The Connaught Telegraph is 192 years old today

TODAY (St. Patrick’s Day) is the 192nd birthday of The Connaught Telegraph, founded by Lord Frederick Cavendish, writes Tom Gillespie.

It incorporated The Mayo Constitution and Connaught Ranger and other titles, which would date its origin to the close of the 18th century.

Having seen the appalling results of armed rebellion, people were looking for more peaceful and constitutional means of acquiring Home Rule for Ireland.

One of those affected was Frederick Cavendish. This rich and progressive Protestant gentleman, who was a brother of the Duke of Devenshire, saw the need for a vehicle to promote the Nationalist ideal.

To this purpose, he founded The Connaught Telegraph, the first issue appearing on March 17, 1828.

Although there were other papers in the town of Castlebar and county, none had the resilience of The Telegraph, which today remains the oldest provincial newspaper in continuous circulation in Ireland.

As editor, Lord Cavendish gained a reputation as a man to be respected. His chief victims were the landed gentry but he was also capable of berating the peasantry for their laziness.

In an era when Catholics and Protestants viewed each other with distrust and hatred, Cavendish was a giant.

He was a staunch Irishman despite his upbringing, religion and family, and in the early 19th century stature and caste were all-confiding.

In 1845 he stood head and shoulders over everyone in fighting for education for the Catholic peasantry.

As editor of The Connaught Telegraph he used his pen as a potent weapon and in a personal capacity he joined his Catholic townsmen to negotiate with Lord Lucan for a site for a school.

Having attained it, he advanced the money to purchase it. With so much religious bitterness abroad in Ireland in those unhappy days it is worth remembering that the school - the former Convent of Mercy - stood on lands originally owned by a Protestant and bought by Protestant money.

Unlike well-known Castlebar-born Charles Haughey, Margaret Bourke-Sheridan and Stephen Garvey, no plaque or memorial was erected to commemorate Lord Cavendish.

The lane where the old offices of The Connaught Telegraph were based, until 2014, is still officially known as Cavendish Lane. So too was an island in Lough Lannagh - where the bridge on the Lough Lannagh loop now stands.

Surely the memory of Lord Cavendish deserves something better from the people of Castlebar?

The next editor and proprietor of The Connaught Telegraph was James Daly, a Mayo man who came to live in Castlebar. He was a staunch Catholic conservative totally against violence and drink, especially poteen.

His contribution to the Land Question and the founding of the Land League only became apparent in later years. It is true, however, he was never given credit in his lifetime for the outstanding part he played.

The National Land League was a political organisation of the late 19th century which sought to help poor tenant farmers. Its primary aim was to abolish landlordism in Ireland and enable tenant farmers to own the land they worked on.

Together with Michael Davitt, Daly founded the Land League on August 15, 1879, in the Imperial Hotel, Castlebar.

Mr. Daly was survived by his grandson, the late Seamus Daly of Mulranny, his grandnephew, the late Justice John Garavan, the Hynes family and other relatives. James Daly died on March 22, 1910, at the age of 74, and is buried in the town’s old cemetery.

Manager of The Connaught Telegraph both for Lord Cavendish and James Daly was Richard C. (R.C.) Gillespie, a kinsman of Cavendish.

When Daly took over the newspaper in 1876, R.C. was appointed manager of the company and worked there during the historic founding of the Land League.

Towards the end of the century - 1892 - Mr. Daly retired from business and his interest was acquired by Thomas H. Gillespie, son of R.C.

T.H. Gillespie’s most notable contribution to the community as editor was perhaps the founding of Castlebar Bacon Company, the first of its kind in Connaught, which went into production on May 13, 1919, and he became its first secretary. He died in 1939, at which point his son T.H. (Tommy) Gillespie took charge.

In 1964 John MacHale was appointed news editor and later editor of The Connaught Telegraph. He changed its old format and helped to bring it up to the modern newspaper it is today.

John’s name will always be associated with the Castlebar International Song Contest, of which he was a founder member and first director.

In the early 1970s John took up an editorial position with Independent Newspapers in Dublin, from which he has since retired. John’s brother-in-law, John Melvin, is sports editor with The Connaught.

The late Tom Courell, a native of Ballina, then took over the editor’s chair - a position he held until 1994, when illness intervened.

On March 1, 1995, yours truly (Tom Gillespie, grandson of T.H. Gillespie) was appointed editor and I oversaw huge production changes at Cavendish Lane.

I held this position for 18 years until the Celtic Media Group took over the newspaper in April 2014 and my colleague of many years, and deputy editor, Tom Kelly, took over the editorship, which he holds today, and saw the paper transform from broadsheet to compact. In mid-2014 the company moved from Cavendish Lane to No. 1, Main Street, Castlebar.