Researching the two Gaffneys
There were two Police Sergeant Gaffneys - but which one became a private detective?
‘Confidential Investigation Bureau. Private detective agency of a high-class bona-fide, responsible character has been established at Barton House, Deansgate, Manchester, by ex-sergeant P.F. Gaffney, late RIC and Home Office Criminal Investigation Department. All business entrusted to this firm will be dealt with in the most reliable and up to date manner by competent trustworthy persons at moderate charges.’ (Manchester Evening News, 5 October 1904, p.1)
It's sometimes the case that private detectives exaggerated their previous police experience, giving themselves higher ranks than they really had, or making out that they had served as detectives for a long time. For Manchester private detective Patrick Gaffney, however, he does seem to have been honest in his advertising… as far as I can see. The problems with checking his claims, as I explore here, have centred around the existence of a man not dissimilar to him.
Manchester’s Oxford Road in 1910; Patrick Gaffney was based in the city at this time (by Pierre Adolphe Valette and taken from Wikipedia, which states that this is public domain)
Patrick Francis Gaffney was, as his name suggests, an Irishman, but had lived in Manchester since at least 1889, when he married widow Mary Margaret Ainsworth. Mary was born in the city, and brought to the marriage her young daughter Gertrude Mary, who took on her stepfather's surname.
Unfortunately for research purposes, there were several Patrick Gaffneys living in the Manchester area, and it's easy to confuse one of his namesakes for him. A Patrick Gaffney was working for the police by the mid 1870s; in 1876, there is a reference to him in a case involving a 'traction engine nuisance'; Gaffney had noticed a locomotive engine emitted a substantial amount of black smoke as it made its way through Pendleton, and deemed it to be committing a nuisance under the Salford Improvement Act. He gave evidence in the subsequent case at Salford Borough Police Court, where the locomotive engineer admitted the offence. 1886, as a police sergeant, he was called as a witness to the Manchester Quarter Sessions in a case of wounding brought against Isaac Siddall. He was described as a police sergeant of Salford. Gaffney was also assaulted at least twice - in 1878 and 1893 - in cases that reached the ears of the press.
This police sergeant Gaffney was not the one who became a private detective, though. Both were born in Ireland, and both worked for the police in the north-west. However, one worked for the Salford Borough Police, and lived in the Salford area during his working life, whereas the other - the private detective - was based in Manchester rather than Salford. The Salford-based man was born in 1844, married Ann Coyne and had ten children by her, nine of whom survived infancy. The other Sergeant Gaffney - the one I've been looking for - was around 12 years younger, and as I've mentioned, married to a different woman.
Much is still a mystery about Patrick Francis Gaffney's life and work, at least without some physical trips to various archives - online research has its limitations. I do know that he was based in south Manchester but not far from the city centre; in 1901, he is living in Moss Side, and in 1911, at Whalley Range. In 1901, he was living with his wife, stepdaughter and mother-in-law, and gave his job as detective sergeant of police. Ten years later, he was described by his now married stepdaughter as her and her husband's boarder, along with Patrick's wife. This census is more helpful than 1901's as it lists Patrick's birthplace - Co Roscommon - as well as his new occupation of private detective.
There is, in summary, little evidence of Patrick Francis Gaffney outside of his marriage and death, and his private detective adverts. He is obviously present in censuses prior to 1901. The most detail I can find out for him beyond his detective adverts is in a 1929 directory, where his address is in the Moss Side area, and self-described as a 'pensioned ex-government detective officer, trained, experienced, responsible. Over 20 years' local knowledge, highest credentials'. He died nine years later, in Stretford.
The entry for Patrick F Gaffney in the RIC service records on Findmypast
Patrick said that he had been a government or Home Office detective officer. This might mean simply that he was part of the Metropolitan Police’s detective department - as Rachel Griffin has noted, ‘detectives…regularly worked for the Home Office to help supplement limited investigative machinery in the counties’ but could also act ‘as agents of the British government’ to monitor foreign nationals.
His adverts stated that he had also been part of the RIC - the Royal Irish Constabulary - and this suggests that he had started his police career in Ireland before coming to England and at some point moving to Manchester. RIC service records, on Findmypast, list one man who might be the right one: a Sergeant Patrick F Gaffney, aged 45, who received a pension from the RIC in 1903, after 25 years’ service. My efforts to tie this to what is known of private detective Gaffney’s career continue.