness. (The Kerryman 21 February 1920 refers).

Next morning, the R.I.C. discovered crowbars, two rifles and a revolver that had been left behind. The revolver had been struck by a bullet, and it was believed at the time that at least three I.R.A. gunmen had been injured. A number of houses in Tralee were searched for suspects and evidence, and raids were still being carried out in early March.

Although the R.I.C. defenders had successfully prevented the I.R.A. from capturing the barracks and its armoury, it was decided that the damaged building would not be repaired and it was abandoned. This marked the beginning of the withdrawal of the R.I.C. from many rural police posts, a gift to the Republicans, as it was subsequently more difficult for the R.I.C. to monitor and keep an accurate track of I.R.A. activity across much of the countryside.

Dunphy continued to serve with the R.I.C. in Kerry until disbandment in April 1922.

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