A special ceremony took place outside Tigh Neachtain last Friday, July 22, to mark the 200th anniversary of the world’s first piece of legislation concerning animal welfare.
The Ill Treatment of Cattle Act - known as Martin’s Law - was the forebear of all animal welfare legislation. Galway man Richard Martin, who placed the law on the statute books, earned the nickname ‘Humanity Dick’ for his work in promoting animal welfare.
To mark the anniversary and commemorate the city’s famous son, a ceremony took place outside Martin’s former townhouse - now Tigh Neachtain - at 12 noon on Friday, when Galway town crier Liam Silke proclaimed the day as Martin’s Day in honour of his work.
Richard Martin was also the driving force behind the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and famously called a donkey to give evidence in a court of law. Paradoxically, Humanity Dick was also a champion duelist, and first developed his animal rights law by locking up miscreants in the ruined castle on the lough behind his Connemara home at Ballynahinch Castle.
“Humanity Dick Martin both embodied and transcended the colourful Regency period,” said Peter Phillips, Martin’s biographer. “Master of Connemara, but living in spectacular insolvency, he preferred to survive on the proceeds of smuggling than to charge his tenants rent. Backed by his private army, he protected people and animals alike. Raised a ‘Protestant of convenience’ by his Jacobite father, Dick entered the Irish Parliament and for the next 50 years fought for Catholic emancipation, which he believed would only be achieved by peaceful, political ends.”
Active in anti-slavery and criminal justice reform, Richard Martin is best remembered for his tireless campaign for animal rights. Along with introducing Martin’s Law, he co-founded what became the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Martin re-entered the British Parliament in his sixties to create a formal version of his law, and proceeded to single-handedly enforce his law on the streets of Georgian London.
Peter Phillips argues passionately that Richard Martin is the greatest ever Irishman, “a complex, mercurial and neglected hero, bestriding the two worlds of England and Ireland”. He contends that July 22 should be forever considered, worldwide, as Martin’s Day, a day to raise awareness of the work that still needs to be done around the world for animal welfare.
Phillips’ biography of Richard Martin, Humanity Dick – Animal Rights Pioneer and Feared Duellist, is available from Kirwans Lane Press at www.kirwanslanepress.ie, as well as Amazon and all good bookshops.
