The Limerick born detective turned notorious highwayman of the 19th century

FROM the late-1840s to his capture in 1869, Murroe native, Denis Hourigan (1828-?), a notorious robber, burglar, and highwayman stalked remote hamlets, towns and cities robbing victims of their valuables. His streak of criminality was halted in 1869 when he was arrested in England following a spate of robberies and daring prison escapes.
Denis Hourigan’s life and times were colourful to say the least. His later forays into the world of crime were far removed from his earlier occupation as a detective in the London police, a position that he held for eight years. When he took retirement from the force, he was paid over £47 compensation (close to £7,500 today). His second career was as a clerk in London Docks, but an accident that saw him lose a finger ended that job. Hourigan then tried his hand at dealing – a sort of small-time merchant of secondhand goods. His attempt was unsuccessful and eventually he turned to criminality. Returning to Ireland, he embarked on a spate of burglaries which saw him incarcerated in Cork Jail.

READ MORE: Bellefield House: A lost Limerick mansion and its remarkable residents

When he was arrested in Limerick after his escape from Cork, it came to light that he had deserted from the 88th Regiment.
Hourigan was so well-known for his criminal activity that popular verse was written about his escapades. The Munster News of January 1859 printed the following lines:

‘Let England boast her own Jack Sheppard,
Her Robin Hood and all that clan.
Yet Ireland can exult in as good a man
Her own – Her own Dennis Hourigan.’
His comparison to the infamous thief – Jack Sheppard (1702-1724) known by many nicknames including “Jack the Lad” was likely a badge of honour that he wore with pride.
In 1859, the Munster News recalled his daring escape from Cork Jail where after he sought refuge with his family in Annagh, Abington parish, Co Limerick. Land records for the area suggest that there were three families with the surname Hourigan living in the townland at the time. Denis Hourigan was not at large for long and was arrested by the police asleep in between his two brothers, neither of whom were aware of his shenanigans. Hourigan was conveyed to Limerick Prison and lost his liberty once more.
Over the course of the following 10 years or so, he was imprisoned in Cork, then committed to Spike Island in 1860 where he spent over seven years, seeing out his sentence in Cork Prison. It did not take him long to return to his previous antics.
A detailed report of Hourigan’s crimes was carried in the Irishman newspaper of January 1869. It stated that the ‘notorious character whose extraordinary escape from Cork Jail about twelve years ago excited great sensation when having by one leap he cleared two walls 30 feet high and 16 feet apart.’ Hourigan was described as a ‘stout, well-built man, who stood at 5 feet 9 inches and was about forty years of age.’
Over the course of his criminal career, he had assumed several aliases including William Johnston, Denis Johnston, and William Thompson.
In February 1869, Hourigan was arrested in Limerick and charged with several counts of housebreaking in the vicinity of the city. He broke into the houses of Mr Tier at Ballyclough, Thomas Revington at Little Kilrush and Mr Boyd of Rosehill, Corbally. His ill-gotten booty included ‘wearing apparel, boots and shoes and silverplate’. Constable Shea of George’s Quay Barracks (the former Mont De Piété at Barrington’s Hospital) stated that the ‘prisoner had pawned, at different establishments, many articles belonging to the victims.
Shea stated that Hourigan was a ‘returned convict, having been three times sentenced to transportation to Australia for similar deeds.’ Conversely, Shea was recognised as an ‘expert and celebrated thief catcher’, so one can only imagine his disbelief and that of the governor of Limerick Gaol, when Hourigan managed to escape from that stronghold.
In fact, Hourigan was somewhat of a legend in his own right for the number of times he managed to abscond from Her Majesty’s prisons. Hourigan wasted no time and ‘feloniously burgled’ William G Gubbins of Castletroy House and William Cochrane of nearby Roselawn.
In July 1867, Hourigan turned up in Manchester where he was arrested for committing a daring robbery, records show that he received eight months in prison. Just over two years later, he was captured again and by this time, the police had begun to utilise the newest technology available – photography – and once his image was relayed to Cork, his identity was confirmed. In Manchester, the newspapers dubbed him 'Hourigan Redivivus'.
His erstwhile jailor, Constable Shea travelled to Manchester and stated that ‘Hourigan was the most respectable and cleverest looking prisoner in the dock. He wore a scarlet shirt, with white collar, and a magnificent black silk tie, a white waistcoat, and a first-rate frock coat’ – all of which he had stolen from William Gubbins’ house in Castletroy! Ever the rogue, Hourigan ‘desired the constable to give his kindest regards to the constabulary in Cork and Limerick for their courtesy to him when he was in their charge.’

READ MORE: The true meaning of Limerick's Bard of Thomond is not fame but endurance
His tongue-in-cheek remarks were not well received by the magistrate who sentenced him to ten years’ penal servitude.
Over the course of his criminal career, Denis Hourigan escaped from Kilmainham, Cork and Limerick County jails, the barracks at Fermoy, and was caught in the act of escaping from Mountjoy, and he very nearly escaped from the notorious Spike Island in Cork. His reputation and escapades were widely reported from Limerick to London to Lisbon to Melbourne and his infamy was both feared and admired.
To date, no image of Hourigan has surfaced. It is unclear what became of Denis Hourigan or where he is buried.

-Dr Paul O’Brien, assistant professor in Pedagogy of History, Faculty of Education, Mary Immaculate College