Old Galway
COMMERCIAL BOAT CLUB, 150 YEARS
by Tom Kenny
As a result of a number of years planning by some enterprising young men, a meeting took place in the hall of the Mechanics Institute on this day May 15th 1875 one hundred and fifty years ago with the purpose of forming Galway Commercial Rowing Club. The resolution was formally proposed and seconded and unanimously adopted. The subscription was fixed at £1 which included the entrance fee and the annual sub. The following committee was elected – Laurence Carr, J. St. George Joyce, Morgan Lee, Thomas O’Gorman, Thomas Hogan, Thomas Hayes McCoy, Y. Kean, James Maher, B. Roche and Patrick Bodkin. In addition, 62 members enrolled.
A wooden structure was built at the back of the Eglinton Pier. It was painted in the club colours of blue and white. Our photograph was taken c.1900 from Steamer’s Quay and shows a number of the members posing in their boats and on the quay. This was the clubhouse until 1938 when it burned down. Sadly, most of their records and old photographs were destroyed in the blaze. The present building was constructed shortly afterwards.
ST. PATRICK’S BAND, THE EARLY DAYS
by Tom Kenny
One of the most enduring of Galway institutions is this band which has given pleasure to its own members and countless thousands of members of the public since it was formed in Forster Street in 1896. Thanks to dedicated leaders and teachers, this group of musicians continues to entertain. The founders were Peter Rabbitt, a Forster Street publican and grocer, Paddy Walsh, the station master and Michael Spelman of Moon’s staff.
The first band room was in Gannon’s sitting room in Forster St. and Mick Browne was the first band master. They led the first St. Patrick’s Day parade in Galway in 1903.They started off as a Fife and Drum band as you can see from our 1905 image of the band. They are, back row, left to right; Mick Kavanagh, Tom Kennedy, Dinny Kelly, Mike Spelman, Joe McDonagh, Jim Feerick and Peter Rabbitt.
In the middle row are John Hannon, Mickey King, Michael Crowley, Willy Cloonan, John Burke and Mick Leahy. Front row; Johnny Kelly, Jack Hoare, Joe Crowley, Willy Carrick, Martin Feeney, Andy King, Michael John Molloy and Peter Browne, the conductor. Sitting are Paddy Walsh, Frank Duffy, ----- , Joe Hennigan.
Sergeant Peter Glennon of the Renmore Barracks inspired a major change in 1908 when brass instruments were introduced. He had experience of brass instruments in bands and succeeded Mick Browne as band master. Instruments were bought in London for £60 + £20 for the drums. Some were donated by FR. Dooley P.P., Lord Killanin, Griffin’s Bakery, the Brothers of the Industrial School in Salthill and the Urban District Council who donated £25.
WALTER MACKEN’S TRILOGY
by Tom Kenny
On this Saturday, had he lived, Walter Macken would be 110 years old. He was born on May 3rd, 1915, in St. Joseph’s Avenue. His father was originally from Knock, Spiddal and came to Galway aged 14 and worked as a carpenter during the day. At night, he became an actor who performed numerous roles in the Racquet Court Theatre in Middle Street. He became unemployed in 1915 and as he had a wife and 3 children to support, he joined the British Army, the Royal Fusiliers to be precise. He was sent to France and was killed on March 28th, 1916 in St, Eloi. He is in our first photograph in his army uniform.
Walter’s mother came from farming stock in the Ballinasloe area. She also worked in the Racquet Court Theatre (where Charlie Byrne’s bookshop is today) and that is probably where she met her husband. She became a widow at age 28, with 3 young children, Birdie, Eileen and Walter. She had a small pension which was not enough to keep the family, so she took in lodgers. She was also very fortunate in her neighbours and always talked of the wonderful community spirit there was in ‘The West’.
GREALISH’S SADDLERY
by Tom Kenny
Michael Grealish served his apprenticeship (it cost him 100 guineas) in Garret’s Saddlery in Eyre Square, roughly where the Imperial Hotel is today. When he finished, he decided to set up his own saddlery business at the beginning of the last century at Number 2, Eyre Square. At the time, the horse reigned supreme. There were regular horse fairs in Eyre Square at the time and this obviously helped his start-up.
His business flourished, largely thanks to World War 1. Most of the other saddlers in Galway had joined the British Army as both the cavalry and artillery units desperately needed horses and their equipment for the war effort. The War of Independence and the Civil War, in contrast, were a disaster for the firm of eight men and one apprentice. They had made thousands of Sam Browne belts for the Volunteers, but they never got paid for them, in spite of many requests to successive governments. There were no written records.
Michael’s son Peter was born in 1924. As his predecessors were all saddlers, it was natural for him to go into the business. He was known as ‘Peadar the saddler’. After World War II, there was a huge increase in the demand for motor cars and this meant a serious decline in the demand for Peters’ product. So, he decided to go to London where he joined the Oxford Street branch of Champion and Wilton, saddlers to the Queen.
KAVANAGH BROTHERS
by Tom Kenny
Seamus Kavanagh grew up in the village of Finod, near Easkey in Co. Sligo. He went to the Technical School there and the principal suggested he apply for a position as a trainee electrician with T. Naughton & Sons in Galway. His colleague at work, Paschal Spelman introduced him to the Order of Malta which became a life-long interest. He did a correspondence course and qualified as an electrician. Rural electrification brought about major changes in the home and new electric appliances were in high demand and Seamus found himself selling these and travelling throughout the county installing them.
He saw an opportunity to fill a gap in the market and in 1953, set up his own business in Cross Street, selling electrical goods. His window display in our photograph highlights Bush and Pye radios. He was soon joined by his brothers Elmer and Des. Des had been trained in refrigeration repair service in the Oxford factory of the Prestcold Company. He took over the service department and Elmer was in charge of company sales activities.
Trading as Kavanagh Brothers, they quickly built up reputation for reliability. In addition to the radio and electrical business, they devoted a lot of attention to the growing public interest in Hi-fi and tape recorders. In 1957, they diversified further when they took over the distribution in Galway city of Kosangas cooking and heating appliances. They regularly organised demonstrations to introduce new appliances as they came on stream. For a time, they took over the running of The Regional Service station on University Road.
CÚIRT, THE EARLY YEARS
by Tom Kenny
When Fred Johnston was appointed as literary officer in the embryonic Galway Arts Centre, he was asked, on his first day, if he had any plans. He told the then director Dick Donoghue of a dream he had ever since reading Daniel Corkery’s book Hidden Ireland in which the author discussed how ‘courts of poetry’ which had been set up after the Flight of the Earls where poets would gather and recite their works. Fred’s idea was to establish such a court that would introduce international, national and local poets to a Galway audience, a sacred place for the celebration of poetry where it might sing again to big audiences. He did not want poetry to constitute a cultural hidden Ireland.
And so the idea of Cúirt was born. A small group set about organising the first festival, looking for sponsors, generating publicity, putting up posters. Initially, the reaction was fairly negative – “No one would last the pace of an entire festival devoted to poetry”, “A poetry festival? Sure that would never take off.” But take off it did, and how!
Sponsors were found, letters written, a poster (illustrated) was designed by Tom Taheny and appeared all over town, a reception was held in the Kenny Gallery to announce details of the first festival which, as you can see from our photograph was attended by James Harrold, Michael Mullen, Conor Bowman, Gerald Dawe, Jessie Lendennie, Mike Allen, Eoin Bourke, Fred Johnston and Raghnall Ó Riordan. Seated are Eva Bourke and June Grey Smith.
“YOU WOULDN’T HAPPEN TO BE WILLIAM JOYCE, WOULD YOU?”
by Tom Kenny
William Joyce was born in Herkimer Street, Brooklyn, New York in 1906 to Gertrude (who was originally from Lancashire) and Michael Joyce, a native of Killour, Co. Mayo. Michael had taken American citizenship, which automatically made his family citizens. In 1909, the family returned to Ireland, initially to Mayo, then to Galway.
They lived at Ruttledge Terrace in Salthill. William attended the Mercy National School and later the Jes, where ‘the staff and the students were rough’. But he was always grateful for the sense of discipline and a love of language they instilled in him. His best subjects were Latin, French, German and English poetry. He enjoyed the rough and tumble of the playground and had his nose broken in a fight which left him with a nasal tone of voice. He was a bombast, precocious and a gang leader.
CLARE SHERIDAN
by Tom Kenny
“She was beautiful, fearsome, an English aristocrat, a communist spy, a loose woman, a middling novelist, a doting mother, an impossible parent, a successful sculptress, a respected journalist”. This was how Anita Leslie described her first cousin in “My Cousin Clare”, her wonderful biography of Clare Sheridan.
Clare was born in London in 1885. Her father was Moreton Frewen who was known as ‘mortal ruin’ for his extraordinary capacity to fritter away the family fortune. Her mother was one of the fabulous Jerome sisters who dazzled London’s Edwardian society with their beauty and style. She was educated at home by governesses and later at a convent school in Paris. She was a debutante at 17 but turned away from that social scene. She married William Sheridan, a descendant of Richard Brinsley Sheridan. They had three children, one of whom died. Her husband was killed in World War 1.
While mourning her child, she was encouraged to make some kind of memorial so she worked on a model of a weeping angel for her daughter’s grave. She realised she had ability as a sculptor and took up the art form as a career. She was commissioned to sculpt heads of well-known people and held a successful exhibition. As a result she was invited to Russia and against the wishes of her cousin Winston Churchill, she went and stayed for two months. While there she made portraits of a number of eminent Russians including Lenin and Trotsky, and apparently had affairs with some of her sitters. When she returned to London she was shunned and so left for America.