I am endeavouring to discover the origins of over 2,200 members of the Auxiliary Division of the Royal Irish Constabulary (ADRIC) (1920-1922) and what became of them after the War of Independence. This is a photograph of Major Jocelyn Lee Hardy, DSO MC & Bar (1894-1958) taken in 1918 when he was serving with the Connaught Rangers in WW1. He was born in Kensington, London in 1894 and he died in 1958 at the Royal Masonic Hospital, Hammersmith, London. Despite loosing a leg in WW1 earning him the nickname Hoppy Hardy he continued serving in the Army and was posted to Dublin Castle as an intelligence officer and was seconded to F Company of the Auxiliary Division of the RIC. He was involved in several raids in Dublin and shootings and has been identified by DMP man David Nelligan (1899-1983) of The Spy in the Castle fame as according to the latest episode of Who Do You Think You Are as being the person who shot Peter OCarroll, the grandfather of Brendan OCarroll (Mrs.Browns Boys). Despite several attempts to assassinate Hardy in Dublin and later in London, he retired to Norfolk, England. He named his 17th Century house Kilcoroon at Chancery Lane, Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk. The house now a Bed & Breakfast and the current owner advertises “The name Kilcoroon derives from the Irish version of Valhalla (Hall of the Slain), and was given to the house by the previous owner, a former British Army officer who retired to Wells-next-the-Sea after being wounded in Ireland.” This goes to show the misinformation where a notorious killer in retirement presented himself as the victim in Ireland and not the perpetrator. It is also a classic example where the Old RIC or DMP were tarred with the same brush and whose members I am sure would have not condoned such killings in their name. This is quite evident as the person who solved the murder for the OCarroll family almost one-hundred years later was an DMP man, David Neligan. Incidentally, when Hardy died in 1958 he left an estate of £58,081.1s.9d.
Posted on: Fri, 29 Aug 2014 09:47:56 +0000
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