Anthony Daly 2

The society with codes and rituals aimed to identify members, believing in equality and freedom. Ribbonism began in Irish Labour League, offering safety to activists. In Galway, tensions rose with economic slump, leading to violent acts against officials. Ribbon Men were targeted, resulting in the Peace Preservation Act being enforced, allowing higher classes to handle violence. The government sent a military force, leading to imprisonment and punishment for the Ribbon Men in Galway. The society had codes and rituals in order to identify members. These included, the winter is approaching, I hope it will favour us, as detailed in the British government's seat in Ireland, Dublin Castle in October 1839. The society was commanded by inconspicuous individuals, working mainly in their localities who were held in high regard and were capable. With the term Ribbon Men first circulating in 1811, the society believed in equality and freedom. They felt that their enforcement would bring this freedom. Ribbonism first had its place among the Irish Labour League, providing safety to activists in their Ribbon lodges in Leinster, its leaders being shopkeepers and publicans. This shows the decorum given to fellow members of the lower classes. In Galway, an economic slump in the first and second decades of the nineteenth century resulted in tensions boiling over. In late 1819, north east Galway saw a rise in suspicious activity. Weapons were gathered from the houses of the gentry. A local magistrate, John O'Rourke, was targeted and many attempts were made on his life. The following January, another judge, Edward Brown, was mistaken for O'Rourke and murdered outside Mylock. The Ribbon Men continued to terrorise east Galway, resulting in the region being subject to the Peace Preservation Act by February, which was first passed in 1814. The Act allowed for the higher classes to deal with violence rather than the government. The government responded to this agrarian uprising by dispatching a large military force to the county. Many of the Galway Ribbon Men were imprisoned in Galway jail. Three of these leaders were executed, while another 65 were subjected to flogging, imprisonment and transportation to penal colonies.