Who were "The Men of the West"? Folk historiographies and the reconstruction of Democratic histories

Folklore, August, 2004 by Guy Beiner

Margaret (Reiny) Thompson: Yeah. He's only just to represent those that fell ...

Bernard Thompson: On the battle fields of Ballinamuck (IFC vol. 1858, 97-8).

The attempt to reshape the collective memory of a war through monuments commemorating anonymous soldiers presented as national martyrs is a familiar phenomenon in modern European history and has been extensively researched, specifically in the context of World War I (Mosse 1990; Winter 1998). Official commemoration of individuals is a modern custom. Commemorative naming of dead individuals was only introduced as a universal practice in World War I commemoration (Laqueur 1994). However, folk historiography and vernacular rituals of commemoration preserved numerous names of local heroes. By tapping into the narratives of popular memory invoked in folklore sources, we can attempt to reclaim the "pikeman" from his anonymity and look beyond a history of leaders towards a more democratic historical outlook.

One example of a local hero associated with the folk memory of the battle of Ballinamuck was Robin Gill, a local man who is said to have joined the rebel army on the fatal day. Many stories were told about Gill's bravery at Ballinamuck and his escape after the battle. Close examination of the material reveals that most of the traditions relating to Robin Gill originated from his grandnephew "Grey Pat";--Patrick Gill of Edenmore--who was renowned locally for his knowledge of '98 lore. Several of Patrick Gill's stories about Robin Gill were collected by folklorists and subsequently published (Mac Greine 1934-5, 393-5; Irish Press 6 June 1935; Hayes 1979, 231-3) and they are currently incorporated in the exhibition of 1798 heritage in the Ballinamuck Visitor's Centre. [9] This case illustrates the grassroots construction of social memory; family traditions become part of community tradition only to be legitimised and recognised as part of local folk history and heritage through the process of folklore collecting.

In different variations of a common story, Robin Gill was credited with defeating a pursuing soldier on horseback and killing him. Stories of a pikeman on foot defeating a soldier or yeoman on horse are common motifs in 1798 lore (for example, IFC vol. 538, 518-9; IFC vol. 772, 68-9; IFC vol. 969, 178; IFC S vol. 209, 484-6; IFC S vol. 758, 53; IFC S vol. 760 and 130-1; for an example of a romantic-nationalist version as it appeared in nineteenth-century popular print, see "Conal Cearnach" 1858, 271) and were also found in Leinster traditions of the Rebellion (Whitney 1855, 134-5). They were told in numerous Ballinamuck traditions about other local heroes--such as Art McQuaide of Gaigue (IFC vol. 1858, 11; IFC S vol. 758, 45; IFC S vol. 760, 131-2). They may well be based on authentic memories of combat between Irish rebels on foot and Government cavalry forces. Analysing a contemporary medical report of casualties and injuries sustained by Crown forces, Patrick Hogan claimed that the low record of puncture wounds (only two were reported throughout the whole campaign and these were occurred in Ballinamuck) is "... hardly indicative of there having been numerous close encounters of the hand-to-hand variety so prevalent in a number of accounts and ever popular in folklore" (Hogan 1998). However, this conclusion is questionable as the government had an interest to conceal and depreciate damages incurred from Irish rebels and, furthermore, the report does not cover local yeomanry units who played a major role in the hunting down of Irish rebels. It is worth considering that folklore narratives of single combat provided a common formulaic framework to which individual episodes of distinguished bravery were attached and remembered.