Martin O'Halloran was a member of

County Galway County Galway ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Northern and Western Region, taking up the south of the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht. The county population was 276,451 at the 20 ...

Land League The Irish National Land League ( Irish: ''Conradh na Talún''), also known as the Land League, was an Irish political organisation of the late 19th century which organised tenant farmers in their resistance to exactions of landowners. Its prima ...

, .

Biography

O'Halloran was Secretary of the Kiltullagh Branch of the Irish Land League. He was bound over to the police for having made a

seditious Sedition is overt conduct, such as speech or organization, that tends toward rebellion against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent toward, or insurrection against, establis ...

speech at

Craughwell Craughwell (historically ''Creaghmoyle'', from ) is a village and townland in County Galway, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. As of the 2022 census of Ireland, 2022 census, the village had a population of approximately 1,000 people. Craughwell is ...

in the course of which he threatened to disarm the police, called upon herds to leave their employment and claimed that landlords "were shaking like bulrushes in a bog." Imprisoned March 1881 under Forster's

Coercion Act A Coercion Act was an Act of Parliament that gave a legal basis for increased state powers to suppress popular discontent and disorder. The label was applied, especially in Ireland, to acts passed from the 18th to the early 20th century by the ...

. The

Loughrea Loughrea ( ; ), is a town in County Galway, Ireland. It lies to the north of a range of wooded hills, the Slieve Aughty Mountains and Lough Rea, the lake from which it takes its name. The town's cathedral, St Brendan's, dominates the urban sk ...

area was then notorious for outrages and murder. A leading activist and campaigner, he reportedly held considerable influence in the area. He was active at the time of the murders of James Connors and Peter Dempsey, and other assaults in the area. The Special Commission, held in the

Royal Courts of Justice The Royal Courts of Justice, commonly called the Law Courts, is a court building in Westminster which houses the High Court and Court of Appeal of England and Wales. The High Court also sits on circuit and in other major cities. Designed by Ge ...

in 1888, was told that O'Halloran was the president of the Tubber branch of the Land League, and that he spoke at Land League meeting on 12 December 1880 in

, challenging the English Government, claiming that in 24 hours he could dissolve all the police in Galway and urging the people to boycott the police. The commission was told that O'Halloran was arrested in April 1881.

References

Sources

* ''As The Centuries Passed: A History of Kiltullagh 1500–1900'', edited Kieran Jordan, 2000 * ''The District of Loughrea: Vol. I History 1791–1918.'' {{DEFAULTSORT:OHalloran, Martin Activists for Irish land reform Members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood People from County Galway 19th-century Irish people

Biography

See also

References

Sources