Mayo historical society to host event

The Claremorris Historical Society will host a talk by historian Dr. Michael O’Connor in Claremorris Town Hall, on Wednesday, February 4, at 8 p.m. The topic will be 'Mayo County Prison and The Famine 1845-1852.’ All are welcome to attend.

Dr. Michael O’Connor is a lawyer, independent researcher and the author of many books.

His research interests include legal history; public institutions; slavery; women and the laws of men; and the history and lives of ordinary people. He is currently involved in a three-year university research project at Queens University, Belfast. There he is researching Irish and Anglo-Irish slaveholders in the former British Colonies in the Caribbean, Cape Colony, and the Indian Ocean.

Dr. O’ Connor has travelled extensively and lived for five years in the Middle East. A native of Mayo, he now lives in Murrisk.

Dr. O’Connor holds first-class honours degrees in law from Trinity College Dublin and the University of Cambridge, and a Doctorate in Philosophy (law) from Trinity College Dublin. He was a solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales and the High Court of Ireland and a senior partner in one of Ireland’s leading law firms.

Dr. Michael O’Connor’s publications include:

County Mayo, A History of Imprisonment, Capital Punishment & Transportation, Part I Anatomy of a County Gaol (2020).

Caribbean Slave Owners & Other Lesser-Known Histories from County Mayo (2021).

Criminal Conversation with My Wife: Women & The Laws of Man, County Mayo Case Studies (2023).

County Mayo, A History of Imprisonment, Capital Punishment & Transportation, Part II, Castlebar Prison & The Bridewells of County Mayo 1835-1935 (2025).