Michael Grealish served his apprenticeship (it cost him 100 guineas ) in Garret’s Saddlery in Eyre Square, roughly where the Imperial Hotel is today. When he finished, he decided to set up his own saddlery business at the beginning of the last century at Number 2, Eyre Square. At the time, the horse reigned supreme. There were regular horse fairs in Eyre Square at the time and this obviously helped his start-up.
His business flourished, largely thanks to World War I. Most of the other saddlers in Galway had joined the British Army as both the cavalry and artillery units desperately needed horses and their equipment for the war effort. The War of Independence and the Civil War, in contrast, were a disaster for the firm of eight men and one apprentice. They had made thousands of Sam Browne belts for the Volunteers, but they never got paid for them, in spite of many requests to successive governments. There were no written records.
Michael’s son Peter was born in 1924. As his predecessors were all saddlers, it was natural for him to go into the business. He was known as ‘Peadar the saddler’. After World War II, there was a huge increase in the demand for motor cars and this meant a serious decline in the demand for Peter’s product. So, he decided to go to London where he joined the Oxford Street branch of Champion and Wilton, saddlers to the Queen.
He did a lot of work on various royal coaches and was very busy leading up to the coronation of Queen Elizabeth, replacing the old Victorian harnesses on the state coaches. He was given 48 hours to replace the harnesses on the Lord Mayor’s coach. This involved four rows of hand stitching 12 stitches to the inch and fixing special propeller designs every four and a half inches. He completed the job in 44 hours, His harnesses were still on royal coaches up to recently.
He was very proud of supplying a well-known Irish horse trainer who went to England as he always said that their product over there was far superior to anything made in Ireland.
He eventually went to New Zealand and worked for the famous James Thompson Saddlery Company. Then, in 1956, he set up his own company in Gisborne, New Zealand. He shipped out all his own equipment from Eyre Square and when he retired, his son used it in his business in Wellington. Peter’s family also opened a pub called The Irish Rover in Gisborne in 1995, the first pub in the world to see the light of a new day every day.
He married Eileen Begley, a well-known hockey player and sister to Harry, Maurice and Mrs Jo O’Toole. His own sister Peggy lived in Forster Street. In Galway, Peter was known as ‘the sliotar man’. A relation of his, Michael Grealish from Number 4 Eyre Square, built the little row of houses opposite the New Cemetery known as Grealishtown.
So we have three images for you today. The first is of a group of men from around Eyre Square taken in 1919. At the back is Michael Grealish, the founder of the firm, next to him is James Curran from Curran’s Hotel, Prospect Hill and Pat Grealish, a relation of Michael’s. In front is Pat Irwin, the father of Paddy Irwin of the funeral parlour. The man holding the dog’s lead is Paddy McGivney. The dog’s name was ‘Barrister’ and it had just won a major trophy in a coursing event.
Our second photograph was taken in 1947 and shows Grealish’s saddlery shop in the centre. The shop, which sold all kinds of leather goods, was in the front, and the workshop was in at the back. The building to the right was Higgins’ Grocery and Bar, and the building to the left was Thomas Walsh’s Bar and Grocery which later became Richardson’s. The small advertisement illustrated dates from c1925.
Our sincere thanks to Judy Nicoll née Grealish who sent us this photograph. Much of the above information is taken from an article written 30 years ago by Peadar O’Dowd.
