ME-ARCH-0237

The eight day clock on the window sill in the Harry Fairclough Room in Millmount Museum, is inscribed Alderman John Mangan, Mayor, 1892. It was presented to the Corporation by Mangan when he became Mayor for the second time in 1892. The clock, mounted on a carved wooden plinth was made by Albert & Co, Watchmakers, Jewellers and Opticians at 116 West Street, and it graced the Council Chamber in the old Court House, Fair Street, for many years until the Council moved into its nearby refurbished St Vincents School in 1990.John Mangan who was a leading nationalist figure in the town during the 1880s, also held the unique distinction of being the only alderman in the history of the Borough to be elected Mayor while being held prisoner in Dundalk Jail, as a suspected Land Leaguer. On January 3 1882, he was sworn in as Mayor, in the prison and served as such for three months until his release from

In April 1890 John Mangan had a visit from two accomplished and gifted English ladies, Miss Orme and Miss Laurence who left an account of their tour to Drogheda:

‘An hour along the Great Northern Railway from Dublin brought us to this flourishing town. Alderman Mangan is Chairman of the Board of Guardians and an active worker in the National cause. To him we had an introduction, and nothing else is needed to ensure the utmost kindness and hospitality. We found the alderman in his pleasant sitting room. A side table is covered with the silver cups and other trophies won by his son in athletic sports. In this room Mr Parnell planned his campaign in Meath, which ended in his victorious election. If anyone imagines there is such a thing as religious intolerance outside of Belfast let him come here and listen to Mr Mangan, a devout Catholic, detail the events of that memorable election.

‘Mr Mangan has framed and hung in an honourable position the warrant under which he was arrested and sent to jail in Mr Forester’s reign. But English visitors feel it anything but an honour that such a citizen was taken from the scene of useful work and confined to prison. After a most pleasant chat we started for a tour of the town. We went to the place where Mr Mangan spends most of his time – the workhouse. A very large building it is and extremely picturesque. Passing through the front offices we saw a number of buildings containing the paupers – men, women and children. We saw the infirm and the bed-ridden, the lunatics and one poor young mother with her baby a week old. Everywhere Mr Mangan is greeted as a trusted friend. The children know his name; the lunatics do their poor best to make it appear they are glad to see him, and the poor old bed-ridden women call down every blessing on his head. There is a homely kindly tone through the whole place, which shows at once that a good influence is at work. And yet this man, such a benefactor to his own locality is thrown into prison by the English Government.

‘“The best man in Ireland; a very sensible man and a very popular man” are the descriptions you get of him from his townsfolk, and they elect him Guardian without him canvassing, and Chairman of the Board by acclamation. But England puts him in jail. No better example can be given of our present system of misrule.