Galway in Days Gone By
Galway In Days Gone By
1914
Land war sensation
What our Connemara correspondent describes as the most sensational and exciting incident in the Connemara land war was reached on Sunday last, when after 11 o’clock Mass, the people marched from Tullycross towards Renvyle for the purpose of holding a public meeting on the Curragh farm, and were met by a large force of police on the public road, who drew their batons and charged the people.
No time was lost at Tullycross immediately Mass was over in starting for Renvyle. The band was got out and led the large concourse of people, comprising men, women and children, and numbering almost 2,000.
The police were fierce. They charged on the crowd using their batons right and left, and, it is alleged, that several women and young girls were struck. Certain it is that many of them were knocked down in the crowd and trampled on in a bad way. The drum was broken in the melee. The people, who were without weapons of any description, would not yield and a desperate hand-to-hand encounter took place.
Several of the people received severe wounds which had to be attended to by a doctor. They were chiefly struck on the face and heads, and their foreheads were split open. For several minutes there was terrible work. The women fought bravely, and struck several policemen with their clenched fists. The crowd continued to fight their way, and at length got away from the police.
The police went on ahead again, and the people got into the grazier’s farm overlooking the Renvyle house, the residence of Mrs. Blake. They cheered wildly, and booed the police. A meeting was then held on the farm.
1939
Travelling ambulance
“I often heard of a travelling shop, but I never before heard of a travelling ambulance,” remarked the secretary (Mr. S. Gallagher) at the monthly meeting of the Galway Hospital and Dispensaries’ Committee on Saturday, when a letter was read from the Belvedere Male Nurse and Ambulance Service, Dublin, stating that, commencing in Jan., 1940, they proposed to run a weekly ambulance service all over the country which they believed would be a great convenience to all Boards of Health.
The secretary added that the inclusive charges would be 2d. per mile per patient, based on the present price of petrol, 2s. per gallon.
Irish at school
“I think the policy adopted for the spread of Irish has been an unwise one. I do not think it is going to achieve the results aimed at, but since it is the policy of the State, it seemed to me that it was my duty as a citizen and headmaster to see that it was carried out. The result is that a number of you here at this table can speak fluently in a language of which I cannot understand a word.” This statement was made by Mr. E.B. Coursey, Headmaster of Galway Grammar School at the first annual reunion dinner of the past students of the school.
Dramatic plane rescue
The rescue of three Irish Army airmen whose twin-engined Avro Anson ‘plane crashed into the sea at Furbough last week, was described to a ‘Connacht Tribune’ representative by the two men who went out to the wreck and brought the airmen ashore in a currach half-filled with water and with the sea washing the rowlocks.
The men are: Pat Connelly (Michael), Barna, and Pat Connelly (James), of Furbough. When the ‘plane crashed into the sea, they said, a huge volume of water was thrown up and scattered like smoke on either side.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
1923
Gloom after war
The special correspondent of the “Independent”, who has been writing of the aftermath of civil war in the West, notes that a feeling of apathy, due to the uncertainty of events, exists amongst the sorely-tried people of Connemara; that politics are referred to only with disgust and that not more than fifty per cent. of the people would vote at a general election; that poverty and unemployment are rife, and there is a growing tendency towards emigration; and that there are bitter complaints of the huge impost of rates and taxes.
It is only too true that there is enough of material for the pessimist to brood over, and that a feeling of gloom permeates country towns. But it is a poor tribute to patriotism that has survived such horrors to encourage this gloom.
It is the duty of all of us to get this pessimism out of the national body and to rid ourselves of the notion that we have not enough Christianity and moral sense left to restore our people to cheerful and ordered progress and industry.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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1923
Peace negotiations
As we go to press, An Dáil is discussing the Peace negotiations between the Government and Mr. de Valera. It was announced on Wednesday for the first time that such negotiations were begun following Mr. de Valera’s “cease fire” proclamation of April 27, and that by the 30th of the month Senators Andrew Jameson and James Douglas were asked by him to discuss proposals.
They said it was for the Government to discuss; they could only confer. Into the ensuring conferences the Government declined to enter personally, but on May 3 the senators placed before Mr. de Valera the Cabinet’s terms, which were that future issues should be decided by the majority vote of the elected representatives of the people, and that as a corollary and a preliminary to the release of prisoners, all lethal weapons should be in the custody and control of the Executive Government.
Mr. de Valera relied to this on May 7 with a document in which he agreed to majority rule and control of arms, but added that arms should be stored in a suitable building in each province under armed Republican guard until after the elections in September, that the oath should not be made a test in the councils of the nation, and that all political prisoners should be released immediately on the signing of this agreement.
“You have brought back to us,” wrote President Cosgrave, “not an acceptance of our conditions, but a long and wordy document inviting debate where none is possible”.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
1923
State of the parties
Speculation as to parties after the next Irish elections is exceedingly interesting, especially in view of the enlarged franchise.
In Dublin, the view appears to be held by a number of people that Labour will make a great bid for power.
Dublin, however, has a curiously insular habit of thought where matters that concern all Ireland and in which Ireland has a say are concerned. We hope this insularity will rapidly disappear under the new conditions.
The country as a whole is backing the Farmers’ Party, and has not the smallest doubt that it will be the strongest combination in the next Dáil, and that it will oust the purely political parties, the one because it has resorted to force, the other because it has been compelled to use force to supress force, and the Labour Party because Ireland feels that at the back of its policy lurks the danger of Communism.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
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