Henry Charles Sirr (soldier)

Henry Charles Sirr (1764–1841) was an Irish soldier, police officer, wine merchant and collector.

He was born in Dublin Castle, the son of Major Joseph Sirr, the Town Major (chief of police) of Dublin from 1762 to 1767. Sirr served in the British Army in 1778–1791 and was thereafter a wine merchant.

In 1792 he married Eliza D'Arcy (1767–1829), the daughter of James D'Arcy. He was the father of Rev. Joseph D'Arcy Sirr, MRIA and of Henry Charles Sirr.

In 1796 he was appointed acting Town Major of Dublin, confirmed in it in 1798. He was responsible for the arrest of Irish revolutionaries Lord Edward FitzGerald, Thomas Russell and Robert Emmet.

In 1802 he was mulcted £150 damages, and costs, for the assault and false imprisonment of John Hevey. His lawyer in this case referred to his "very great exertions and laudable efforts" to crush the Irish Rebellion of 1798. The opposing lawyer, John Philpot Curran, told a long tale of a grudge held by Sirr against Mr Hevey, the latter a prosperous businessman and a Yeoman volunteer against the Rebellion, who had happened to be in court during a treason case brought by Sirr. Hevey had recognised the witness for the prosecution, described him in court "a man of infamous character", and convinced the jury that no credit was due to the witness. The treason case collapsed. Sirr and his colleague had then subjected Hevey to wrongful arrest, imprisonment incommunicado, extortion of goods and money, and condemnation to hanging. Curran implied that these techniques were typical of the methods used by Sirr and by others to suppress the Rebellion.

In 1808 the Dublin police was re-organised and his post was abolished, but he was allowed to retain the title. Niles' Register of 24 March 1821 remarks that "Several persons have been arrested at a public house in Dublin, by major Sirr, charged with being engaged in a treasonable meeting, and committed to prison... We thought that this old sinner, given to eternal infamy by the eloquence of Curran, had gone home".

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