Stratford Eyre (

fl. ''Floruit'' (; abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for "they flourished") denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indicatin ...

1731–1755) was an Anglo-Irish soldier and governor of Galway.

Background and origin

Eyre was a descendant of

John Eyre John Eyre may refer to: Politicians *John Eyre (died 1581), Member of Parliament for Wiltshire and Salisbury *John Eyre (died 1639), MP for Cricklade * John Eyre (1659–1709), MP for Galway Borough, son of the above *John Eyre (died 1745), MP for ...

, who had settled in

County Galway "Righteousness and Justice" , anthem = () , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Galway.svg , map_caption = Location in Ireland , area_footnotes = , area_total_km2 = ...

in the 1650s and established a dynasty under the

Protestant Ascendancy The ''Protestant Ascendancy'', known simply as the ''Ascendancy'', was the political, economic, and social domination of Ireland between the 17th century and the early 20th century by a minority of landowners, Protestant clergy, and members of th ...

. Stratford was the son of Samuel Eyre (Governor of Galway in 1715) and Anne née Stratford. He was appointed

High Sheriff of County Galway The High Sheriff of County Galway was the Sovereign's judicial representative in County Galway. Initially an office for lifetime, assigned by the Sovereign, the High Sheriff became annually appointed from the Provisions of Oxford in 1258. Besi ...

for 1731. He served as a Colonel at

Battle of Culloden The Battle of Culloden (; gd, Blàr Chùil Lodair) was the final confrontation of the Jacobite rising of 1745. On 16 April 1746, the Jacobite army of Charles Edward Stuart was decisively defeated by a British government force under Prince Wi ...

in 1746.

Governor of Galway

He was appointed Governor of the town in 1747. Froude described the then state of the town:

''He found himself set to defend a town of which the walls had not been repaired for a quarter of a century; the castle in ruins; the very name of military authority forgotten. By law no Catholics ought to have been in Galway at all. There were thirty Catholics there to one Protestant, and the Protestant was becoming Protestant but in name. There were 180 ecclesiastics, Jesuits friars, and seculars. Robert Martin, owner of half Connemara, resided within the liberties, and was making a fortune by smuggling there. He was described by Eyre as 'able to bring to the town of Galway in twenty four hours 800 villains as desperate and as absolutely at his devotion as Cameron of Lochiel'. The Mayor and Corporation, the fee-simple of whose property did not amount to 1000 received the tolls and customs duties. By their charter they were bound in return to maintain the fortifications. Being what they were, they preferred to divide the town revenue amongst themselves. The mayor, an O'Hara, was the son of Lord Tyrawley's footman; the sheriff was a beggar; of the aldermen one was a poor shoemaker, the other a broken dragoon.''

Eyre re-established discipline in the garrison, closed the gaps in the town walls and ordered the gate closed at sunset. Unused to such high-handedness, the Corporation sent a furious letter of complaint to Government, signed by the members a majority of the citizens. In response to this, Governor Eyre sent for the members and said to them:

''Gentlemen since you are here in your corporate capacity, I must recommend you to disperse these restless Popish ecclesiastics. Let me not meet them in every corner of the streets when I walk as I have done. No sham searches, Mr. Sheriff, as to my knowledge you lately made. Your birds were flown, but they left you cakes and wine to entertain yourselves withal. I shall send you, Mr. Mayor a list of some insolent unregistered priests, who absolutely refused me to quarter my soldiers, and to my surprise you have billeted none on them. These and James Fitzgerald, who is also an unregistered priest, and had the insolence to solicit votes for his brother upon a prospect of a vacancy in Parliament, I expect you'll please to tender the oaths to, and proceed against on the Galway and Limerick Act. Let us unite together in keeping those turbulent disqualified townsmen in a due subjection. Lastly, gentlemen, I put you in mind of the condition on which tolls and customs are granted to you. Repair the breaches in these walls and repair your streets.''

Opposition

Eyre's policy was supported by the government, but opposed by the Corporation of Galway, the Prime Sergeant, the Protestant

Bishop of Elphin The Bishop of Elphin (; ) is an episcopal title which takes its name after the village of Elphin, County Roscommon, Ireland. In the Roman Catholic Church it remains a separate title, but in the Church of Ireland it has been united with other b ...

, and

Francis II de Bermingham Francis de Bermingham, 14th Baron Athenry (1692 – 1749), was an Anglo-Irish peer. He was the only son of Edward Bermingham, 13th Baron Athenry, and his second wife Bridget Browne, daughter of Colonel John Browne and Maud Bourke. Francis de B ...

, Lord Athenry. He was threatened with assassination as would appear from the following anonymous letter which he enclosed with his correspondence to Secretary Wayte, 11 December 1747:-

''Sir, as I had not the pleasure of seeing you since you came to your government of Galway, I hope soon to see you in the Elysian fields, as I am just going off the stage. And I am sure, if you don't leave that town, you'll lose your life before the 10th of next month. 'Tis all your own fault, for you could not bear the employment which you got, not for your bravery, but for the slaughter you committed on poor people after Culloden fight. You'll be served as Lord Lovat's agent was. God be merciful to your soul.''

Much of the dissent centred on Robert Martin of Dangan, the leader of the Connacht

Jacobites Jacobite means follower of Jacob or James. Jacobite may refer to: Religion * Jacobites, followers of Saint Jacob Baradaeus (died 578). Churches in the Jacobite tradition and sometimes called Jacobite include: ** Syriac Orthodox Church, sometime ...

and a leading

Freemason Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

. Thady Brennan, Martin's servant, walked past the sentinel at the bridge carrying a gun and pistol, apparently for repair. The boy being a Catholic was disarmed, but Eyre returned the weapons to Martin with a message that if he was sending arms into the town he had better in future send them by persons qualified to carry such things. On Martin refusing to receive back his property, Eyre confiscated the weapons. The assizes coming on Martin served a summons on Eyre to appear before the judges and answer to a charge of larceny. Enclosing the following document to Secretary Wayte, Eyre wrote, ''"If the law was to be thus openly insulted, government would become impossible and neither the Property Act nor any other act, could be enforced in any part of Ireland."'' Eyre travelled to London on business, where he was followed and struck by Robert Martin. The two engaged in a lengthy sword-duel, with Martin emerging the winner. The two would remain antagonists, as Martin continued to recruit for Jacobite regiments in France, and is believed to have harboured

Bonnie Prince Charlie Bonnie, is a Scottish given name and is sometimes used as a descriptive reference, as in the Scottish folk song, My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean. It comes from the Scots language word "bonnie" (pretty, attractive), or the French bonne (good). That ...

on an incognito visit to Ireland in 1753. Froude described Eyre as ''"a man full of violent personal and religious animosities, intolerant of opposition, and much more fit of the command of a regiment than for the difficult task of governing a Catholic town."'' His descendants continued to live in the county into the late 19th century.

Note

Robert Martin of Dangan was the father of Colonel Richard Martin (1754–1834), Irish M.P. and animal rights activist, grandfather of

Thomas Barnwall Martin Thomas Barnwall Martin (1784 – April 1847) was an Irish landowner and politician. Martin was the eldest surviving son of Richard Martin, humanitarian and Member of Parliament for Galway County, by his first wife Elizabeth Vesey. Following a ...

M.P. (1784–1847), and great-grandfather of the novelist,

Mary Letitia Martin Mary Letitia Martin (1815–1850) was an Irish writer who was known as the "Princess of Connemara". Educated at home in the upper-class style, she was fluent in numerous languages. She published two books in her lifetime, and a third was published ...

, (1815–1850).

References

* ''The English in Ireland in the Eighteenth Century'',

James Anthony Froude James Anthony Froude ( ; 23 April 1818 – 20 October 1894) was an English historian, novelist, biographer, and editor of ''Fraser's Magazine''. From his upbringing amidst the Anglo-Catholic Oxford Movement, Froude intended to become a clergy ...

, 1874. * ''Signpost to Eyrecourt: Portrait of the Eyre Family'', Ida Gantz, 1975. * ''The Martin – Eyre Feud'', Adrian James Martyn, Galway Advertiser, 27 July–3 August 2000 * ''Remembering Eyrecourt: Vignettes and Tales of Earlier Days'', ed. John Joseph O'Meara, Michael Clarke, and Edin Brennan, 2003.

External references

* http://places.galwaylibrary.ie/history/chapter56.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Eyre, Stratford People from County Galway High Sheriffs of County Galway