Book Description

Recollections of an Irish Police Magistrate reads like fiction. The people are larger than life, the events too unbelievable, but they're all true. Henry Robert Addison was there, he saw the dried blood and gore at the site of the Carrickshock massacre, the torch lit rebels roaming the countryside, he heard Daniel O'Connell's sonorous voice captivate crowds of thousands, he stood under the gallows as criminals were launched into eternity, he met both the famous and infamous of his day, and he recounts it all here. The Irish Police Magistrate of the title is Thomas Phillips Vokes; who was Addison's father-in-law, after he married his daughter Mary Vokes in 1828. Vokes was the Chief Police Magistrate of Limerick city and county from 1822 to his retirement in 1845. Voke's reads like a 80's action film hero. Singlehandedly taking on rebels with his formidable strength and cunning intelligence. Voke's fearlessly tracks down rebels, and murderers through bogs and mountains with nothing to protect himself with but a horsewhip. Vokes' life is constantly under threat because of how successful he is, he's said to have a charmed life and one would-be-assassin goes as far as casting silver bullets in the belief they will put an end to Vokes. Addison gets dragged along on these dangerous excursions and writes about them in an authentically engaging and descriptive manner. About the Author:Henry Robert Addison (1805-1876), sometimes erroneously called Captain Addison, was born in Calcutta. He became a cornet in the 2nd Dragoon Guards on 12 July 1827, and was promoted to lieutenant on 15 March 1831, which rank he held until 21 June 1833, when he was placed on half pay. He began writing for the stage in 1830 and was the author of about sixty dramas and farces. He was lessee of Queen's Theatre, London from August 1836 to 1837. He wrote many songs and articles in monthly magazines. He was author of about twelve novels and stories. He edited Who's Who from 1849 to 1850. He was special correspondent of a morning paper at the Paris exhibition in 1867. He was deputy chairman of London steamboat company. He died at Albion St., Hyde Park, London, on 24 June 1876, aged 71.