Letter from Australia

Thu, May 02, 2013

I was interested in the following letter from Leonard McDonnell, about his father and grandfather. His grandfather, Petie Joe McDonnell, born in Leenane, worked as a coach builder with Kilroys of Newport, before joining the Irish Volunteers in 1914. He had good military instincts, and was well regarded by the Dublin IRA. In March 1921 he was appointed OC Western Connemara Brigade. Pádraic Ó Máille served under him. While on the run he married Matilda (Tilly) Kilroy. They had eight children. He took the anti Treaty side during the Civil War. During World War II he served as a captain in the Irish Army. Afterwards he worked in the insurance business in Galway, and died in the city in 1967.

Wedding party of Pádraic Ó Máille and Eileen Acton September 1921

Thu, May 02, 2013

Many of the people included here have featured in the stories of the past few weeks. Pádraic and Eileen were married just five months after the battle at his home at Kilmilkin, Maam. It was still a dangerous time. Most of the men were ‘on the run’. At least two were on the ‘most wanted’ list. Watch out for Mrs Whelan of Clifden, that brave mother of Tommy Whelan hanged for a murder he did not commit, on March 14, the same year as this picture; what is Dr Michael Browne, later Bishop of Galway, doing there? and many more including Michael Collins, Arthur Griffith, and Petie Joe McDonnell.

‘No cheering crowds, no military parades, no public holidays’

Thu, Apr 25, 2013

On December 7 1922, less than eight months after the Kilmilkin battle, Pádraic Ó Máille TD and his friend Sean Hales TD of Cork, walked out of a hotel on Ormonde Quay, by Dublin’s river Liffy. They just had lunch, and were on their way back to the Dáil in Leinster House, a short drive away. Ó Máille, Galway city and Connemara’s first TD, had been appointed Leas Ceann Comhairle (deputy speaker). As they reached their car a gunman stepped forward and opened fire. Both men were hit, but Hales was bleeding profusely. Although seriously injured Ó Máille managed to get Hales into the car and drove to the nearest hospital, where he collapsed. Hales was dead..

A thankless and a dangerous job

Thu, Apr 18, 2013

Week II
In the early hours of April 23 1921 one of the IRA guards on duty at the house of Pádraic Ó Máille TD, at Kilmilkin, about six miles on the Leenane road from Maam Bridge, saw a movement in the distance. He could just about make out that a large group of men was approaching

‘ Prepared to fight and to die’ for Ireland

Thu, Apr 11, 2013

The general election of 1918 was also a plebiscite on the Easter Rising, two years previously. The Rising, and the destruction of the centre of Dublin, had been generally condemned. The Irish Parliamentary Party, under John Redmond, had been inching towards Home Rule; why bother with such violence? The belief was that the men and women of 1916 were brave, if foolhardy. Yet following the prolonged executions of the leaders, the massive round up of participants, and their imprisonment in Britain, a change of attitudes swept the country. This was perfectly illustrated in the election held on a bleak December day 1918. Sinn Féin had fielded candidates in every constituency. The campaign was vigorous and tough.

Connemara becomes battlefield in Tan war

Thu, Mar 28, 2013

Week III

St Patrick's Day 1921 — murder and mayhem in Clifden

Thu, Mar 21, 2013

Just before 6am on St Patrick's Day 1921, Monsignor McAlpine, the Catholic parish priest of Clifden, Co Galway, was woken by loud banging on his door. “For God's sake, Canon, come down - the town is ablaze.”

Mc Alpine later told a military enquiry that he went down to see if he “could save anything of poor Clifden. The flames were then far advanced. Willie Clancy's was burning. Alex McDonnell's hotel was reduced to ashes. Crown forces were up and down the street; no one dared venture abroad. I went round the square and found that Mr John M Lyden's and Mr Bartley King's were burning and the forces were engaged in setting fire to Mr M A Manning's public house, and Mrs Bartley's restaurant.”

A innocent man and the fate of Clifton

Thu, Mar 14, 2013

The murderous and vengeful events that followed 'Bloody Sunday' 1920 impacted on the town of Clifden in an unexpected way. There was shooting and murder on its streets; and, following a rampage by the Black and Tans, practically half the town was burnt down.

The really ‘cultivated classes’ were the Irish themselves

Thu, Mar 07, 2013

“ We are no petty people. We are of the great stocks of Europe. We are the people of Burke; we are the people of Swift, the people of Emmet, the people of Parnell. We have created most of the modern literature of this country. We have created the best of its political intelligence...." so spoke out WB Yeats proudly, during a passionate debate in the senate in June 1925.

What more could a landlord do?

Thu, Feb 28, 2013

Despite some honourable exceptions the conduct of most Galway landowners to their tenants during the latter part of the 19th century was a disgrace. It led to disastrous social consequences. Although ultimately, the landed class were removed from their houses and lands, as a result of the Land War and acts of parliament; in many cases the peasantry too was decimated, demoralised and scattered to the winds.

‘If you want to know who I am, I am John D Mahon of Ballydonnellan castle’

Thu, Feb 21, 2013

Week II

The pursuit of love among Galway’s landed society

Thu, Feb 14, 2013

Although rarely heard of today, ‘ breach of promise’ cases in the 19th century were quite common. A successful prosecution was a source of saving face, and social embarrassment; and could be of considerable monetary value if you were from the upper classes. All sorts of intimate details were revealed as the case dragged on, which provided delicious gossip for newspapers and their readers.*

Music, even more passion, and the Galway spy

Thu, Feb 07, 2013

Week II
Two women were specifically honoured at the landmark Music for Galway three day Beethoven concert, Genius, Passion and the Irish Connection held during the last weekend of January. One may well have been a spy.

A love letter from a master of passion

Thu, Jan 31, 2013

Galway was given fascinating insights into the turbulent life of one of Europe’s men of genius last weekend. Music for Galway, which continues to present the very best classical music in innovative and challenging ways, devoted three days exploring the literary and musical passion of the great Ludwig van Beethoven. And, would you believe it? Gave us both an Irish and a Galway connection.

‘A long and dangerous night in Galway’

Thu, Jan 10, 2013

There was a fearful incident at Galway railway station on the evening September 8 1920. A larger crowd than usual waited for the Dublin train. The big story of the day was the Terrance McSweeney hunger strike in Brixton prison. The young Sinn Fein Lord Mayor of Cork was in his second month without food. The people of Ireland, and the Irish across the world, were totally focused on this drama. McSweeney died on October 25 after 74 days. The Dublin papers that evening would have had the latest health reports.

The man who rescued Lancelot from the River Clare

Thu, Jan 03, 2013

One of the most dramatic and legendary events in the history of Irish foxhunting took place with the Galway Blazers on December 19 1953 between Cregg Castle, Corrandulla, and beyond the Clare river, near Anbally. This is great fox hunting terrain. It’s level going, open and free. When on a good scent the hounds will skim the walls, and allow no time for man or beast to make mistakes if they want to stay close to them. December 19 1953 was a clear, frosty day. The hounds were in full pursuit ‘skimming the long low walls the way the swallows do’. After a four mile chase they hit the river Clare about a mile short of the nearest bridge at Corofin village.

'It was Christmas day in the workhouse..'

Thu, Dec 27, 2012

Many people will be familiar with the first line of this famous Victorian dramatic monologue, written by the English journalist George R Sims in 1879.

'It was Christmas day in the workhouse..'

Thu, Dec 27, 2012

It is Christmas Day in the workhouse,
And the cold, bare walls are bright

And the cold, bare walls are bright

A wife politely tells her husband to calm down

Thu, Dec 27, 2012

Winston Churchill was 66 years of age when he became prime minister of Great Britain on May 10 1940. It was a moment of extreme crisis in Europe. Belgium, Holland and France were collapsing under the fierce onslaught of the German invasion. A large British army was retreating in the direction of Dunkirk. There was opposition within the government to Churchill.

‘Hopeless but not serious’

Thu, Dec 27, 2012

Eamon De Valera and Winston Churchill were never friends. Famously de Valera had brilliantly defended Ireland's neutrality during World War II following a verbal broadside from Churchill. One can imagine that matters between the two leaders were cool to freezing.

According to Dennis Kelly, a former literary assistant to Churchill, the British prime minister liked to tell the following amusing story: 'British bomber over Berlin, caught in searchlight, flak coming up, one engine on fire, rear-gunner wounded, Irish pilot mutters: Thank God Dev kept us out of the bloody war.'

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