Galway
At the Union the patrons of the medium-sized port of Galway were Denis Bowes Daly and, prospectively, his cousin James, then under age. Their influence derived from their property in and around the town and their traditional domination of the exclusively protestant corporation. For example, every mayor of Galway from 1776 to 1820 was either a member of the Daly clan or one of their nominees. It was the freeholder element within the electorate that had prevented the borough from ever being entirely close.
Galway
Built along a narrow peninsula at the centre of Galway Bay, the overwhelmingly Catholic borough of Galway was described in 1818 by John Christian Curwen* as being ‘of great length and crowded with low, mean cabins, which shelter a numerous population, living apparently in great poverty’, and in 1834 by Maria Edgeworth as ‘the dirtiest town I ever saw, and the most desolate and idle-looking’.