The Royal Galway Institution

On 16th November, 1791, a number of wealthy merchants and county gentlemen, both Catholic and Protestant, formed the Amicable Literary Society of Galway. The objects of the Society were " the acquiring and disseminating useful information on the important subjects of agriculture, commerce, science, etc." There were 80 members and mode of election ensured that they were " select and respectable." All religious and political discussions were strictly prohibited. Walter Lambert of Cregaclare, a leading Protestant land proprietor, was elected first president. The other original members were: Mark Lynch, treasurer; John Lynch Alexander, secretary; two Protestant vicars - Rev. Campbell and Rev. Young; the Catholic Vicar, Dean Kirwan; Father Tierney, O.S.A.; Dr. Henry Blake; Dr. Oliver Martin; Dr. Patrick Cheevers; Gregory Anthony French; Patrick A. Blake; and Walter Joyce. The address was given as Abbeygate Street and consisted of two separate reading rooms, one of them being used as a library. Hardiman describes the library as being good. The second room was " for newspapers and conversation." Dutton states;

" If I am rightly informed (I hope not), several men of large fortune are upwards of ten years in arrears, though the subscription is only one guinea a year; if so, I should venture to think that the society must have been under a bad regime, or, that men of fortune and gentlemen are not synonomous.. The arrangements are under the directions of a president, vice-president, treasurer and secretary, a committee of four members, and a librarian, all chosen half yearly; every person proposed for admission, and seconded, must remain a week on the books previous to a ballot, at which there must be at least twelve members; two black beans are fatal; this difficulty of admission they say makes them select, but I apprehend it might be used in so numerous a society to answer a party, if such a thing could be found in an amicable society. Their funds are ample: besides periodical works, they take in several English and Irish papers, but shame to say (if I am rightly informed) they take neither the English or Irish Farmers' Journals, or Munster Magazine, etc."

Hardiman writes:

" Several of our most respectable merchants and traders have lately associated themselves as a Chamber of Commerce to promote the interests of trade. It is surely unnecessary to say, that as the objects of this laudable association are of the most vital importance to the town, it becomes the duty, nay more, the interest, of every individual to forward those objects. Without a spirit of industry, says an accurate observer, no trade can flourish; and without a persevering attention to the interests of commerce, even the advantages of situation will have no effect. That the prosperity of the town would lead to that of the country requires very little proof; it is, in fact, a self-evident proposition: for is it not clear that the produce of land would always find a ready export market; and, as it could never fail of a permanent consumption, would not the value of estates be consequently increased? It appears, therefore, to be the interest of the country gentlemen and farmers to forward the objects of this institution: to their united exertions the author wishes every success, convinced as he is, that the extension of commerce is the only certain means of rendering this country rich, flourishing and happy."

In 1839The Amicable Society of Galway was incorporated by Royal Charter under the title of The Royal Galway Institution for the promotion of Polite Literature, Science, and Antiquities. It was to be governed by a Council of twenty-one, including a President, three Vice-Presidents, Secretary and Treasurer. The Council was to be elected by ballot the 16th March, each year, and to meet the first and third Thursday of each month. General meetings of the institution were to be held on the first and third Fridays of each month from November to June, inclusive.

Thom's Directory of 1851 records the following officers: President - Anthony O'Flaherty, M.P.; Vice-Presidents - Very Rev. B. J. Roche; Augustus Bensbach, M.D., Professor, Queen's College; Patrick Moran, M.D.; Council - P. M. Lynch, Local Director of the Bank of Ireland; P. G. Fitzgerald, Bursar, Queen's College; R. N. Somerville; T. W. Moffett, A.M., LL.B., Professor, Queen's College; John Mulcahy, LL.B. Professor, Queen's College; Rev. George Commins; Richard Doherty, M.D., Professor, Queen's College; Rev. Dr. O'Toole Vice-President, Queen's College; Cornelius Mahony, Professor, Queen's College; Captain George A Bedford, Royal Navy; Edmond Donnellan; William Nesbitt, A.M., Professor, Queen's College; Golding Bird, Collector of Excise; Thomas Corr; and Rev. Austin McDermott.

On his death Hardiman bequeathed the bulk of his extensive and valuable library to the institution.

Some of Hardiman's Manuscripts are preserved in the Royal Irish Academy, but the following prefactory note in the Academy's catalogue explains how the greater part of his works were lost to Ireland:-

"The said J. H. was several years making this valuable collection; but he was, at last, obliged to dispose of it to the trustee of the British Museum, for the third of its value, Viz., for about 500, to enable him to complete the proof of the Netterville Peerage, for Mr. Jas. Netterville, who afterwards behaved most ungratefully to the said J.H."

Hardiman's devotion to the Irish language and his generosity to Irish scribes and scholars have not yet been fully recognised.