Item 2 - Bound volume comprising the minutes of meetings of the Galway Town Commissioners.

c. 900 pp

Bound volume comprising the minutes of meetings of the Galway Town Commissioners. Each entry gives the date of the meeting, the attendance, the business transacted and correspondence, in a small number of instances transcripts of correspondence are included. The first half is paginated pp1-522, the remainder of the pages contain text but are not paginated. The majority of entries concern activities of a number of committees created by the Town Commissioners. After the local elections on 27th September 1848 the following committees were created: The Watch Committee, The Advowson Committee, The Sweeping Committee, The Tolls Committee, Board of Works Committee and The Eyre Square Committee. The Advowson committee was responsible for the appointment of a person to hold a church office, the wardenship of this right was in the possession of the town's commissioners. Entry dated 21 May 1845 includes a tribute to Daniel O'Connell M.P. According to entry dated 14 August 1845 Mr. Blake was thanked by the Town Commissioners for his efforts to 'enlist with him as many noblemen and Gentlemen connected with Galway as he possibly can to influence the Irish Government to have one of the Colleges erected in Galway....' Entry for 2 October 1845 lists candidates elected to The Galway Town Commissioners, the candidates are listed in order of votes received. Entry for 23 October 1845 includes an entry which reads 'The Reverent W. Roche... Directed [the board's] attention to the state of the potato crops and the necessity of enquiring what might or could be done to avert the awful consequences with which the country was threatened to be visited.' Entry for 24 October 1845 includes a transcript of a letter from the Town Commissioners addressed to 'The Right Honourable, The Lord's Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury' alerting them to the 'frightful state of the community' as a result of the potato blight and appealing for a 'gratuity of grain'. According an entry dated 22 January 1846 a railway committee was formed one of the functions of the committee was to 'protect the rights of this Board as to the toll in goods coming to the town.' Entry for 2 April 1846 includes a transcript of a letter dated 31 March 1846 from James Hardiman addressed to The Town Commissioners relating to the petitioning of Parliament for a railway connection to Galway. According to dated 8 October 1846 a Mr. Kiernan appealed to the to the Town Commissioners to vote 'a sum of money for the purchase of potatoes with a view to selling them to the poor', a sum of £10 a week was voted for this purpose. According to entry dated 2 October 1846 a special meeting of the Commissioners proposed 'to provide to the population an immediate supply of Indian Corn at such a reasonable price as to place it within the reach of the poor.' Entry for 17 June 1847 includes two examples 'extreme destitution and suffering' recounted by the Chief of the Watch. In one case a woman was found lying in Abbeygate Street in a state of exhaustion who later died at the gates of the poor house having been refused admission and in the other case a man was found in Buttermilk Lane and brought to the watch house for shelter where he died after a few hours.' 'These were not the only cases of such suffering' known to the Chief of the Watch. According to a meeting of the Eyre Square Committee dated 15 June 1847 '...the officers of the 49th were in the habit of playing of playing cricket in the square and that it was alarming the ladies and children who frequented it.' According to entry for 2 March 1848 an attempt was made to 'suppress street begging' and it was proposed 'that a call be made on the inhabitants by advertisements from this board inform them of the arrangements made to prevent street begging, to withhold their alms and to report those that beg to the authorities. Entry for 11 May 1848 includes an address from The Galway Town Commissioners addressed to William Smith O'Brien M.P. and also a reply from O'Brien. Entry dated 6 July 1848 mentions the possibility of 'supplying the town with water'. Entry dated 26 April 1849 includes an acknowledgment by the Town Commissioners of the accuracy of report to the Lord Lieutenant by Colonel Sir Michael Creagh describing the conditions in the town. The report described the town as 'crowded with beggars full of misery and much neglected'. Entry dated 12 July 1849 includes a resolution expressing the Town Commissioners feeling towards the Reverend P Daly and others who 'successfully extended themselves to obtain £500,000 for the extension of a Railway' to Galway. Entry dated 21 November 1850 includes a list of designated markets, listing the produce available and location of the market, for example 'Butter, fowl and eggs market to be held in Lombard Street opposite the open space in front of the church railings.' Entry dated 29 May 1851 includes a proposal for a survey to be made 'of the space between the Killery Harbour and the heads of Lough Corrib with a view to having a canal made between the harbour and the lake. Entry dated 12 June 1851 includes proposal to host a reception for a party of Americans who were expected to arrive in the city by boat on their way to the Great Exhibition in London. The Town Commissioners were attempting to promote the idea of opening a packet station in Galway for direct passages to the United States, in a copy of a letter dated 18 August 1851 from George Mahon, Northampton address to the Reverend P Daly, Mahon expresses the hope that 'Galway may yet be the Liverpool of Ireland.' Entry dated 9 October 1851 in includes a statement of the dividends paid by the Galway Gas Company from 1838 to 1851, dividends range from £240 for 4% in 1838 to £900 for 15% paid in 1845. Entry dated 17 June 1852 includes resolution 'to write to the proper authorities to direct the police to remove all persons playing ball from public thorofares and public buildings.'

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27/06/2013
28/07/2025