Omnibus - Vive Lally!

THEâ€Ë†NAMEâ€Ë†Lally has been ringing around Tuam lately, particularly in connection with the celebration of the 400th anniversary of the Charter of 1613. The first Sovereign of Tuam â€â€ weâ€â„¢d call him the Mayor â€â€ was Isaac Lally, and while I donâ€â„¢t know for sure, Iâ€â„¢d guess he must have been one of the Lallys of Tullinadaly. Mention of the word sovereign has raised a few eyebrows. Most people assume it refers to a monarch, but in fact it means someone who has supreme authority in a particular area. The reason I am back with the Lally family is that I got a letter and a photograph from a regular reader in Sligo, who is a member of an old Brownsgrove family. Martin Jarlath Gormally read my piece a few weeks back on the exhibition in the National Museum in Collins Barracks on the French-Irish military connection, in which I mentioned Lally, and the â€Å“Brave Kilmaineâ€Â whose father was from Ironpool, Kilconly. My correspondent first heard about the military prowess of the Lallys in the armies of France when he was at school, which is more than I ever did. It was my late cousin Noel Oâ€â„¢Donoghue who came back from Paris with a book on Lâ€â„¢Affaire Lally-Tolendal â€â€ Une erreur judiciaire du XVIIIeme siècle that first alerted me to his existence. Martin Jarlath wrote an article on the Lallys a few years ago, and he tells me â€Å“my crowning glory was to discover in Paris a street named after Lally and to have the attached photograph of myself taken thereâ€Â.[private] We have mentioned the Lallys in these pages before, and their street in Paris, but itâ€â„¢s no harm to re-tell their story in Martin Jarlathâ€â„¢s words. LALLY OF THE BRIGADE IN the 1600s Thomas Lally of Tullinadaly owned an estate in the townland of Castletown where he had a castle. His wife Jane Dillon was the daughter of a local nobleman. After the defeat of the Irish forces at the Battle of Aughrim in 1691, his lands were confiscated. Of his five sons, James, the eldest, fled to France together with his cousin Arthur Dillon. They joined the French army were both were distinguished for bravery. James was killed in action in 1691. After the surrender of the Irish at Limerick in 1691, Gerard followed his brother to France where he married a French noblewoman. He joined the Dillon Regiment in which he was elevated to Brigadier in 1734, and fought in Flanders and in Germany. He died in 1737. Thomas Arthur Lally (son of Gerard) was born in Paris in 1702. He joined the French army at an early age and fought with Dillonâ€â„¢s Regiment in which he was accorded the rank of Major. Appointed Colonel of his own Regiment of Lally in 1744, he distinguished himself and his regiment at the Battle of Fontenoy in 1745. In recognition of his role in the defeat of the English forces in that battle, Thomas was decorated for bravery and given the rank of Brigadier. Hence the title â€Å“Lally of the Brigadeâ€Â. In 1757 he was sent as Lieutenant General to India where France had a colony at a place called Pondicherry. The French forces there were in conflict with the English who occupied nearby territory. Back-up forces promised to Lally by the French authorities did not arrive. After gallant efforts to hold French territory, he was forced to surrender to the English in 1761. On returning to France he was arrested for treason, sentenced to death and executed. His son, Gerard, born in 1751, later took steps to clear his fatherâ€â„¢s name and succeeded (posthumously) in reversing the decision of the establishment to execute him, thus restoring his honour. A street, rue Lally-Tollendal, named after Thomas Lally, is located in the 19th arrondissement of Northern Paris, not far from the Gare du Nord. Plaques bearing his name read:â€Ë†Rue Lally-Tollendal. 1702-1766. Gouverneur des Indes Francaises (Governor of French India). â€Â¢ â€Â¢ â€Â¢ ITâ€â„¢Sâ€Ë†worth noting that members of the Laly family from near Bordeaux visited Tuam a few years ago and were photographed at the Lally monument near Gardenfield. â€â€ David Burke[/private]