Richard Barry O'Brien

“ Orange processions were put down, Orange magnates reprimanded, and the organisation entirely stripped of the power for mischief and disturbance which it had so long possessed. The notorious faction fights, which were of constant occurrence in the south, met with treatment of equal vigour. It had been the practice to allow the faction fighters to settle their differences among themselves. Drummond reprimanded the police for their listlessness, urged them to vigorous action, and under pain of dismissal ordered the chiefs to prevent the coming together of the opposing factions. ”

“ Of the work of the commission it has been said ‘the labours of the commissioners were most arduous; their report, with the evidence on which it was founded, and the explanatory maps and plans which accompanied it, is one of the ablest ever submitted to parliament.’ Of the minor work done by Drummond for Ireland the municipal boundaries commission, the abolition of the hulks at Cork, and the suppression of the disgraceful Sunday drinking booths in the Phœnix Park, Dublin, may be mentioned. ”

“ Abandoning the old methods, he enforced the ordinary law with vigour. The abandonment of coercion made him popular with the masses of the people, and even those who sympathised with the agrarian organisations forgot the severity in the justice of the ruler. ”

“ For the first and only time in Irish history an organisation of Irish peasants was formed to help the executive in bringing agrarian offenders to justice, and this society was formed in the very centre of agrarian disturbances itself—Tipperary. ”

“ Drummond set out for Ireland on 18 July 1835. On 19 Nov. following he married, in England, Miss Kinnaird, the ward and adopted daughter of Richard (‘Conversation’) Sharp [q. v.] , an accomplished, attractive, and intelligent woman, who entered into his labours with sympathy and zest. In December 1835 Drummond took up his residence at the under-secretary's lodge in the Phœnix Park, Dublin. His attention was first directed to the organisation of an effective police force. Prior to his time the police were an inefficient, partisan, and corrupt body. ”