Irish Crown Jewels
[1] The original regalia of the Grand Master were only slightly more opulent than the insignia of an ordinary member of the order; the king's 1783 ordinance said they were to be "of the same materials and fashion as those of Our Knights, save only those alterations which befit Our dignity".
"[3] They contained 394 precious stones taken from the English Crown Jewels of Queen Charlotte and the Order of the Bath star of her husband George III.
[4][5] Notices issued after the theft described the jewels thus: A Diamond Star of the Grand Master of the Order of St. Patrick composed of brilliants (Brazilian stones) of the purest water, 4+5⁄8 by 4+1⁄4 inches, consisting of eight points, four greater and four lesser, issuing from a centre enclosing a cross of rubies and a trefoil of emeralds surrounding a sky blue enamel circle with words, "Quis Separabit MDCCLXXXIII."
[6][7] A Diamond Badge of the Grand Master of the Order of St. Patrick set in silver containing a trefoil in emeralds on a ruby cross surrounded by a sky blue enamelled circle with "Quis Separabit MDCCLXXXIII."
[6][8] When not being worn or cleaned, the insignia of the Grand Master and those of deceased knights were in the custody of the Ulster King of Arms, the senior Irish herald, and kept in a bank vault.
The two men allegedly obtained access to the safe by plying Vicars with whiskey until he fell unconscious, at which point they removed the key from his pocket.
Hobson claimed that the men escaped prosecution due to Shackleton threatening to expose the "discreditable doings" of various high-ranking personages with whom he was acquainted.
[24] In 1912 and 1913, Laurence Ginnell suggested that the police investigation had established the identity of the thief, that his report had been suppressed to avoid scandal,[25] and that the jewels were "at present within the reach of the Irish Government awaiting the invention of some plausible method of restoring them without getting entangled in the Criminal Law".
[26] In an adjournment debate in 1912 he alleged:[27] The proposition I ask to be allowed to make is this: The police charged with collecting evidence in connection with the disappearance of the Crown Jewels from Dublin Castle in 1907 collected evidence inseparable from it of criminal debauchery and sodomy being committed in the castle by officials, Army officers, and a couple of nondescripts of such position that their conviction and exposure would have led to an upheaval from which the Chief Secretary shrank.
In order to prevent that he suspended the operation of the Criminal Law, and appointed a whitewashing commission with the result for which it was appointed.His speech was curtailed when a quorum of forty MPs was not present in the chamber.
[30] On 23 November 1912, the London Mail alleged that Vicars had allowed a woman reported to be his mistress to obtain a copy to the key to the safe and that she had fled to Paris with the jewels.
[32] After Frank Shackleton was imprisoned in 1914 for passing a cheque stolen from a spinster,[9][33] Earl Winterton asked for the judicial inquiry demanded by Vicars.
In 2002, another published account, Scandal & Betrayal: Shackleton And The Irish Crown Jewels suggested the theft was a Unionist plot to embarrass the Liberal government.
[35] A 2003 study, The Stealing Of The Irish Crown Jewels, stated that while Shackleton and Gorges may have been shielded from prosecution due to fears they would expose homosexuality in prominent figures, this was only speculation, and the police may simply not have had enough evidence against them.
[36] In 2023, A Secret Between Gentlemen further detailed the British Government's suppression of the case, and its hesitancy in prosecuting Shackleton in 1913 over his defrauding of Gower's fortune.
In 1983, when the Genealogical Office vacated its structurally unsound premises inside the Clock Tower, Donal Begley, the then-Chief Herald of Ireland supervised the removal of walls and floorboards, in case the jewels were found, but they were not.
