Incident at Ballycorick Bridge

[murf]

Hi all
I am a newcomer to this forum, although I have been checking it regularly for some time.
Most of my research is focussed on my grandmother's Phillips family from Caherea and my grandfather's Murphy family from the small townland of Knappoge, north of Ballynacally.

At the moment I am seeking all the information I can concerning the skirmish between the Terry Alts and the military at Ballycorick Bridge in 1831. I have a keen interest in this incident for two reasons:
1. The incident occurred virtually on the doorstep of my Murphy ancestors in adjacent Knappoge, although I am not completely sure that they were resident there as early as 1831
2. One of the men involved was a Martin Phillips, who I believe may have been a brother of my gg grandfather Connor Phillips, a farmer at Caherea.

Some time ago (2 Apr 2000) Sharon Carberry posted a passage from a webpage on Local Ireland which names eleven perpetrators two of which were hanged and nine transported to Australia, including Martin Phillips.
More than 200 Irish convicts were transported on board the Asia v (2) in 1831. (see the Peter Mayberry site at http://members.pcug.org.au/~ppmay/cgi-b ... /irish.cgi).
In the search fields by setting SHIP = asia v (2) YEAR = 1831 and TRIAL PLACE = ennis clare co
I extracted from the list all those sent from trials at Ennis. In all there were 54, including the nine mentioned above, although there seemed to be some doubt about John Brown, whose misdemeanour was given as stealing cheese!
I have found other references to Martin Phillips in the Tickets of Leave and Convict Pardons datasets as well as the NSW BDM database.
However I would like to find out more about the incident as it happened and the trials that followed, in particular that of Martin Phillips. Can anyone help?

Kevin Murphy
QLD AUS

[Paddy Casey]

Kevin,

The Gale company has a number of online databases of old newspapers (see http://www.gale.cengage.com/ ). These newspapers contain a lot of reports of social upheavals and atrocities in County Clare, including reports of trials, transportations and hangings. I posted numerous items from those newspapers in this forum but no longer have access to the databases as they were available to me for a trial period only.

The Gale databases may very well contain reports of the events you mention. Many public libraries subscribe to the Gale system and make the databases accessible to their members. You might try and see whether a library in your vicinity has access to the Gale system. If so, you may be on a roll.

Paddy

[smcarberry]

Kevin,

Welcome to this merry group doing postings here. Thanks for your kind mention of my old posting which led to some information on Martin Phillips. I agree with Paddy Casey that the Gale database of newspapers should be a great resource for the further information you seek.

I did a bit of looking online for ways to pinpoint the dates of newspaper editions that could contain useful articles for your
purpose. You would undoubtedly look in the editions which were immediately subsequent to the date of the incident, but
articles could also appear whenever the prisoners were handled in some way, such as the executions and transportation.
The executions might deal mainly with those hung, so then I considered how to find articles reporting the transportation of
others to Australia. I did not find any such dates reported online, but there are several further sources of information that
you can consult:

1. An email to Maureen Comber at the Clare Library might be productive, as she is involved with the local studies group
called CLASP, which has publications covering topics such as the Terry Alts. Here is the brief description provided by the
Library online:
"Clondegad Bridge: This was the scene of a Terry Alt skirmish with the military in 1831. Sergeant James Robinson was killed and after a military enquiry Murty Donnelly was hanged 'near the bridge of Ballycorick.' Michael Kelly was executed in Ennis and several others were transported to Australia."
http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclar ... terest.htm

2. Clare historians have publications which might cover the incident or which contain bibliographies which could lead to resources for it. I found these because they deal with an Applevale murder on 21 Jan 1831 of William Blood, a different incident connected with the Terry Alts.

A History of County Clare, by Seán Spellissy (Gill & Macmillan, 2003)

Sable Wings Over the Land: Ennis, County Clare, and Its Wider Community, by Ciarán Ó Murchadha

"Mysterious Murder at Applevale" by Sheila Harbison, The Other Clare, 7 (1983), 27-80

3. London Times articles are available in two resources. An index by Samuel Palmer exists for all its articles, starting in 1795 and continuing far past 1831, but that handles four months of the publication in each edition and it is not available in Australia. What you can look for is a ProQuest database (ProQuest is a subscription service available in many
public libraries in the U.S. and likely in Australia somewhere) called Palmer's Full Text Online. I should also mention that
there is a CD version, but I could not find any reference to its being in a collection in Australia:
The Official Index to the [London] Times...on CD-ROM
Publisher: Cambridge, England : Chadwyck-Healey Ltd., 1998-1999.
OCLC: 39273601

Then there is the Gale electronic version of all London Times editions, likely searchable with keywords.

The [London] Times Digitial Archive, 1785-1985
Publisher: [Farmington Hills, Mich.] : Thomson-Gale
OCLC: 81867691
available at:
Richmond Tweed Regional Library Goonellabah Nsw, 2480 Australia
State Library of Queensland S Brisbane, QLD 4101 Australia
State Library of New S Wales Sydney Nsw, 2000 Australia
National Library of Australia Canberra, ACT 2600 Australia
State Library of Tasmania Hobart, TAS 7000 Australia
State Library of Victoria Melbourne, VIC 3000 Australia
Deakin University Geelong, VIC 3217 Australia
Monash University Library Monash University, VIC 3800 Australia
Northern Territory Library & Information Service Darwin Nt, 0801 Australia

Hopefully you can get to one of those facilities.

Sharon Carberry USA

[murf]

Many thanks Paddy and Sharon
That gives me plenty of leads to follow up.

Kevin Murphy

[Lono]

Hello Kevin,

I am also a newcomer to this forum, a long time lurker at the Clare Library website though. I have an interesting story related to the incident at Ballycorick Bridge – its not my own, its transcribed from family oral history, and part of it is taken from a late local Clareman told to a late aunt, so take it for what you will. Maybe Maureen Comber or others at the Library or at CLASP could help me authenticate it in parts.

My great great great great grandfather was Patrick Ryan (1793-1875) of Breaghva, Co Clare. He was married to Ellen (1790-1895). They had a son Thomas (1833-1920) (who the storyteller mistakenly attributes to the incident at Ballycorick Bridge), married to Catherine (1841-1915) who had 15 children. Their daughter Nora Ryan (1864-1943) left Ireland for lack of work at the age of 18, walked to Ennis, took a train to Queenstown (now Cobh) and came to America (Boston) by passenger ship in 1881. Nora married a captain of police, Thomas Ryan, and died in Corning, New York. Nora’s daughter Helen was my grandmother, my father Roy her son, his sister who wrote these notes that follow is the late Eleanor Albertson (Johnson). I am Roy’s son Tom or Thomas Albertson, living near Seattle, Washington. I have 8 siblings, all living within a couple postal codes of one another here in the Pacific Northwest.

As my aunt Eleanor’s notes tell the story, she was visiting Co Clare on her second trip to Ireland in July 1975. From here on are mostly Eleanor’s words, not mine, with just a few bits edited out (…):

7/27/1975 At the end of a long, busy day my cousin, Martin Ryan took me to Ennis to visit Mr. Sean Kelly, a former member of the Dial. He was a large man, in his 70s. His wife, Anne, welcomed me, too. We sat at a large kitchen table.
…
Mr. Kelly could be called a local historian. He told me the following which must have been told and retold through the years, about my ancestors, the Ryans:
My great-grandfather Tom Ryan , on a Sunday, either the 5th or 8th of May 1815,
[stop transcription here – according to my father, Mr. Kelly was mistaken, Tom Ryan’s father Patrick Ryan was likely the fellow that the police and militia took custody of outside Fanny O’Dea’s in Lissycasey not in May 1815 but in May 1831. Tom Ryan wasn’t even born in 1831 when the incident at the Ballycorick Bridge took place. It is possible that Patrick's father was named Tom Ryan, although Mr. Kelly wouldn't have referred to him as my aun's great-great grandfather. Its possible that some other incident might have taken place in 1815, and have been mixed in with the later account from 1831. My father though heard the story from his Grandmother Nora and his mother Helen (Baca) and not from Mr. Kelly. Dad says they took Patrick Ryan for a Terry Alt, and started off to Ballynacally with him. On the way, locals intervened and set him free. In the tumult, Sargent Robinson was killed. The Clare Champion has the rest of the story at Ballycorick Bridge, Patrick Ryan went on the lamb for 6 months, two men were hanged, and others were transported to Australia. But I am getting ahead of Sean Kelly’s story here, my aunt Eleanor writes:]

[Patrick Ryan in May 1831] was approached by the tithe proctor, or tax agent, or collector – and at nightfall, Ryan and a gang called the Tarryaults (after Terry Ault of Corofin) took the money from the agent.
1/10 to protestant minister (corn or whatever)
Minister reported [the Tarry Alt theft] to Ennis military – 1st Sunday of May.
A company of soldiers arrested Ryan at Breaffa [Breaghva] and then went to a road near O’Dea’s and then towards Ennis, south at Clancy’s Cross and went to Colly’s Pub.
No church there, no church inland – relic of penal days.
People were going to mass on foot.
James Guirey (Terryault) and ----- Guirey (?) called the people to rescue Ryan. Used stones and sticks. Outnumbered the soldiers. There was a fight. Guirey got shot and fell.
“Keep a pistol for Guirey. He loved it best of all.”
Ryan and others went to Kappa Na Gerra (plateau of high ground where sheep were folded).
James Hinchey was shaving to go to Mass. He saw Guirey a prisoner – took an ax – hid it behind his coat (w/tails and brass buttons). Hinchey overtook the soldiers with the guns. He said: “Good morn.” He walked up and killed Sgt Robinson. Soldiers hid in the minister’s house. Hinchey cut Ryan’s handcuffs on an anvil.
Hinchey afraid the ax would be found. Hinchey hid the ax and came back at night and retrieved the ax out of a pool… middle of the night… no clothes. Found the ax. The military drained the river Monday and emptied the pool.
Next day the military took prisoners Tom Kelly and John Donnelly to the bridge to hang them for the death of Sgt Robinson. The minister – afraid his wife would see. They hang on Bally Bridge (Ballycorick Bridge?) for 2 days.
Ryan got away.. on the run for 6 months. He hid in a gable in his house. The shutters looked like the head of the bed. Soldiers searched. He was hidden in a cubby hole.
Ryan got careless eventually. 8 months later, he was captured.
Things were quiet. He was tried at the court house in Ennis, defended by Whitstone (?), barrister, who lived in ----? Ryan received a 9 months sentence and was released. Three people were hanged over the killing, one afterward and two at the bridge and a number of others exported to Tasmania. Ryan was released and lived in Breaffa [Breaghva].
The record of his [Patrick Ryan’s] birth is in the church at Lisecasey [Lissycasey].
The first Ryan came to Breaffa from Frure [Furroor].
Sgt Robinson to Friary occupied by soldiers and had horses stalled elsewhere – to cemetery – buried Sgt there – a monument on grave. Terryaults came and used --- monument. – some years later another was erected.

End of transcription.

This is an oral history, I have no idea how much is true. I would have loved to have been there to hear it. Surely, the exact names, dates and places could have been confused by Mr. Kelly or even by my Aunt Eleanor, I write them here as my Aunt recorded them in 1975 while listening to Mr. Kelly. Eleanor was an faithful chronicler. There’s a disagreement with the record as to whether one or two were hanged on Ballycorick Bridge. There are discrepancies with how Sgt Robinson actually died - was he shot, stoned, or killed with the ax. According to this story, Mr James Hinchey actually killed Sgt Robinson with an ax he kept concealed and later kept from being found by the police, but I could find no mention of him among the guilty. And my ancestor isn’t mentioned in the contemporary accounts at all, which is both consistent with his escape and maddeningly difficult to resolve.

In 2000 my father and I traveled to Co Clare, and stayed a few days at the Olde Ground in Ennis, likely above the dungeon where Patrick Ryan was held for trial. Dad could not move about easily so we didn’t pursue every angle we would have liked to. We traveled out to Breaghva on a cloudy day, and with local guidance found the old Ryan farm, deserted. We poked around a bit, and walked the property – a large Eire Telecom cell tower dominates just to the west of it. We were gentle on hinges and respectful of closed doors (who wanted to stumble across an IRA weapons cache), but no one had lived there in ages. We went past Fanny O’Dea’s pub in Lissycasey where Patrick was taken into custody, could see Furoor where the first Ryans came from on the hillside across the road from Breaghva, and drove by Cappanageerah where ‘the sheep were folded’. Ballynacally and the Ballycorick Bridge are surely there. My father and I spent a long afternoon reading the contemporary 1831 accounts in the Clare Champion (on microfiche), but there was no mention of any Ryan there, only in the story told by Mr. Sean Kelly and in my family lore. It is all so very vague, so very much like the genealogy record of nearly forgotten ancestors. Probably true, in the essentials, we hope it so, but we never will really know how much so. I do believe that contemporary accounts in the Clare Champion or at trial can be wrong in a way to protect those who may be guilty but not instantly apprehended, just as much as oral history can get particulars entirely wrong. No grudges either way.

So on balance I believe Patrick Ryan was there at Ballycorick or near to it, and his rescue from police custody may have been the original reason for the tussle with the military guard and the death of Sgt Robinson. He got away with his life after the heat was off - others weren’t so lucky. I looked but couldn’t authenticate my ancestor’s eventual trial, or his defense by a Mr. Whitstone, but time was short so it could have very well have taken place. Sometime I would like to trace the Hincheys and Guireys (Garrys?) and find out what happened to these men who helped to save Patrick Ryan’s life, and surely made my own possible by doing so. I owe their descendants if there are any at least a pint someday. The Clare Heritage Centre in Corofin has confirmed the genealogy back to Thomas and Patrick, for which we are grateful. I am happy for travelling with Dad when I did, since he has become much older and doesn’t travel nearly so well, we are both grateful for that once in a lifetime trip, for him. I am also indebted to Mr. Kelly for this story, and Aunt Eleanor for writing it down. May they rest in peace. I would appreciate hearing from anyone with stories of this middle part of Clare, around Breaghva – it seems rich with McMahons, Macnamaras, Stacpooles, Scanlons, Ronans, Ryans and many others. That I think would draw me back to Co Clare in a few heartbeats.

Cheers,
Tom Albertson
Bellevue, Washington USA

[murf]

Thank you Tom for sharing that fascinating story.
I guess that it's very much a matter of trying to sort the wheat from the chaff here.
Michael MacMahon in his Agrarian Conflict in Clare: 1815 - 1831 (see Clare Library History Section) gives the stoning version of the incident as reported in the Clare Journal of 12 May.
Intuitively one would expect that a report of the trial proceedings should provide a more reliable description of the incident.
MacMahon also refers to an article by Flan Enright, Murder at Clondegad, in The Other Clare, vol 9, pp 39-40. I have not yet seen this latter article, but I have asked the Clare Library for a copy. I will be interested to see if Enright draws on any other sources for his information.

Concerning Sgt Robinson, I recently came across an isolated reference to him at the EPPI website (1831-1832, vol 16, 677, Report from the Select Committee on the state of Ireland). Matthew Barrington, Esq in giving evidence to the Committee on 6 June 1832, was asked the question:
"....have not the military, both privates and officers, always conducted themselves with the greatest impartiality and fairness to the peasantry of the country?"
to which he replied,
"Invariably. I never knew of a soldier being murdered except in the instance of Sergeant Robinson, and he went in disguise, and was not known to be a soldier."

So if Robinson wore no uniform and was not known to be a soldier, then the crowd may have mistaken him for some sort of collaborator, and that is why he was set upon. Of course this does not excuse his murder, but it may help to explain why he was singled out in the first place.

Incidentally, a search for Whitstone on EPPI brings up a number of references to a John Whitstone in Clondagad, 1847 who was variously described as "secretary of the (Famine) Relief Committee", "connected with the Board of Works", and "a member of the Gentry but not a landholder". I don't know if this is your Mr. Whitstone, but he seems to have had his finger in many pies, so maybe he was also a bush lawyer.

Kevin Murphy
QLD AUS

[Paddy Casey]

By chance I came upon the attached snippet in an article kindly supplied to me by Peter Beirne of the Local Studies Centre at the Clare County Library. Peter sent me the article in relation to a quite different topic that I am looking into. The article is taken from "Clondegad and Kilchreest - A Short History of the Parish".

Unfortunately the first part of the text relating to Sergeant Robinson is missing because, as I say, Peter's information was related to a different topic. However, the snippet contains the inscription on Sergeant Robinson's tomb in Ennis Abbey. It reads

Sacred
To the memory of
James Robinson
Late Colour Sergeant Grenadier Company Sth Regiment of foot who lost his life
in the execution of his duty near Clondegad in this County.
This monument is erected by the Non-commissioned Officers
and Privates of the Corps as a Memorial of his Gallantry and Worth.
He lived universally respected by his Officers, beloved by his comrades
and esteemed by all who knew him.
Born at Enniskillen 1798
Killed 8th May 1831 aged 33 years
Renewed by the Officers 4th Battalion Fifth Fusiliers 1906

Paddy