Author: The Burren and Beyond

B.A., M.A.(Archaeology); Regional Tour Guide; Dip. Radio Media Tech; H.Dip. Computer Science.
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THE GALWAY ELECTION – 1901

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The Age, 23rd November 1901 page 11

REBEL CANDIDATE RETURNED.
LONDON, 22nd November.
The election of a member to represent the town of Galway in the House of Commons, in succession to the late member, the Hon Martin Morris, who vacated the seat on succeeding his father in the House of Lords took place yesterday. The Nationalists, as a demonstration of pro-Boerism and hostility to England, nominated Mr Arthur Lynch, a native of Smythesdale, Victoria, who for a time held the position of colonel of the Irish Brigade which fought on the side of the enemy In the South African war; and the Conservative candidate was the Right Hon. Horace Plunkett, founder of the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society, formerly member for the southern division of Dublin county. The election resulted In favor of the pro-Boer candidate, the voting being:—
Lynch.. .. … .. . 1247
Plunkett .. .. .. .. 473
The defeat of Mr Plunkett is attributed to the fact of his having courted the votes of the Nationalist party, and, while failing to secure them, thus alienated himself from the Unionists.
Intense feeling has been displayed during the election campaign in Galway, and a few days ago a party of Nationalists wrecked Mr Plunkett’s committee rooms and fatally stabbed one of his supporters.
Mr John. Redmond, leader of the Irish Nationalist party in the House of Commons, who is now in the United States on an Irish League mission, telegraphed from New York to Galway, advising the electors to elect Mr Lynch, as being a soldier of freedom. Mr Lynch, who since his return from South Africa has resided In France, conducted the election campaign from Paris, fearing arrest as a rebel If he appeared on British soil.

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Eviction Scenes in County Galway – 1886

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The Capricorn, (Rockhampton, QLD) 30th October, 1886 p 10

Most determined resistance is being given to an evicting party which has been at work for some days on the Marquis of Clanricard’s estate, near Woodford, County Galway.
About 1000 police had been drafted into Portumna, whence they go each morning to the scene of the intended evictions. Mr. Brady, R.M., County Inspectors Wilson and O’Brien, and eight district inspectors are in charge of the police.

The first eviction took place on Thursday, when the police went to a place called Kilnawally. They found about 500 people assembled, the crowd having been brought together by the ringing of the chapel bells. Conroy, whose rent is £24, owed with costs, above £100. The farm had been sold to the agent for the landlord at a public sheriff’s sale in Galway some time ago. An enormous crowd had assembled, amongst them being three Roman Catholic clergymen, Rev. Mr. Coen, Rev. Mr. Egan, of Woodford and Rev. Mr. Roach, of Ballinakill.
The Emergency men took three hours to effect an entrance, during which time the party inside and on the roof poured boiling water and lime on them, and threw slates down on them. Even the crowbars, with which the
wall was being broken in, were taken from them and dragged inside the house. The Emergency men drew their revolvers repeatedly, but were dissuaded by the police from using them.

The evicting force subsequently proceeded to Drumin, three miles off, to carry out another eviction, but so stubborn was the resistance that the attempt was abandoned, and the party returned to Portumna. On the following day they found that Monatreeva Bridge, five miles from Portumna, had been broken down during the night, and the remainder of the journey, seven miles, had to be performed on foot.
The house of a man named Patrick Fahy was reached, and a scene ensued similar to that on the previous day at Conroy’s. When County Inspector Willson went up close to the house to inform those inside that unless they desisted he would be obliged to order the police to fire on them, the answer he got was the pouring of a quantity of boiling lime on himself, which destroyed his uniform.
The Riot Act was threatened to be read, but the counsels of the clergy and police prevailed, and the people became less excited. Ultimately, after four hours, possession was taken. Parties of police remained out all night on Friday to prevent further destruction of bridges or obstruction of the road by trees etc. At the house gone to on Saturday the emergency men failed to effect an entrance, and the police entered with fixed bayonets. Those inside resisted, and in the struggle one civilian was stabbed, and one policeman wounded. The police made no arrests.
Home paper Sept 4

Photo:EOD
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Van Diemen’s Land – 1823

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The Connaught Journal – Galway
17th November 1823
Extract of a Letter from a Lady, dated Hobart Town, June 2, 1823

“We arrived there a little more than a fortnight since. I believe we were all heartily glad to find our feet once more press the earth. The town is infinitely larger than I expected to find it; the streets are very broad, but the houses are separated from each other by gardens, and courts or yards. Those recently built and building are of brick. We are now in Macquarrie-street, and in a very good house. ____has a grant of 400 acres (which he asked for) and will be allowed two men from the Government stores, with rations for six months. Women servants are scarce here; I dispair (sic.) of finding a good one. Men are employed in houses instead of women; your property is more secure with them, and they are not enticed away as the women are. The country is beautiful. It is now the rainy season, but quite mild. The rigour of an English winter is here unknown. Snow rests on the hills, but does not stay in the valleys. The summer must be delightful. Here are wood, coal, and lime. Coal is used in the interior; wood is more generally burned in the town.
“Settlers, after a time, make their own candles, soap and beer, if they choose. I have paid 1s. 6d. for moulds, four to the pound; some charge still higher. Colonial soap 10d., and very good for whitening. Mutton is 9d. 8d. and 7d. People complain of a scarcity of wood this winter, and even meat at times, is not to be procured from the butchers. I shall be uncommonly happy to be in my own house once more. We must be satisfied with a rough concern at first, but we shall soon be able to build a better dwelling. Here is excellent free-stone; and the ceder wood from New South Wales is very similar to mahogany and does admirably for doors, shelves, windows, &c. without paint. It is much used. The Huon River has on its banks fine pine, which is in softness and beauty equal to deal. It will light as a candle, & makes a good torch for a short time. Building now is considered as the most secure speculation; but tradesmen of every description do well if they are industrious and steady. It will be his own fault if every shop-keeper, or, as he is termed, store-keeper, does not make a rapid fortune. This place is most rapidly improving. People are quite as smartly dressed as in many parts of England. I have been told lace is exceedingly dear, English silks, &c. I think from the little I have heard, this is an uncomfortable residence for a bachelor. Servants are scarce, and lodgings are not so convenient or comfortable as in England; rooms are not carpeted. Many of the luxuries of life are wanting. If a person comes here he must make up his mind to find every thing in its infancy, and he will not be disappointed. In the room I have now I burn wood, but I have no fire-irons found me; I have no fender, nor hearth brush, nor carpet. If I choose these things I must purchase them; they come here under the head of luxuries. I have not been out, except to change lodgings, since I came. Milk, butter, and cheese, are uncommonly dear; very little of either is used- Sugar and tea are cheap. Good green at 4s. 6d. to 5s. Lump sugar is dear; moist sugar very good, at 6d or 7d. Work people are very idle. Wages are high, so they earn sufficient in three or four days to support them the remainder of the week, which they pass in idle enjoyment. Tortoishell combs are not to be got readily, and are enormously dear. Porter sells well; so does good wine. I wish we had brought a pipe or two out with us from Madeira and England. Paper is dear, I am told; for the tradesman is not willing to pack our goods in paper; he wants you to send some convenience for it. Government will only give 4s. for the dollar, which has injured many people greatly; but in trade you mostly pay and receive the dollar at 5s. Paper money abounds here.- Tradesmen issue notes payable in dollars at 5s.; notes are for 2s. 6d. and 1s. 6d. We look forward to comfort and independence here; and I think with reason. The soil is deep and rich; sheep produce lambs three times in two years; cows are not good for the dairy; horses are very dear; cattle equally so; ardent spirits are very high, and not well supplied to this town.”

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Galway – 1898

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The W.A. Record Sat 20th Sept. 1898, p4
Galway -1898
Death of Mr. John Holland, of Kinvara.

On the 4th of last July John Holland, of Quay, Kinvara, died. Just 50 years ago this worthy man played a part in the stirring events of the time, which deserves to be remembered by true Irish patriots. By him the late J .B. Dillon was placed on board a ship in Galway Bay, and thus avoided the sleuth hounds that were on his track.


The Oldest Man in the World.
There is a native of Errislanan in Connemara, who says himself he is 120 years old, while others say he is much older. He remembers distinctly seeing the French when they landed at Killala in ’98, and says he was ” working with the horse drawing stones ” at that time. His name is John M’Donagh. He can only speak Irish, and that very feebly, but this season he went out and planted his own crop of potatoes.


The ’98 Centenary and the Re-naming of Streets.
At a recent meeting of the Loughrea Town Commissioners the following letter was read from the Rev. Father Nolan, dated from St. Joseph’s the Abbey, Loughrea :
To the Chairman, Board of Commissioners.
Gentlemen,
I beg respectfully to submit to you that, in my opinion, it would be a desirable and suitable means of keeping fresh the memory of the men of ’98 to have the names of the streets of this ancient town painted in Irish and in Irish characters on boards to be afterwards fixed in conspicuous and suitable places throughput the town. I would also suggest that one of the streets should be named after Peter Finnerty, a Loughrea man, who suffered pain, penalty, and imprisonment in those evil days for love of Ireland. Peter Finnerty, according to John Philpott Curran, was ‘the only printer in Ireland who had the courage to speak for the people.’

Permit me to add that I have confidence enough in my fellow townsmen to lead me to believe that the above propositions shall not only be favourably received but effectively carried out.


I am, gentlemen, your faithful servant,

Joseph Nolan, O.D.C.

Mr. Joseph O’Flaherty proposed and Mr. Martin Kennedy seconded that the suggestions contained in Father Nolan’s letter be carried out. The proposition was carried unanimously, and a subcommittee, consisting of three of the members of the board, appointed to confer with the Rev. Father Nolan with a view of laying before him the opinion of the board, and taking his further suggestions on the question.

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A fine performance – 1919

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The Daily News (Perth, WA) 16th June, 1919 p6.

London June 15th 2.15 pm
Alcock and Brown after flying sixteen hours twelve minutes, arrived at the wireless station at Clifden. They circled around in aerials looking for a landing. Finally they slightly damaged their machine, landing in a bog.
The Marconi staff rushed to their assistance and found Brown dazed and Alcock deaf from shock. The landing staff escorted the aviator triumphantly to the receiving house, where he soon fully recovered.
Brown states they were constantly in a thick fog and mist. Sometimes they found themselves flying at 11,000 feet, and at other times upside down ten feet from the water.

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A smart chap – 1860

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Co. Galway Assizes
The Bathurst Free Press and Mining Journal, 1st February, 1860 p4
Thursday, July 28
Robert W was indicted for stealing €4; the property of WG at Galway, on the 22nd of April last. The prisoner, a most intelligent boy, about fourteen years of age, defended himself.


It appeared he was born in Belfast, and for three weeks, prior to the offence had been a servant boy in the employment of a Mr. G who keeps an inn in Galway; and on the night of the 22nd of April he was sent by his master to fetch the prisoner’s trunk from the place where he had been staying to Mr G’s house. The prosecutor had £7 in it at the time and in the morning he missed £4, which he stated the prisoner admitted, in the presence of Mr. and Mrs. G that he had taken.


Mr. G corroborated the statement as to the prisoner’s admission of his guilt. The prosecutor was cross-examined by the prisoner as to his drunken habits and as to several statements he had made about having only £2 in his trunk, with a tact and ability that astonished everyone in court, and enlisted the sympathy of the members of the Bar present, one of whom (a leading Q.C.) stated his intention of adopting him — provided he was acquitted — and bringing him up to the Bar.

The prisoner having finished the cross-examination of all the witnesses produced, proceeded with all the acuteness and self possession of an Old Bailey advocate, to address the jury, commenting on the evidence and on the non production, by the Crown, of a material witness (Mrs G); and he stated that he had made the confession alluded to, under compulsion. the prosecutor having threatened to lash the brains out of him with a stick, which he held over him if he did not confess.
The jury acquitted the prisoner.

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Budget – 1934

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Advocate (Melbourne) 28th June, 1934 p9,

In the new Budget the large sum of £4,500,000 is provided for housing. Money is being circulated in every city and town and village in Ireland through the Government’s housing schemes. Local labour and, as far as possible, local materials are being used.

From being apathetic at first, the local councils are now seeing social light and are enthusiasticallv co-operating with Mr. Sean T. O’Kelly’s department. So are the medical officers of health. Knowing that facilities are now available to build new houses, the doctors are listing large numbers of cottages and houses as “unfit for habitation,” and these are demolished. The face of the country is literally being changed.


Good housing, it is a commonplace, makes good citizens; and the present Government will be remembered, if for nothing else, for its brave housing policy.


In the Gaeltacht, where there is a centuries old congestion, the problem will take longer to solve than in the less densely populated parts of the country. A special grant of £80,000 is made in the Budget for Gaeltacht housing. At one time there was a notion that the migration, by State suasion(sic.), of the Gaeltacht population to other counties would be the most effective remedy. Anyone who knows the hardship with which the native Irish speakers have built their little homes and the love they bear them, can understand that this policy would prove unworkable.

The present aim is to make the Gaeltacht fit for Gaels to live in; but centuries of bad government cannot be remedied in a day or a decade.

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A Galway Armoury – 1892

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Freemans Journal Sydney 16th April, 1892, P5

The Galway correspondent of the Central News, March 5, telegraphs;
On Saturday evening the naval reserve armoury just outside this town was broken into and its contents, consisting of 23 Martini-Henri rifles and 17 cutlasses, were stolen. For many years these arms were stored in the police barracks but recently they were removed to the armoury. No guard was kept at this place, and the door was fastened by an ordinary padlock which could be picked with little difficulty.
The police have been scouring the countryside since the robbery was discovered, but the thieves have not yet been traced. One of the cutlasses, however, and a ramrod have been found on a road leading to the shore of the bay, and it is conjectured that the robbers crossed in a boat from County Clare and made their escape with their booty in that way. On Monday H.M. cutter Fly conveyed a party of police across the bay to County Clare to join in the search.

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St Brigid

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Advocate (Melbourne) 18th February 1954 p 17.
(abridged)

The 1st February is the feast day of St. Brigid, who with Patrick and Colmcille, is venerated as one of the patron saints of Ireland.
St. Brigid, who flourished in the fifth century, is remembered in tradition for her goodness and charity, and her name is still a common one in Irish families. Many towns have been called after her, such as Kilbride (the Church of Brigid).The great monastery of the saint was at Kildare (Cill Dara—the Church of the Oak Tree), which became known far and wide as a great centre of religion and learning.
St. Brigid enjoys a remarkable popularity through all western Europe due to the work of Irish missionaries on the Continent from the 6th century onwards. Many churches and chapels are dedicated to her, and in Strasbourg, the seat of the Council of Europe, her cult is associated with the collegiate church of Saint Pierre-le-Vieux.
The main significance of the feast of St. Brigid, writes Mr. Sean O’Suilleabhain, of the Irish Folklore Commission, would seem to be that it was a christianization of one of the focal points of the agricultural year, the starting point of preparations for the spring sowing.
Every manifestation of the cult of the saint or of the pagan deity she replaced closely bound up in some way with food production. At the feast of St. Brigid in olden times when people looked forward to the sowing of the crops and to the increased produce of milk and butter, food was exposed for the Saint for her use and to ask her blessing.
The Irish Folklore Commission has accounts from many parts of Ireland of the exposure of a cake(or in some places a sheaf), at the doorstep or near the house on the eve of the feast. In Co. Galway a potato was impaled on the roof of the house on that evening and later used as seed. Shell-fish were brought from the shore and scattered on the floor in the Aran Islands and in some of the fishing districts of Galway.
The custom of making St.Brigid’s crosses is still found in many parts of Ireland. They are made usually from straw or rushes; sometimes straw and rushes are combined in the one cross to give an ornamental effect with contrasting colours. The crosses vary considerably in pattern, in fact, several of the types have no elements of a cross at all and it is likely that they represent a pagan custom christianized by association with a saint.(The adoption of deeply rooted pagan customs by early Christian missionaries has perhaps its best example in the holy wells which are found in every part of Ireland.)
In the Aran Islands on the 1st February the old women get some straw and some clothing and dress up in the image of St. Brigid. They then go from house to house, saying a prayer as they enter. Each person takes some of the straw and makes a St. Brigid cross, which is nailed to the rafter inside the roof in remembrance of the saint. This is the ceremony of the “Brideog.” In other parts of the country the crosses are made on St. Brigid’s Eve. A simple ceremonial meal precedes the introduction of the necessary material, consisting mainly of sowans or flunnery (kinds of porridge). Crosses, as well as being placed in dwelling houses, are also put in byres and stables to bring a blessing on the animals during the year ahead.

Photo: EOD
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Female Fashions for January – 1825

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The Connaught Journal – 10th January, 1825

Head Dress

Bonnet of royal purple terry velvet or velour epingle; the brim broad and flat ,with a corded satin edge; the crown high, and rounded at the top, and partially covered with a (?) of velvet, bound in satin nearly half an inch in breadth, and ornamented with a small twisted silk cord of the same colour; the trimmings in front are large, and finished with a small twisted silk cord of the same colour; the trimmings in front are large, and finished in the same manner; the centre one is long and narrow, and finished in the same manner and placed perpendicularly, concealing the termination of those on each side; bows of pearl-edge satin ribbon are disposed about the crown; long stripes of the same inside the brim.

Black velvet dress hat, bound with gold lace from a small bow in front, the brim forms double and small white marabouts [*] are introduced between – it is closed behind in a similar manner; broad gold band around the crown, and at the top four curved ornaments, bound also with gold lace; marabouts in front and on the right side.

Tartarian turban, formed of a richly shaded stripe silk kerchief.

Cap of pink and white crepe lisse, with double borders, and broad strings of the same; the crown is high; the back part of white crepe lisse, full, and arranged by five flat pink satin bands, placed perpendicularly, and inserted in the pink satin band at the bottom of the caul; the front is formed by bouffants of alternate pink and white and crepe lisse, interspersed with pink satin ornaments of a papillonascous shape, with a profusion of winter cherries or alkekengi, and rosebuds above.

    Evening Dress
    Pinin colour velvet dress; the corsage plain, across the burst, and drawn to shape with a little fullness at the waist; high in front, and falling rather low on the shoulders, and finished with gold embroidered lace round the top; the sleeves are short, with epaulettes formed of heart-shaped leaves, trimmed with blond; attached are long full sleeves of white gauze, regulated in front by ribbon velvet passing from under the area to the lower part of the sleeve, which is confined by three velvet bands round the arm, each fastened by a bow and gold clasp; blonde ruffle at the wrist. At the bottom of the skirt is a broad band of satin of the same colour, with small silk cord laid across, forming squares; gold embroidered ceinture, fastened in front with an antique gem.- African turban of lilac barege, richly embroidered in gold, with a band of gold round the head, and supporting the feids over the right ear. The hair parted from the forehead, and three or four large curls on each side. Necklace of medallions in enamel, united by triple chains of gold ear-rings to correspond. English Thibel square shawl with embroidered corners. Short white kid gloves.- White satin shoes.

    • [marabout n : large African black-and-white carrion-eating stork; downy under-wing feathers are used to trim garments]