Garda veteran, 100, laid to rest

THE last surviving member of the recruits which founded the Garda Síochána was laid to rest yesterday.

Galway-born Charlie Clarke, who spent most of his career in Dublin, celebrated his 100th birthday last summer. Assistant Commissioners Tony Hickey and Fachtna Murphy formally represented the gardaí at the Requiem Mass and funeral in Dublin yesterday.

Serving and retired gardaí formed a guard of honour to salute the ex-garda, one of the new force’s first members in 1922.

Father-of-four Mr Clarke was predeceased earlier this year by his wife Lily. During a July celebration to mark Mr Clarke’s centenary, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and Garda Commissioner Pat Byrne were among the guests at a function in the Garda Retirement Home in Raheny, Dublin. From a farming background in Loughrea, Co Galway, Mr Clarke served for four years in the volunteers before joining the newly-formed gardaí. His registration number was 1970.

His early career was spent in north Cork, with Mr Clarke’s first assignment to the village of Castletownroche, followed by Buttevant and Kanturk, before being transferred to garda headquarters in 1929. He retired in 1955 in his 33rd year of service. Despite his age, he enjoyed good health and his death last Sunday in Beaumont Hospital was unexpected.

Four generations of his family mourned at a Mass in the Church of Our Lady Help of Christians in Dublin’s Navan Road. Joining his immediate family, daughters Nuala, Doreen, Maura and Charles were grandchildren and great-grandchildren along with his brother Pat, sisters Madge and Ciss, all in their 90s.