The Galway Boston Connection

The 7th leg of the Volvo Ocean Race is from the American City of Boston to the Irish City of Galway arriving on the 23rd May 2009. With both cities and countries sharing a great historic connection this is sure to add to the excitement of this leg.

"Boston is just the parish next door" It was the catastrophic Potato Famine of 1845-1851, one of the most severe disasters in Irish history, that initiated the greatest departure of Irish immigrants to the United States. The potato constituted the main dietary staple for most Irish and when the blight struck a number of successive harvests social and economic disintegration ensued. As many as 1.5 million individuals perished of starvation and the diverse epidemics that accompanied the famine. A great number of the survivors emigrated, many of them to the United States.

Irish immigrants dominated the first wave of newcomers to Boston during this period. By 1850, about 35,000 Irish lived in Boston with the majority in South Boston. From the beginning of the famine in the mid-1840s until 1860 about 1.7 million Irish immigrated to the United States. Irish and Italian immigrants brought with them Roman Catholicism. Today, Catholics make up Boston's largest religious community and since the early twentieth century the Irish have played a major role in Boston politics—prominent figures include the Kennedy's, Tip O'Neill, and John F. Fitzgerald.

According to a 2006 estimate, the White population of Boston comprises 53.5% of the population, while Hispanics make up 15.5%. People of Irish descent form the largest single ethnic group in the city, making up 15.8% of the population, followed by Italians, accounting for 8.3% of the population.

President John F. Kennedy: Speech at Eyre Square, Galway - June 29th, 1963

James Brendan Connolly: The son of Galway parents was the first medal winner of the modern Olympic Games

James Brendan Connelly was one of twelve children (including eight boys in a row), the son of immigrant parents John and Ann (O'Donnell) from Cill Éinne, Inis Mór, the largest of the Aran islands, of the coast of Galway. Like many young men and women growing up in Boston in the late nineteenth century Connelly was steeped in a sports culture that placed a high premium on athletic skills and competition.

Connolly was a student at Harvard University but resigned when he was refused leave to postpone his studies while he completed for America at the first modern Olympics (1,500 years since the previous Olympics). With his life savings plus funds that parishioners raised for him at St. Augustine's he set off with 10 other competitors from New York to Naples, Italy, from where they hoped to get a boat to Greece. While in Italy Connolly was robbed, and even though the thief was caught the police insisted that he must wait behind for legal proceedings. That night Connolly gave the police the slip, and just managed to catch the train for Brindisi; his team mates pulling him on board as the train left the station.

The American team, and all the other competitors, were royally dined and wined by the excited and welcoming Greeks. When Connolly finally stood ready to compete (in the Hop, Step and Jump) in his own words he " breathed into" his palms, took in the measure of the path before him, and waited " for that wave of high energy which will come to a man who is gathering himself for a big try. It comes over a man like a warm enkindling wave. Let your imagination be deeply stirred and it will be come." With a cry: " Here's one for the honor of Galway!" he shot forward, and hopped, skipped, and jumped into the history books.

With this style, he out jumped the field, finishing more than one meter ahead of his nearest opponent by jumping 13.71 m (44 ft 11 3/4 in), earning him the first silver medal (gold medals did not yet exist). With this performance, he became the first Olympic champion since 369 AD. He went on to take second place in the high jump (1.65 m / 5 ft 5 in) tying with Robert Garrett behind Ellery Clark, and third place in the long jump (5.84 m / 19 ft 2 in). Back home in Boston, Connolly was welcomed enthusiastically, and was presented a gold watch by the citizens of South Boston. Connolly would also visit the second edition of the modern Olympics, held in Paris. There, he failed to retain his title in the triple jump, losing to compatriot Meyer Prinstein.

Connolly stayed active in athletics long after his career ended, emerging as a critic of the commercialisation of the amateur sports. He wrote a scathing article about the 1908 Olympic Games in London , titled "The English are Poor Loser," where he accused the organisers of cheating. He turned his hand to writing and had a successful career, writing twenty-five books and dozens of short stories. In 1921 he covered the Black and Tan War in Ireland and wrote a series of articles titled "Tortured Ireland: The Black and Tan Warfare in Ireland," published in Boston American. Perhaps his greatest compliment came from President Theodore Roosevelt, who told interviewer Frank Sheridan, "My ideal of an all around man is James Connolly of Boston.... Connelly is what I think a man should be. If my boy Theodore turns out to be as good a man I will be satisfied. Connelly has strength, agility, and perseverance. He loves outdoors, healthful life, and he is clean through and through. I want my boy to be as good as Connolly."

Patrick Sarsfield Gilmore: The Galway Composer of "When Johnny Comes Marching Home"

Patrick Sarsfield Gilmore (1829–1892) was born in Balygar, Galway, Ireland on the 25 December 1829. The composer and bandmaster emigrated to Boston in 1848. Whilst serving in the Union Army during the Civil War, Gilmore wrote the lyrics to the song "When Johnny Comes Marching Home", the tune he took from an old Irish antiwar folk song, "Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye". This was published under the name Louis Lambert. The song was inspired by the ragged soldiers returning home from the front, on foot, by ambulance or in a coffin. The song debuted at Tremont Temple on September 26, 1863 in a concert conducted by Gilmore. The tune has since entered the pantheon of American patriotic songs and was reportedly the favourite song of President John F. Kennedy. The lyrics are:

When Johnny comes marching home again,
Hurrah! Hurrah!
We'll give him a hearty welcome then
Hurrah! Hurrah!
The men will cheer and the boys will shout
The ladies they will all turn out
And we'll all feel gay,
When Johnny comes marching home.
 

The old church bell will peal with joy
Hurrah! Hurrah!
To welcome home our darling boy
Hurrah! Hurrah!
The village lads and lassies say
With roses they will strew the way,
And we'll all feel gay
When Johnny comes marching home.
 

Get ready for the Jubilee,
Hurrah! Hurrah!
We'll give the hero three times three,
Hurrah! Hurrah!
The laurel wreath is ready now
To place upon his loyal brow
And we'll all feel gay
When Johnny comes marching home.

Gilmore spent the last twenty years of his life travelling the world with his orchestra, basing himself in New York City, where his concert venue, Madison Square Garden was often Gilmore’s Garden. He continued to produce patriotic music that spoke to the hearts of both Americans and Irish. He provided the music for the major Irish-American occasions, such as the Centenary of Irish bard Thomas Moore in 1879 and the American visit of Land League organizer Michael Davitt of Mayo, who spoke before 10,000 people in New York in January 1887, with Gilmore’s 65 piece orchestra playing Minstrel Boy, the Rocky Road to Dublin and A Day with the Irish Brigade. Gilmore died in 1892 while playing a concert in St. Louis.