Scorpion Stanley, the brave men of County Mayo

by Auld Stock

IT is not difficult to imagine what Mayo and the rest of Ireland was like in 1840, five years before the Great Famine.

The landlords and so-called gentry held sway over the depressed people of our country at the time. The majority of people lived in thatched houses with very little income.

There was an odd glimmer of hope here and there. There were some protests but they were quickly nipped in the bud by henchmen of the landlords, shoneens, as they were known at the time.

In view of all that it is interesting to note the following report which appeared in The Telegraph, published in Castlebar in April 1848.

The report read as follows: “Our patriotic representative, Sir W.J. Brabazon, has called a meeting of the people of Mayo which will be held in Castlebar Courthouse to deprecate in the strongest possible terms the vile Bill which Scorpion Stanley, the avowed enemy of Ireland, is endeavouring to pass, having for its object neither more nor less the total destruction of the Irish franchise.

"Men of Mayo, brave and generous sons of our native soil, join heartily, energetically and earnestly in this grand demonstration.

"Let the vile faction know you will never tamely submit to insult and destroy the sacred rights you have so long enjoyed. Up, men of Mayo, arise from your slumbers and strangle with one hold the determined grasp of Scorpion Stanley.”

*The Stanley referred to above may have been English secretary in Ireland at the time. W.J. Brabazon was a member of the ruling class. Sir Anthony’s Brabazon’s lands in Swinford were taken off him when he became a Catholic. Scorpion Stanley’s ears must have been burning when he heard W.J. Brabazon’s remarks.

In the early 1900s a Dr. Brabazon and his family lived opposite The Green, Castlebar. The Brabazons had five beautiful daughters, one of whom married William Palmer, Westport, father of Mickey Palmer, one of Ireland’s leading cyclists. William Palmer’s son Victor lost his life in World War 2.