The Sixmilebridge massacre

The Sixmilebridge massacre in 1852 was an incident in county Clare during the general election of that year where soldiers fired on a crowd of protesters, resulting in the deaths of seven people and the wounding of eight others. An inquest jury returned a verdict of murder against the soldiers, but this was overturned by the Attorney-General for Ireland.

The election of 1852 was a hotly contested occasion which pitted priests against landlord candidates. It was also in the days before the Secret Ballot Act (1870) which meant that it was widely known who a person had voted for. In Clare the tensions boiled over and resulted in multiple deaths.  

In 1958, over a hundred years after the event, the Clare Champion newspaper published the following account of that fateful day in Sixmilebridge in Clare:

The fatal riot between the peasantry and the military, which took place on the 22nd of July last, during the recent election for the county of Clare, at one of the polling-places of the county, the village of Sixmilebridge, on the borders of Limerick, has led to a lengthened investigation before the Coroner and a jury of seventeen persons, which was brought to a close last week. The riot arose out of an attempt of a large body of the peasantry to rescue from the custody of a party of soldiers of the 31st Regiment of Foot, a number of voters who were being thus brought to the poll under military escort, to prevent their being tampered with by the priests or their fellow religionist electors, who, indifferent to all apprehensions on the score of their landlords' disapproval, were voting and exerting themselves generally in favour of the Liberal candidates.

The military escort, as it entered the village of Sixmilebridge on the morning of the election, was closely pressed upon by the peasantry, and, as it is- alleged, stones were thrown, some of the soldiers knocked down; and the attitude of the people was altogether of so menacing a character, that the soldiers, who in the melee became separated both from their officers and Mr. J. P. Delmege, the magistrate in command, fired, as it would appear, without orders, and, as they themselves allege, in self-defence. The result was that six men were killed upon the spot and that several were wounded, one of whom has since died.

At the coroner's inquest, the result of which we noticed in our late edition of last week, strong party feeling was exhibited on both sides, and the evidence was of a very contradictory character, some of it tending to exonerate the soldiers altogether, and to throw the blame of it upon two Roman Catholic priests, the Rev. Messrs Burke and Clune, who were present at the riot; while, on the other hand, there was evidence tending to show that the firing of the soldiers was unprovoked.

This version of the case was that which obtained the credence of the jury, the majority of whom (12) returned a verdict of "Wilful Murder" against Mr. John C. Delmege, J.P., the magistrate who commanded the escort, and the following soldiers of the 31st Regiment, viz.—John Gleeson, Jas. Postings, William Barnes, John Thompson, John Dwyer, James Sharpe, Thomas Clarke and John Carter. The minority of the jury (5) were for acquitting Mr. Delmege and returning a verdict of "Manslaughter" against certain soldiers whose persons were not identified. However, this latter, being nothing more than the opinion of the minority, had no effect on the verdict. The soldiers and Mr. Delmege have since been lodged in Ennis gaol, to await their trial, bail for their future appearance at the assizes having been rejected by the Coroner.

During the investigation of the coroner's inquest, which lasted nearly three weeks, a large body of military belonging to different regiments, together with the soldiers of the 31st Regiment, who were implicated in the charge, and some constabulary, were encamped in a field adjoining the village of Sixmilebridge; and immediately on the verdict being announced the above-named soldiers were taken into custody and marched to Ennis gaol. The following morning the tents of the encampment were struck, and the various detachments marched off to their different quarters. 

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