O'Ferrall, John Lewis More (1800–81), barrister and commissioner of the DMP (1836–71), was born 9 June 1800, second son of Ambrose O'Ferrall of Ballyna, Co. Kildare, formerly a major in the Sardinian service, and his wife Anne (d. 1810), daughter of John Bagot of Castle Bagot, Co. Dublin. His elder brother was Richard More O'Ferrall (qv), MP and privy counsellor, who held several important government offices. Educated at Acton Burnell and Stonyhurst College, he entered TCD in February 1820, graduating BA (1823) and MA (1832). He decided on a legal career and was admitted to the King's Inns in Dublin (1822), the Middle Temple in London (1825), and was called to the Irish bar in Michaelmas term 1827. Initially working as a junior counsel, he practised on the Leinster circuit and gained a reputation for his work on criminal cases. In 1832 he inherited the Lissard estate in Co. Longford, following the death of his kinsman, Edward O' Ferrall, and he later served as a JP and DL for the county.
Through the influence of his brother, who was then MP for Kildare, he was appointed a commissioner of the newly established DMP in 1836. The force had been established by the Dublin police act of 1836, which stipulated that the city's police force be reorganised as a separate force along the same lines as the London metropolitan police. The new force was to have both a military and civil commissioner and Lt-col. Augustus Cuyler and O'Ferrall were duly appointed. Cuyler died in 1837 and Maj. George Browne (qv) replaced him. Together O'Ferrall and Browne reorganised the old force, which had evolved out of the city's parish watch system. They pensioned off many of the constables of the old force and organised a recruiting campaign. O'Ferrall often appointed new constables on the recommendation of prominent members of society, and letters survive from Maria Edgeworth (qv), who wrote recommendations for several prospective recruits. While the new force suffered some discipline problems, it ultimately performed well. Some areas in Dublin were beyond the control of the forces of law and order, and constables feared to enter the warren of the city's back streets and lanes. The area between Aungier St. and St Stephen's Green alone was home to twenty-five brothels and six unlicensed public houses, and street violence and robbery were endemic. It was against this lawless backdrop that the new commissioners took command, and over the next few years O'Ferrall was happy to report an increase in the numbers of arrests for burglary, street robbery, drunkenness, and prostitution and a corresponding fall in crime figures.
Col. Browne was responsible for the command of the force in the field while O'Ferrall became the administrative genius behind the organisation. In a letter of 1858 to the chief secretary, Henry Herbert (qv), he outlined his administrative role, which included responsibility for financial matters and the issuing of licences to carriage drivers, pawnbrokers, and publicans. Yet O'Ferrall was no mere bureaucrat, and throughout his career he played an active role in efforts to maintain order on Dublin's streets. He took a particular interest in the various secret societies that proliferated during this period, giving evidence in 1839 on the Ribbon society to a parliamentary committee investigating crime and outrage in Ireland. In 1843 he was a supporter of the arms bill and kept a careful watch on the leaders of the Young Ireland movement. He was largely responsible in 1843 for the establishment of a permanent detective force in the DMP, designated ‘G division’. While many criticised the employment of plain-clothes detectives, he defended their use in light of the political tensions in the country at large. During the attempted rebellion of July 1848 he was prominent in the suppression of Young Ireland, signing arrest warrants for several of the leaders.
He later concerned himself with the activities of the Fenians, and in September 1865 personally supervised the raid on the offices of the Irish People in Parliament St., ordering the arrest of the paper's editor, John O'Leary (qv). Using the intelligence gathered by the G division, and also the reports of informers, he was aware that the Fenians were planning a rebellion but was taken by surprise when it actually broke out on 5–6 March 1867. He severely criticised the Manchester police for allowing the rescue of Fenian prisoners from a police van on 18 September 1867 (which led to the execution of the ‘Manchester martyrs’), leaking a DMP report that castigated the disorganisation of the English force. In 1871 he resigned as chief commissioner. He died on 21 January 1881 at his Dublin residence, Granite Hall, Kingstown (Dún Laoghaire), Co. Dublin.
He married (May 1836) Clara (d. 1879), daughter of Thomas Segrave of Cabragh (Cabra), Co. Dublin; they had one son and three daughters. Many of O'Ferrall's reports and letters survive in the constabulary papers in the Chief Secretary's Office collection in the NAI. The Garda Síochána museum in Dublin castle has a contemporary photograph. There are further letters in the More O'Ferrall collection in the NLI.