The next meeting of the Western Family History Association will be held on Wednesday November 12 in Lackagh Parish Centre (8.15pm ).
The guest speaker is Pat Finnegan, retired physician at Galway University Hospital and professor emeritus at NUI Galway. He will deliver a talk entitled "Loughrea, that den of infamy". This is also the title of his most recent book.
The talk will describe events during the Land War of 1879-1882. The campaign was accompanied by a surge in agrarian incidents and the authorities responded with two Coercion Acts in 1881 and 1882 that resulted in the internment without trial of 166 individuals in Co Galway. Based on extensive research in primary sources, the speaker will place these events in their social and political context. Professor Finnegan is also the author of The case of the Craughwell Prisoners during the Land War in Co Galway, 1879–85.
