Hundreds of years of British law and order in County Galway arguably came to an end on 19 July 1920. By this point, Sinn Féin courts (or Dáil courts) were in operation throughout County Galway and many people were bringing their legal disputes here instead of to the British justice system. There were no policemen to speak of in rural Galway to enforce British law by the summer of 1920 as almost all rural barracks had been abandoned. Many were quickly burned to the ground afterwards by the IRA to ensure they were not reoccupied.
Irish Republican Police became the new arbitrators of law and order
John Feehan, IRA volunteer in Connemara, later described some investigations carried out by them, including the recovery of stolen furniture belonging to Kylemore Castle from the attic of a local man and the fining of several Connemara men for sheep stealing. The RIC themselves admitted the fact that they were no longer the predominant police force. The Galway county inspector’s report for June 1920 stated bluntly: ‘Sinn Fein have set aside Petty Sessions courts and the Irish Volunteers are in control everywhere.
Confined to Barrick’s
The police cannot go on patrol anywhere except in considerable force. They cannot sleep at night during the dark hours apprehending an attack at any time. No one speaks to them in a friendly way. No one will give them any information. The old form of police control is beaten to the ropes and it is as well to recognise the situation.’
Nationally, the courts were also struggling to maintain their grip on the law
One Kerry judge, Charles Crane, entered his court in early 1920 to find just one man there insolently smoking a cigarette. He ordered him to leave, only to find nobody to carry out his orders. ‘I could do no more than adjourn,’ he later said.
There remained attempts to ensure the operation of the British court system within County Galway, however, and on 19th and 20th July, 1920 criminal proceedings were scheduled for Galway Courthouse. The IRA were determined that they would not proceed smoothly and demanded a boycott. They sent a notice to jurors beforehand stating categorically: ‘You are requested not to attend as a juror at the coming British Assizes at Galway. No decent Irishman can do so without acting traitorously to the nation.’
Here Comes the Judge
John Curran, a carter and resident of Prospect Hill in the city, usually drove the judge to court. He also received a letter, warning him not to carry out his duties on the day. Monday 19th July got off to an inauspicious start when the judge, Mr Justice Pim, had to be collected from his hotel and brought to the court under an armed guard in an armoured car as part of a military convoy. A manned machine gunned was also visible on the roof of the court.
IRA Roadblocks
Meanwhile, the IRA had mounted blockades on all the rural roads leading into Galway City. Motor cars and other traffic were stopped and asked their business – anyone who was on their way to the court case, in any capacity, was politely requested to turn around. Few argued. The railway station at Athenry was also kept under watch and anyone on their way to Galway Courthouse was told to return home, something which the Freeman’s Journal stated they did ‘without demur.’
A Galway Fiasco
The foreman of the grand jury, William Mahon, was also stopped, meeting an IRA roadblock near Ahascragh. Whatever transpired here, Mahon was relieved of his motor car and, in what the Irish Independent described as ‘a Galway fiasco,’ he was then forced to walk several mile’s home. One man who did manage to attend the court proceedings arrived in the late afternoon, explaining that he had been stopped and forced to turn around and seek an alternative route on several different occasions. The assizes proved an unmitigated disaster and an embarrassment for the Crown. Almost all the cases had to be adjourned on the first day, just 52 out of 480 jurors attending.
A Law unto Themselves
Mr Justice Pim bemoaned that ‘men were becoming a law unto themselves’ and warned the following day’s jurors that they would face harsh fines of £2 if they did not turn up. It did not have the desired effect, however and on the Tuesday just 27 jurors answered the roll call. This was celebrated as a huge victory for Irish republicanism in Galway and the dawn of a new legal system.
Although there would be many suppressions of Sinn Fein courts in the year to come, it appeared that the writ of English law no longer ran in County Galway.
For more stories of life in Galway and the west of Ireland, see my book ‘The Little History of Galway.’ In all good bookshops or pick up a signed copy at:
https://www.etsy.com/ie/listing/1867494645/signed-little-history-of-galway-hardback