Samuel Waters 1844-1936 was an RIC Officer and both his father and grandfather had been policemen. He started on £125 per annum and perpetually in scrapes due to his inadequate income.  He was posted to Castletown in 1874 at the time a quiet district and enjoyed hunting and fishing.

He was interested in amateur dramatics and in the capacity met the then 17 year old Tim Harrington later to become a Home Ruler MP.  Although on opposite sides politically they became friends he was also friendly with Tim’s brother Edward who was a newspaper editor ‘The Sentinel’, in Tralee.

His memoir is in the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland  (Gore-Booth Papers D/4051/14), on Lisaddell House he recounts the pastime of him and fellow officers in the evening of rat catching in the kitchen as a member of the Pig and Whistle Club.

The memoir has been edited by Stephen…