William P. Quinn (5 March 1900 – 10 January 1978) was born in

Inniskeen Inniskeen, officially Inishkeen (), is a small village, townland and parish in County Monaghan, Ireland, close to the County Louth and County Armagh borders. The village is located about from Dundalk, from Carrickmacross, and from Crossmaglen ...

, County Monaghan, Ireland. He was the son of Thomas J. Quinn, the principal of the National School. He joined the

Garda Síochána (; meaning "the Guardian(s) of the Peace"), more commonly referred to as the Gardaí (; "Guardians") or "the Guards", is the national police service of Ireland. The service is headed by the Garda Commissioner who is appointed by the Irish Gover ...

in December 1922 and was the first recruit to rise through the ranks to the office of Commissioner.

Biography

He was educated at the Christian Brothers school in Dundalk. He joined the Ulster Bank in September 1916, leaving in 1918 to become a volunteer in the Irish Republican Army (IRA). He worked with O'Rourke's Mill and served with the Inniskeen company of the IRA. He was interned by the British in Ballykinlar,

County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 531,665. It borders County Antrim to the ...

in 1921. He served in the Gardaí from 1922 to 1967. He married Helen Mary Walshe in June 1928 and they had five daughters and three sons. One of his sons,

James Aiden O'Brien Quinn James Aiden O'Brien Quinn, QC (3 January 1932 – 28 December 2018) was an Irish-born lawyer and expatriate judge. During his career, he served as a judge in Cameroon, the Seychelles, Kiribati, Solomon Islands, Botswana, and the United Kingdom. ...

, was a judge in several Commonwealth countries. After his retirement, he managed Bray Credit Union. He is buried in Bray,

County Wicklow County Wicklow ( ; ga, Contae Chill Mhantáin ) is a county in Ireland. The last of the traditional 32 counties, having been formed as late as 1606, it is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the province of Leinster. It is bordered by t ...

. He was the uncle of the engineer

Peter Rice Peter Rice (16 June 1935 – 25 October 1992) was an Irish structural engineer. Born in Dublin, he grew up in 52 Castle Road, Dundalk in County Louth, and spent his childhood between the town of Dundalk, and the villages of Gyles' Quay and ...

Career

His registration number was 2712 indicating that he was recruited in late November 1922. His early career was spent in the Waterford Division and he was promoted to Sergeant on the first of December 1922. He served as clerk to the Chief Superintendent, Waterford Division, and on the first of September 1925, was promoted to the rank of Inspector. On 26 March 1927, he was promoted to Superintendent. He served in

Cahirciveen Cahersiveen (), sometimes Cahirciveen, is a town on the N70 national secondary road in County Kerry, Ireland. As of the 2016 CSO census, the town had a population of 1,041. Geography Cahersiveen is on the slopes of 376-metre-high Bentee, a ...

(

County Kerry County Kerry ( gle, Contae Chiarraí) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and forms part of the province of Munster. It is named after the Ciarraige who lived in part of the present county. The population of the co ...

Bruff Bruff () is a town in east County Limerick, in the midwest of Ireland, located on the old Limerick–Cork road ( R512). The town lies on the Morning Star river, with two bridges in the town itself. The horseshoe lake of Lough Gur is nearby ...

( County Limerick), and in

County Wexford County Wexford ( ga, Contae Loch Garman) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster and is part of the Southern Region. Named after the town of Wexford, it was based on the historic Gaelic territory of Hy Kinsella (''Uí Ceinns ...

. On the first of June 1934, he was promoted to Chief Superintendent and took charge of the Tipperary Division, with its headquarters in Thurles. His lifelong friendship with

Dan Breen Daniel Breen (11 August 1894 – 27 December 1969) was a volunteer in the Irish Republican Army during the Irish War of Independence and the Irish Civil War. In later years he was a Fianna Fáil politician. Background Breen was born in Grange, ...

began here. In 1937 he became Divisional Officer of the Dublin/Wicklow Division. In 1959 he was promoted to the rank of Assistant Commissioner at Dublin Castle, taking charge of the Dublin Metropolitan Division (DMD). On appointment as Deputy Commissioner (1962) he was given responsibility for Crime Branch, Garda H.Q. In February 1965 he was appointed Commissioner to succeed Daniel Costigan. He introduced one-way traffic on Dublin streets in 1966. He retired on 4 March 1967. He was the first Commissioner to rise through the ranks, a precedent followed by all subsequent Commissioners. On 25 September 1968, he was appointed a member of the Conroy Commission – established to report on conditions of service of members of the Garda Síochána.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Quinn, William Garda Commissioners 1900 births 1978 deaths Irish Republican Army (1919–1922) members People from Inniskeen People educated at Coláiste Rís Police officers from County Monaghan