# First Irish Officer in the Nation Bernard "Barney" McGinniskin



## Robert35 (Apr 5, 2006)

Boston remembers first Irish policeman
By John Floyd
"Barney McGinniskin, from the bogs of Ireland!" - These were the famous words uttered by Bernard "Barney" McGinniskin, who arrived from Co. Galway into Boston's North End Irish ghetto in the 1840s.
McGinniskin overcame fierce resistance within the Yankee establishment, which even included high-level meetings at Faneuil Hall, to become the first Irish police officer in Boston, and indeed the nation, in November of 1851. Up to then Barney, an imposing 6'2" and 42 years old, had been working as a cab-driver and at a local grain store.
Speaking with _The Irish Emigrant_, Emerald Society past president and West Roxbury police officer Sean McCarthy remarked: "McGinniskin was the first one to break Yankee ranks - they didn't want him hired, but pressure from the community got him hired."
With the Yankees eager to keep the Irish from infiltrating the Department [claiming McGinniskin would be compromised as he would primarily be arresting fellow Irishmen], his every move was held up to scrutiny. After a three year stint, local politics saw him removed from his position, and he died a decade later on March 2nd, 1868 after suffering heart problems. He is buried at the St. Augustine cemetery on Dorchester St. in South Boston.
Despite the prejudice he faced, McGinniskin's hiring greatly impacted the Irish community, paving the way as it did for Irishmen in the police force in Boston and indeed elsewhere in the nation. By 1871 the number of Irish police officers in Boston totaled 45. As the decades passed, newly-elected Irish politicians began to fill city jobs with their own, which often meant a prized job with the police or fire departments; thus began a long tradition of Irish in service.
The depression in 1929 and World War II saw large waves of other ethnic groups join the public safety ranks, with various organizations formed for officers of Catholic, Protestant, Jewish and other backgrounds, but there can be no doubting that McGinniskin's persistence broke down a lot of barriers for the newly-arrived Irish.
On Monday March 14th from 6-8pm at the Mount Washington Bank at 708 East Broadway, South Boston, a reception will be held detailing the life of Barney McGinniskin as well as plans for a major new memorial in his honor. Representatives from the Emerald Society of the Boston Police, the South Boston Civic Association, the South Boston Historical Society and other New England organizations will all be on hand to honor a pioneer of the force.
Officer McCarthy told _The Irish Emigrant_ that May or June have been penciled in to erect a permanent memorial stone at McGinniskin's burial site at the St. Augustine Chapel [the grave is long overgrown] and it is also hoped that a street sign will soon be unveiled in his honor in South Boston. On St. Patrick's Day a special Mass and wreath-laying ceremony will be held at the cemetery, which Officer McCarthy said will be "a special ceremony for March 17th not only for the officers of the Boston Police Department but for the Irish community of Boston as a whole."

---------- Post added at 16:13 ---------- Previous post was at 16:12 ----------

*Boston's First Irish Cop: Remembering What Barney Did*

*March 1, 2011 by Ed Forry*








By Ed Forry
Barney McGinniskin was the first Irish cop in Boston. He arrived in Boston's North End from County Galway in the 1840s, and found work as a laborer, until finally, on Nov. 4, 1851, he was hired by the city and he put on the blue waistcoat of a Boston police officer.
BIR contributing editor Peter Stevens told his story in these pages in 2008: "Boston had its first officially appointed Irish cop. Not surprisingly, his presence soon ignited a political, social and cultural furor in the land of 'Yankee icicles.'
" 'This person woke up one morning and found himself famous, ' noted the Irish newspaper The Boston Pilot. 'He is the first Irishman that ever carried the stick of a policeman anywhere in this country, and meetings, even Faneuil Hall meetings, have been held to protect against the appointment.'
"The very notion of an Irish policeman enraged Brahmin and Yankee tradesmen alike in the Boston of 1851," Stevens wrote. "Of the city's population of nearly 140,000, 53,923 hailed from Ireland but on Boston's eight-man Board of Aldermen, no Irishman represented the immigrants, and only one, Edward Hennessey of the West End, served on the 48-man Carmen Council. Alderman Able B. Monroe summed up the sentiments of many native-born Americans with his contention that appointing any Irishman to the police force would create "a dangerous precedent" because, in his opinion. "Irishmen commit most of the city's crime and would receive special consideration from any of their own wearing the blue."
Stevens wrote that in 1854, "A groundswell of anti-Irish rancor espoused by the so-called "Know-Nothing" American party shook Boston politics and bounced McGinniskin from the police ranks for good." His years as a cop had lasted less than three years.
Barney McGinniskin passed away in March 1868, and was buried in a cemetery on what is now Dorchester Street in South Boston, next to the St. Augustine Chapel. His burial place is marked by an almost illegible stone, and now there's a movement to restore his gravesite and give a heightened recognition to his place in history.
Several current Boston cops are joining with the Boston Emerald Society, the South Boston Citizens Association, and Southie's Historical Society to honor the memory of McGinniskin. first with a reception on March 14 hosted at the South Boston branch office of Mt. Washington Bank, and later in the spring with a graveside event at St. Augustine Cemetery.
Emerald Society past president Sean McCarthy, a police office from West Roxbury, said the bank reception will feature a police honor guard and an information program telling McGinniskin's story. He said there will be an unveiling of a memorial stone at the cemetery "coming in the spring, when the ground thaws. This is a guy who is a piece of our history, a piece of our Irish heritage, and a piece of Boston's history. If you read about the struggles he went through to get appointed, how long he lasted on the job, and why he was relieved of his post, you'll see some of the bigotry that persisted against Irish and Irish Americans back then. He cleared the way for other immigrants as well."
"This isn't a Boston Police Department event," explained Jack Forbush, Mt. Washington Bank's Community Affairs director. "The bank is the host [of the reception], and it is sponsored by the Emerald Society, the South Boston Historical Society, and the Citizens Association."
"The bank over the years has tried to get involved in the St. Patrick's festivities, and we traditionally try to host an event at one of our offices," said Mt. Washington Bank president Ed Merritt. "Seeing the historical significance of the Irish in Boston, this really fits in and we're happy to be able to do this."
Forbush said there are plans to have a "commemorative challenge coin" available at the time of the reception. Others joining in the planning are Police Officer Robert E. Anthony, chronologist of Boston Police Memorials in the commissioner's office, and Detective Richard Devoe of the SB Historical Society.
The reception will be held on Mon., March 14, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Mt. Washington Bank branch office, 708 East Broadway, South Boston.


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## GARDA (Dec 30, 2003)

*"He is the first Irishman that ever carried the stick of a policeman anywhere in this country".*

_Alright ye, move along now or I'll be takin' the wood to ya!_

'Tis some grand history on those shoulders.

Thanks for sharing Robert35, brilliant read.


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## HousingCop (May 14, 2004)

*Was he hired because of a consent decree? *


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