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

Folklore, August, 2004 by Guy Beiner

Blake

Insurgent commander George Blake of Garracloon, county Mayo is yet another likely candidate for primacy as a major hero in folk historiography. Blake came from a distinguished Connacht family, which owned land in Mayo. He was a veteran officer of the British army and had served in the West Indies with the 20th Regiment of the Light Dragoons. Blake joined the French army in Connacht at an early stage, in Ballina on 26 August, and was appointed commander-in-chief of the Irish rebels. After distinguishing himself at Castlebar he secured the area of Ballinrobe, then he rejoined the main body of the Franco-Irish army, campaigned valiantly from Mayo to Ballinamuck, where, following the fatal battle, he was captured and executed.

Blake was the only Irish rebel from Connacht mentioned by name in the list of individual leaders provided to Commission collectors in A Handbook of Irish Folklore (O Suilleabhain 1942, 533). Therefore, awareness towards the likelihood of his primacy in folk memory was already incorporated in the project of standardised folklore collecting. And indeed a relatively large number of historical traditions about Blake have been documented. The great bulk of traditions relating to Blake were collected in the vicinity of Ballinamuck, an area that was deeply traumatised and subsequently became a hotbed of 1798 lore. They relate to Blake's performance on the battlefield, his capture, execution and burial.

Only few traditions about Blake appear to have originated in his native locality in Mayo. One local tradition from his home area of Garracloon and Cong was a story of how Blake discouraged local United Irishmen from joining the French alongside him by saying: "There is no use in bringing any more, for none of us will return." In contrast to mainstream narratives, which emphasise insurgent enthusiasm, this somewhat subversive story reflects ambivalence towards the Rebellion. Richard Hayes argued that the depiction of Blake as a realist, who fostered no illusions of the hopelessness of the rebel cause, was an authentic memory. As corroborating evidence, he cited the Freeman's Journal of 13 June 1799 (then a government organ), which published a statement about "the rebel chief Blake" who allegedly discouraged fellow compatriots from joining the rebel cause (Hayes 1979, 269). However, the motif of rebel sympathisers cautioning against the Rebellion and discouraging enlistment was not uncommon in folk historiography of 1798 and often displays clear signs of anachronism. For example, Fr Flannagan of Granard was reported to have said: "Go back and don't get yourselves butchered, you're a hundred years too soon" (IFC vol. 1457, 655). [7] Similarly, stories of Blake soberly turning back volunteers to the Rebel cause most probably reflect an anachronistic tone of regret applied to the story after the defeat. Moreover, south Mayo traditions recalled names of locals who did join Blake (Hayes 1979, 269).

In contradiction to the stories from Ballinamuck, which dwell on Blake's execution, his wake and his burial, a story was told in Blake's home village of Garracloon of a "false hanging" and Blake's escape to the continent. It has been attempted to explain this apocryphal narrative, by suggesting confusion with Blake's kinsman, General Joachim Blake of Furlough, who was a distinguished Irish officer in the Spanish army (Irish Press 6 June 1935; Hayes 1979, 270-1; Quinn 1993, 146-50). Yet, this kind of tradition most probably relates to what the historian Eric Hobsbawm defined as the ultimate accolade of the bandit hero: popular refusal to believe in his death (Hobsbawm 1972, 125). Oral tradition often refuses to acknowledge the execution of local resistance heroes, and favours alternative narratives of secret escape and continued life in exile. In the case of Blake, numerous testimonies irrefutably confirm that he was indeed executed (Auckland Papers, British Library MSS 34454 f. 485; Shannon Papers, Public Record Office Northern Ireland MSS D 2707/A3/3 ff. 116-117; Impartial Relation 1799, 40; Mangin 1841, 38-9; Maxwell 1881, 235; Gribayedoff 1890, 136; Heyland 1913, 23; Bourke 1954-6, 291). The alternative narrative of Blake's escape may have drawn support from a misreading of an influential contemporary historical account. Writing two years after the Battle of Ballinamuck, the loyalist historian Sir Richard Musgrave observed: "Three of their leaders were taken, among who was Mr. Blake, a popish gentleman, who was hanged" (Musgrave 1995, 573). Yet elsewhere, in reference to the fate of Mayo rebel leader Colonel James Joseph McDonnell of Carnacon, Musgrave wrote: