Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

An R.V.M. group of four awarded to Detective Sergeant R. J. Revell, Dublin Metropolitan Police, who survived an assassination attempt on 8 May 1920, when he was shot seven times by members of the ‘Squad’ whilst on his way to Dublin Castle

Royal Victorian Medal, E.VII.R., bronze, unnamed as issued; Visit to Ireland 1900 (P.C. R. Revell. D.M.P.) with integral top shamrock suspension bar; Visit to Ireland 1903 (P.C. R. Revell. D.M.P.) with integral top shamrock suspension bar; Visit to Ireland 1911, unnamed as issued, good very fine (4) £400-£500

Richard John Revell was born at Painestown, Carlow, on 18 December 1873 and joined the Dublin Metropolitan Police on 5 October 1895. He was awarded the Royal Victorian Medal in bronze on 11 May 1904, on the occasion of H.M. King Edward VII’s visit to Ireland, and was promoted Sergeant on 1 October 1914. Latterly he was employed as a ‘G-man’ doing clerical work in the head office of the detective division at Dublin Castle.

On the morning of 8 May 1920, Revell was ambushed near Doyle’s Corner and shot 7 times as he bicycled to work- falling off his bicycle he was lying in the street covered in blood from the wound to his neck, when several bystanders and witnesses came to his aid, before being taken to Adelaide Hospital where surgery was performed. The wound in the neck was just below his left ear; two bullets had entered his left arm, fracturing the bone; and another bullet was lodged in his leg. Miraculously, he survived.

The shooting had been carried out by members of the Irish Active Service Unit, the ‘Squad’, and the following witness statement, by Major General P. Daly, Officer Commanding Squad and Active Service Unit, gives the following account from the opposition side:

‘About April 1920 some members of the Squad were becoming dissatisfied because, they said, they were not being given any responsible tasks, that they were merely covering up for the men who were actually carrying out the executions, and that headquarters would take the view that their activities, as far as the squad concerned, were insignificant, which was not the case. The reports going to headquarters were verbal, they were never written, and these men thought that as they did not carry out any of the actual executions headquarters would consider that they were doing nothing of importance. I promised them that they would carry out the next operation, which happened to be the elimination of Sergeant Revell. As in the majority of the executions that were carried out, we were not aware of the reason for his elimination, we simply got orders to carry out the execution of Revell. The reasons did not concern us.
Revell lived in one of the streets off Phibsboro’ Road. There were four men detailed to carry out the execution of Revell, and Tom Keogh, Joe Leonard and myself were to act as a covering party for the four men. Tom Keogh was in position near Doyle’s Corner, and I was up beyond the picture-house on the Glasnevin side. We expected Revell to come from his home at about half-past nine or ten o'clock in the morning. When Revell came along on his bicycle the four men simply closed around him and fired at him. The shooting took place outside Jack Toomey's house, no. 88 Phibsboro’ Road. The last I saw of Revell was when he was lying flat on his back on the road. I think one of the four men pulled Revell off his bicycle when he was not falling quickly enough.
We moved off when we saw Revell lying in the road. Tom Keogh overtook me on the road back and said something like, “These fellows will do a bit of crowing now”. We were perfectly satisfied that Revell was dead, and we were mesmerized when we read in the paper that night that he had only been wounded. He boasted that he lay stretched on the road and that the squad did not fire on him as he lay there. He did not die of his wounds, he may still be alive for all I know.’

After recovering from his wounds, Revell and his family were moved into Dublin Castle for their safety. He was pensioned on 1 June 1922, and subsequently emigrated with his family to London, where he died in December 1963.

Sold with the original named certificate for the Royal Victorian Medal; photographic images of the recipient; and a large quantity of copied research.