In the 1820s the hangman for the Connacht circuit was a woman known as ‘Lady Betty’. She had actually been sentenced to death for killing her own son, and stealing his savings. But she escaped the hangman’s noose by pleading that she could fill the vacancy that existed for a hangman. Her first hanging was watched to see if she could handle the rough business of a public execution with some sort of expediency. Apparently she could. She was officially appointed to hang and flog those convicted in the Connacht courts.

I first heard of ‘Lady Betty’ in Sir William Wilde’s Irish Popular Superstitions published in 1852, when the author was 37 years of age. Sir William, born in March 1815, had spent an idyllic boyhood playing, fishing and hunting through the fields and woods around Elphin and Castlerea in County Roscommon. His father was the local doctor, and young William was probably welcomed into every home of the parish. The book contains many stories and superstitions that as an adult, Sir William, as well as being a renowned medical man, became famous for. It also contains horrific descriptions of the Great Famine, and a story of cruelty and disaster that struck the family of Paddy Welsh.

In the early years of the 20th century the Irish language increasingly was associated with poverty and backwardness. In the national school system, which was established in 1831, children had been beaten with what became known as a ‘tally stick’ if they were caught speaking Irish. Apparently every time a child was heard speaking Irish, a notch was cut on the stick, and the poor child received the same number of blows.

Far from being upset by this, many parents enthusiastically endorsed it. They felt that the future of their children depended on their ability to speak English. Understandably, Ireland experienced a steady decline in native Irish speakers*.

In 1873 this imposing statue was unveiled in Eyre Square in honour of Lord Dunkellin, son of Lord Clanricarde and heir to the family estates. He had a distinguished military career before being elected MP for Galway City in Parliament. He held the seat for eight years before being elected for the county in 1865. He died in 1867. There was a very large gathering in the Square on the day of the unveiling with lots of toasts and speeches. The sculpture was a very fine one by the distinguished artist John Henry Foley.

But if the artist was popular, the subject of his artwork was not. In the first place, Clanricarde’s tenants were forced to contribute to the cost. During the Land War, Dunkellin’s younger brother, then Lord Clanricarde, was in the eye of the storm of the Woodford and other evictions. He was hated by his tenants and much of the population.