Joseph Howley, from Oranmore, County Galway, was a member of the Irish Volunteers. He mobilized and led a combined contingent of 106 Volunteers from Oranmore to attack the Oranmore barracks on the Tuesday morning of the 1916 Easter Rising. 1 The company failed to capture the barracks, and joined those of Liam Mellows.2
Howley was shot dead by the R.I.C at the Broadstone Railway Station in Dublin, Ireland, on 4 December 1920.3 A special Intelligence Unit attached to the RIC known as the Cairo Gang was responsible.4 A memorial statue to him was erected in 1947 in Howley Court in Oranmore;5 its inscription reads:
Comdt. Joseph Howley. He led his volunteers in Easter week 1916 and was murdered by English agents at the Broadstone Dublin 1920. Erected in 1947 by his old comrades of 1916 - 1920.6
References
References
- Land and Revolution: Nationalist Politics in the West of Ireland 1891-1921, Fergus Campbell, Oxford University Press, 2005; ISBN 0-19-927324-3 page 210.
- Galway City Council - Heritage Magazine - Summer 2006 - Page 27 Archived 20 November 2007 at the Wayback Machine[1] Archived 2007-11-20 at the Wayback Machine
- The History of Galway, by Sean Spellissy, ISBN 0-9534683-3-X, Celtic Bookshop, (1999), page 131.
- Pádraig Ó Fathaigh's War of Independence: Recollections of a Galway Gaelic Leaguer, Timothy G. McMahon, Cork University Press, 2000; ISBN 1-85918-145-7
- Howley Statue Picture
- IrishWarMemorials.ie - Howley Memorial - Oranmore