Michael Joseph Howley was born in Oranmore in 1895. His father died when Joe was just two years old. His mother was a sister of Peter Rabbitt, the proprietor of Rabbitt’s provision shop, licensed premises, and lodgings in Forster Street. She later married William Keane, the owner of Keane’s Bar in Oranmore. Joe, as he was popularly known, attended the local primary school and later went to the Bish in Galway. He obviously worked at farming as his mother once wrote, “He made a good lot with trading with cattle and sheep”.
He was a committed nationalist and when he was 18 years old, he attended a lecture given by Liam Mellows in the Town Hall in Athenry and was very impressed, so he joined the Volunteers. Within three years he was the commanding officer of the local branch, and in 1916 he led a contingent of 106 men from Oranmore and Maree in an attack on the local RIC barracks before teaming up with Liam Mellows and his group. When the large group of Volunteers broke up and scattered, Joe went to hide in his uncle Peter’s house in Forster Street. Peter was an elected member of the Urban Council at the time, a council that had condemned the Rising, which left him in an awkward dilemma. However, it did not take the authorities long to figure out where Joe might be hiding and he was arrested on May 6 in Rabbitt’s Pub. He was sentenced to five years penal servitude and sent to Dartmoor Prison.
He was released in 1917 and immediately set about organising the local IRA and took part in a number of attacks on enemy positions. Towards the end of that year a meeting was held in Keane’s Bar (where he lived ) at which the existing battalions were welded into one brigade. In August 1920, there was an ambush at Merlin Park and a Constable Foley was killed there. It was wrongly assumed that Howley was involved, and that night Keane’s Pub was burned to the ground while Joe’s family managed to make it into Rabbitt’s for shelter. Joe was now on the run and given the rank of commandant.
On December 5, 1920, 100 years ago, Howley travelled by train to Dublin with Paddy Mullins to inquire about a consignment of arms that had gone missing. It was believed that a local sergeant named Healy followed him and identified him to a notorious detective name Igoe who had been based in Galway but was now transferred to Dublin. There are a number of versions of what happened next; one says his name was called out on the platform and as he turned he was shot dead, another says he had left the station and the detectives challenged him, told him to put his hands up, and only fired when they thought he was trying to draw a gun.
Paddy Mullins, who was with Joe, had a different story: “As we were crossing the bridge outside Broadstone Station I saw the figures of four or five men behind us in a half circle … and saw one figure …. jam a gun into Howley’s head. Simultaneously, I heard shots…. I ducked …. I ran towards Dominick Street and looked back. I saw Howley lying on the ground, a girl or some woman kneeling beside him, raising his head and putting a (rosary ) beads in his hands.”
An ambulance arrived at the scene to take him to hospital, but it was turned away by the detectives and Howley was eventually taken by a police vehicle to Dublin Castle where he later died from his wounds.
There was a funeral Mass for him in Dublin and then his remains were taken home by rail. When the train carrying the coffin pulled in to Oranmore station, there was a large military presence waiting. The officer in charge removed the tricolour from the coffin and also the tricolour ribbons from the wreaths and then the remains were handed over to the family. There was a heavy military presence again the following day at the funeral.
A statue of Joe Howley was unveiled in the village of Oranmore in 1947. Much of the information above is taken from an article by Peter Rabbitt in the St Patrick’s Parish Magazine of 1916.
In our article on Father Griffin two weeks ago, we forgot to acknowledge the photograph to Tommy Houlihan. Thanks Tommy.
