23/12/2021
A BAD RECEPTION FOR THE KING AND QUEEN OF ENGLAND IN TULLYCROSS? (1903)
Several months ago, I posted about the King and Queen of England's visit to this area in 1903 and quoted the Irish Times and the Mayo Constitution newspapers, both of which stated that the royal couple received a warm welcome to Tullycross with banners, cheering crowds and garlands of flowers being presented to them. Several people commented at the time that they believed that the reception had not been as rapturous as these newspapers suggested and I have since found a couple of articles which strongly support that point of view.
The nationalist United Irishman newspaper reported on the royal visit to Tullycross the week after it occurred, scoffing at the positive accounts of the event in other newspapers and describing them as 'pure lies.' Their account was that the priest of the parish, Fr. Glynn, had attempted to 'get up a reception committee' for the coming visit. The vast majority of the community declined to partake, 'refusing to play the sycophant' although about ten local men agreed to form a committee. The men were all named in the newspaper, although I will not name them here, and were variously derided as 'a grazier,' an 'emigration agent', a 'union-loving ex-soldier' and 'a bailiff.'
The Irish Times had stated that 'Great was the excitement. The leading local people had exerted themselves well and the little village was beautifully bedecked, banners reading "Welcome to the King and Queen" and "Céad Míle Fáilte." The king and queen then apparently arrived 'to a burst of enthusiastic cheering,' while locals afterwards could allegedly be heard saying "Well wasn't that grand?" and "That's a great day for Tully."
The United Irishman took a different view, The newspaper stated that Fr. Glynn and his group had indeed hired a number of English flags with which they bedecked the village but they had received little assistance locally and a plea to the 250 fishermen from the local area to meet the royal yacht at the Killary and es**rt him into the pier apparently only managed to induce one fisherman to take part. It continued that when the royal cortege arrived to Tullycross, 'Three quarters of the people had sacrificed their natural curiosity and stayed away.' It further insisted that there was a crowd of only 250 people in the village, 'largely composed of plain-clothes policemen' who only managed to raise a faint cheer when the royal party came into view The paper continued that the locals 'slandered by the British press as lovers of British royalty' deserve great credit for refusing to be bribed by the King of England.
The Irish People newspaper also reported on the event, remarking sarcastically that 'Tears unbidden come to the eyes when one reads of the royal visit. Beautiful! Never again will there be a hungry stomach or a bare back or a writ for rack-rent in Tully.'
It is an interesting lesson in historical sources and the different slants publications can place on the same occurence. Which version of events seems more likely to you?
Below is a fantastic picture of the visit of the King and Queen of England to Recess on the same day as the events mentioned above, courtesy John Spooner via Flickr.
