Charles O'Brien

Charles O'Brien was born in Kerry in approx 1856. He joined the Royal Irish Constabulary on 28th January 1881 where his records show he was aged 24 3/4s and 5 foot 10 1/2 inches tall.  and was posted to Sligo ( Skreen) on 28th May 1881. Service number 46480.  While there he met Belinda Gillooly of Carrownaboll. They married on 1st September 1891 and he was transferred to Mayo on  22nd October the same year.

We know a certain amount about Charles' family starting with  the fact that his father's name was Patrick ( this was got from his marriage certificate entry )

 The family appear on the 1901 census as living in the Barracks in Bangor . Charles does not appear on the same page as the  rest of the family despite the fact they were all listed as living in the Barracks. The Sergeant and Constables are listed on a separate sheet and are only listed by their initials. However Charles, probably as senior Constable and the Sergeant have their signature on the Constabulary form

 Charles served for 30 years in the RIC retiring on 1st April  1911 on a pension of 48 Pds 10s and 8 pence p.a. His records show he was also awarded the Queen's Jubilee Medal in 1887.  The family are shown on the 1911 Census as living in Crossmolina. Belinda (Bella) is missing from their list in both 1901 and 1911 as she was living with Annie & Pat Gilhooly in Carrownaboll. However, she reappears later in Crossmolina as there is a school record of her time there from 1903 to 1908

The 1911 Census gives us a little more information than the 1901 version. It tells us that Belinda had 8 children with 7 of them surviving.

I traced the missing deceased child through death records for Mayo. He was a boy, named Charles after his father. He died on February 20th 1909 aged just 12 days old

Of the remaining 7, the eldest  Mary would die later in 1911 at Halloween aged just 18 from a burst appendix in th eoriginal st vincent's Hospital Dublin. The form also says that the eldest 4 children were born in Sligo with just the youngest 2 born in Mayo, suggesting Belinda went back to Carrownaboll to have all the older ones.

RIC Information for Charles here

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