On this day, 193 years ago, Frederick Cavendish launched the Connaught Telegraph in Castlebar. Three days later, the Freeman's Journal noted that the paper's first edition 'evidences a great deal of talent in its conductors.' Sometime after the death of Cavendish, it came to be understood that the Connaught Telegraph was founded in 1828. This error was not subsequently corrected.
In January 1830, Cavendish published a prospectus for a new independent provincial journal in several newspapers. Cavendish was uncertain about the name, so the prospectus revealed two options—The Telegraph and Connaught Ranger. The issue of the name was not resolved when the paper was launched, so both names were used.
The prospectus advised the public that the broadsheet would be published in Castlebar on Wednesdays. It would be printed on a 'sheet of large size and fine texture’. It was noted that the ‘mechanical arrangements’ would be ‘formed on a scale of magnitude’. At the same time, the ‘excellence of its typography, quality of letter-press, and general appearance’ would be unrivalled. The proposed cost of an annual subscription was £1 10s.
The prospectus read like a political manifesto. Cavendish pledged the paper would target excessive local taxation and promote domestic manufacturing and industry. It would crush 'oligarchical oppression and aristocratic monopoly'.
Cavendish had the Binghams, Brownes, and O'Malleys in his crosshairs. The prospectus stressed the paper would advocate for government based on constitutional principles that would, in time, give 'Ireland a Nation'. A warning was set down for corrupt officials and elected representatives with a call to end 'Grand Jury Jobbing' and 'Corporation Plunder'.
Cavendish wanted Sligo man Patrick M. Feeny as his new editor and reporter. The role included reporting on assizes and writing editorials. Feeny wrote to Cavendish on 29 January 1830, accepting the position and salary of £80 per annum. Cavendish replied the following day noting he was confident from his knowledge of Feeny that he would use 'his utmost energy of mind and body to forward my views'. On 21 February, Feeny took up residence in Castlebar as a boarder in Patrick Walsh's house. Cavendish and Feeny worked to fit out the new printing office.
The Telegraph, or Connaught Ranger, was launched on 17 March 1830 and utterly changed the face of journalism in Mayo. Cavendish, the most significant and influential person to have lived in Mayo in the decades on either side of the Famine, was the architect of a pivotal moment in the county's history.
Cavendish’s campaign for social justice and political reform highlighted the plight of the county's poor and disenfranchised and played an essential part in the collapse of the loyalist powerbases of the Binghams, Brownes, and other large landowning families in Mayo. Cavendish supported Catholic Emancipation, O’Connell’s Repeal Movement, the anti-tithe movement, and other campaigns to better the lives of ordinary people.
Cavendish was not fettered by business interests or cosy relationships with the aristocracy or public officials. Consequently, the Telegraph could not be muzzled by business and political interests. Cavendish pursued a publish-and-be-damned strategy with wanton disregard for his liberty and finances. His adversaries looked to the law of libel to silence him. The financial and personal cost for Cavendish was high, but he quickly earned the respect of some of the leading lights of the time, including Daniel O’Connell.
