John Thompson Head Constable Kemare

Don:

We do not have a parish liaison in Templenoe parish or any of the nearby parishes. I did some searching and I located two sites which have information on the C of I cemetery in Templenoe.

Roger McDonnell

http://86.45.71.36:280/Templenoe%20C.O.I%20Church/Templenoe%20Church%20…

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&CRid=2450594

Don,

For information, RIC policy was not to post an Officer to a county where he or his wife had connections, so if he served in Kerry, he wouldn’t have been a native of that county. And normally neither would his wife. His RIC service records should however tell you which county he did come from, and probably where his wife originated.

You can get a copy of his RIC service record from a variety of sources eg the Garda Museum in Dublin, National Archives in Dublin or London (the originals are in London). If it doesn’t suit you to go there, the PSNI (police) museum in Belfast will provide you with a copy for a £25 fee.

https://www.psni.police.uk/inside-psni/our-history/genealogy/

John would have had to be 19 to join the RIC (18 if his father had served with them) and he had to have served 7 years before he could marry.

If you search for John on findmypast, they have the Irish Petty Sessions records and so you may be able to find court cases he was involved in by searching on his name plus Irish Petty Sessions.

Thanks for your efforts Elwyn and Roger. Most helpful
Don