The strange, gruesome murder of a Galway priest 100 years ago

Analysis: Mystery still surrounds the reasons for the murder of Fr Michael Griffin 100 years ago this weekend during the War Of Independence

By November 1920, the Irish War of Independence was characterised by destruction of life and property, violence, terror and reprisals, whether carried out by the IRA, Crown forces or private vendetta. While events in Dublin and Cork have dominated historical accounts of this bleak month a century ago, the murder of a Catholic priest in Galway in mid-November stands out for its gruesomeness and for the universal outrage that it occasioned. The killing generated headlines at home and abroad and epitomised the breakdown of law and order throughout the country. Many nationalists concluded that if priests were not safe, then no one was.

While over 40 Catholic clergy were arrested for a variety of offences during the revolutionary years, the killing of a priest was rare and sensational. Between 1916 and 1921, four were killed in violent circumstances. Fr Felix Watters, president of the Catholic University School in Dublin, was shot on Haddington Road during the 1916 Rising and died of his wounds.

In mid December 1920, Canon Thomas Magner, parish priest of Dunmanway in Cork, was shot on the roadside by a member of the Auxiliary Division RIC who was later deemed insane. The same officer had killed an innocent civilian before Canon Magner happened on the scene. In May 1921, Fr James O'Callaghan was fatally wounded during a raid on the home of Liam de Róiste TD, where he rented rooms.

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From RTÉ Radio 1's History Show, historian Sean Hogan on the 'supernatural manifestations, accompanied by cures' that attracted thousands of pilgrims to Templemore in 1920

The case of Fr Michael Griffin differs significantly because of the premediated nature of the killing. Just before midnight on November 14th 1920, three men in trench coats called to the priests’ house on Montpellier Terrace in Galway. Barbara King, the housekeeper, was instructed to summon Fr Griffin for an urgent sick call. Taking his coat and umbrella, the curate was not seen alive again.

Fr Griffin’s disappearance into a howling storm was shrouded in mystery. That intensified when it was realised that the priest had not taken the blessed sacrament with him as would be the norm on a serious sick call. The following evening, the parish priest, Peter Davis, brought the matter to the attention of the police. The authorities expressed amazement and were confident that no member of the Crown forces had any hand in the abduction. Fr Davis replied that no one in Galway or any Catholic Irishman would injure a priest. The parish priest and the Galway public believed that the disappearance was the work of armed members of the Crown forces.

Fr Griffin was born at Gurteen, Ballinasloe, Co Galway in 1892, the son of Thomas G. Griffin, a well-known farmer, local councillor and chairman of Galway County Council from 1912 until 1914, and Mary Kyne. He was educated at Gurteen, St Joseph's College in Ballinasloe and Maynooth College, where he was ordained for the diocese of Clonfert in April 1917. He was loaned to the Galway diocese and appointed to the curacy of Ennistymon in north Clare. In June 1918, he was transferred to Rahoon parish which comprised the districts of Rahoon, Bushypark and Barna. He was praised by his bishop for his selfless work during the influenza epidemic.

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From RTÉ Drivetime, Myles Dungan on the burning of Cork by Auxiliaries and Black & Tans in December 1920

Like many young curates of his generation, Fr Griffin was an ardent member of the Gaelic League and was involved in efforts to raise funds for the provision of a hall for the cultivation of the Irish language. Politically, like the vast majority of nationalist Ireland, he supported Sinn Féin and Pádraig Ó Máille, the Sinn Féin candidate for the amalgamated constituencies of Galway-Connemara, at the 1918 general election.  Thereafter, he took no part in politics.

The disappearance of Fr Griffin without warrant or charge prompted the bishops of Galway and Clonfert to issue a forceful statement charging the British government with responsibility for "an outrage upon the Catholic priesthood of Ireland". The matter was also raised in the House of Commons on 19 November by Joseph Devlin, MP for West Belfast. 

In his reply, Irish chief secretary Sir Hamar Greenwood was typically evasive and claimed the abduction "obviously a stupid thing that no forces of the Crown would do'. A Lloyd George loyalist who believed in restoring British rule in Ireland by defeating the IRA, Greenwood’s denials and evasions became so frequent that he was lampooned with the phrase 'to tell a Greenwood’.  

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From British Pathé, Sir Hamar Greenwood reviews and addresses R.I.C. Auxiliaries in Phoenix Park, Dublin in 1921

On the evening of November 20th, the tails of a clerical coat were discovered in boggy land a few yards from the roadside at Cloughscoiltia, near Lough Inch, a mile from Barna. Fr Griffin’s body was exhumed by the light of a lantern. He had been shot in the head. A post-mortem examination revealed that death had taken place about five days before.

The reasons for the killing of Fr Griffin remain unclear. One suggestion is that it was a reprisal for the killing of Patrick W. Joyce by the IRA a month earlier and the priest’s body deliberately dumped near Barna where Joyce had been principal of the local primary school. In his statement to the Bureau of Military History, Louis O’Dea, a Galway solicitor, claimed that Griffin was shot at Taylor’s Hill where the Auxiliaries occupied a house.

Coroners’ inquests had been replaced by military courts of inquiry which went to considerable lengths to avoid ever apportioning blame to members of the Crown forces. A typical verdict of wilful murder against some person or persons unknown was returned in the inquiry on Fr Griffin. The local IRA investigated the killing but were unable to get definite information.

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From RTÉ Radio 1's Documentary On One, The Eileen Quinn Story recounts the short life and tragic death of 24-year-old Eileen Quinn who was shot by uniformed men outside her home in November 1920.

In May 1922 James Greer, a retired RIC sergeant, and his son Thomas, who had been an Auxiliary, were shot in Roscommon. The gunmen alleged that Thomas had been involved in the killing of Fr Griffin which the dying man denied. Statements to the Bureau of Military History suggest that an Auxiliary named Nichols was also involved and that William Joyce, who came to prominence during the Second World War as fascist propagandist 'Lord Haw-Haw', had acted as a police tout. The difficulty in identifying Griffin’s killers was typical of many deaths during the War of Independence, as was the vicious circle of reprisals.

Attracting an immense crowd, Fr Griffin’s funeral took place in St Joseph’s Church with burial in the grounds of St Brendan's Cathedral, Loughrea on November 24th. After the funeral, Bishop O’Dea wrote to the chief secretary: ‘it is the belief of all in Galway that Father Griffin was shot by Government forces. The people of Ireland do not shoot their priests … but murder like this is almost altogether unparalleled in Irish life.’ Fr Griffin’s death hardened anti-British sentiment and typified the random and often lethal nature of violence during the Irish Revolution.

The memory of Fr Griffin was commemorated in a number of ways. In November 1922, a monument was erected where the body was discovered and another at his graveside. The church in Gurteen was built in his memory. In 1937, a new road connecting Wolfe Tone Bridge and the Salthill Road in Galway was named Fr Griffin Road and the Fr Griffin Gaelic Football Club was founded in Claddagh, Galway in 1948.

The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ