Lifestyle – Judy Murphy looks at a new book which details how Loughrea became an epicentre of violence in Land War
Anybody who needs reminding why it is that Irish people are obsessed by owning land and property would be well advised to read Pat Finnegan’s new book, Loughrea; That Den of Infamy, the Land War in Co Galway 1878-82.
It deals with events in Loughrea and surrounding areas during the Land War of 1879 to 1882 when Ireland’s tenant farmers were fighting to own the land they worked, rather than having to pay rent to frequently unsympathetic landlords.
Pat documents the unrest in this area and the response of the British authorities to the Land League, which had been set up to secure Fair Rent, Fixity of Tenure and Free Sale for Ireland’s tenant farmers. His account takes in a 13-month period from May 1881 to June 1882 during which eight people were killed in a triangle covering Ardrahan, Loughrea and Athenry.
Nationally, the authorities responded to the Land War with two Coercion Acts. Locally, there was a heavy police presence around Loughrea and Athenry, which caused massive resentment, as ratepayers had to pay for this. Arrests were frequent. A total of 111 people were arrested around Athenry and Loughrea between 1881-82. That was out of 166 arrests for the period throughout all of County Galway.
Local people seeking land reform united for protests, which included preventing landlords from pursuing their favoured pastime of fox hunting. Land activists also boycotted fellow tenants who took land belonging to families who had been evicted. Intimidating landlords and their agents was also part of the strategy. And of course, there were the eight land-related murders.
The title of Pat’s book is not his own creation, as the Loughrea born historian is quick to explain. Rather the reference to Loughrea as a ‘den of infamy’ is from a letter written by a local Resident Magistrate, Clifford Lloyd to the British authorities in Dublin in 1882, concerning local violence.
Pat’s fascination with this period in Irish history dates back to his childhood, thanks to the role played by his family during the Land War in Galway. His grandfather Patrick Finnegan had been wrongly convicted of a land-related murder in 1881 and was sentenced to death before this was commuted to life imprisonment. After almost 20 years in prison Patrick was released and in 1902 married Alice Sweeney from Loughrea, whose own father and uncles had been to the fore in the Land War. They had also been imprisoned.
So, Pat grew up knowing about his family’s role in Irish history, and with a huge treasure trove of archival material in the house, most of it relating to his grandparents and great-grandparents. For his research on the period, he travelled to libraries and museums in Ireland and Britain and uncovered a great deal more.
For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.
