ABSTRACT

This article concerns the men of the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) who were disbanded from the force in 1922 and felt obliged to leave Ireland for Britain. Afforded unique – if not always entirely sufficient – financial and practical arrangements by the British government, this was in many respects a distinctive but particularly well documented cohort of Irish migrants. While the RIC was an exclusively male force, disbandment and migration also impacted on the wives and children of married members. The article will first examine the nature of migration under threat of republican violence for Irish-born, disbanded RIC members. It will then explore forced separation and the experiences of police families, before offering some reflections on what this case-study can tell us about contemporary understanding of gender and violence.

摘要

本文关注的是皇家爱尔兰警察（RIC）的人员，这些人员于1922年被解散，感到有义务离开爱尔兰前往英国。在英国政府的资助下（尽管并非总是完全足够），这在英国政府的财政和实际安排下，在很多方面都是与众不同的，但文献记载特别丰富的爱尔兰移民。尽管RIC仅是男性部队，但解散和移民也影响了已婚成员的妻子和子女。本文将首先探讨在爱尔兰出生的，已解散的RIC成员受到共和暴力威胁的情况下的移民性质。然后，它将探讨强迫分居和警察家庭的经历，然后对这个案例研究可以告诉我们有关当代对性别和暴力的了解提供一些思考。