MICHAEL FORRY: Land Commission Employee and Gelignite Keeper

Clare Doyle M.A.G.I

Michael Forry, Tuam, Co. Galway

Michael Forry, my great grandfather, was born on 1 March 1884, one of eight children of Owen Forry and Catherine Morley of Tavrane, Kilkelly, Co. Mayo.  He married Norah Treacy from Abbeyknockmoy, Galway on 2 Nov 1913.  In 1930 the family moved to Tuam, Co. Galway.

Michael worked for the Land Commission. As part of his work, he kept a revolver (it’s said he never fired a shot) and, for reasons unknown, a stick of gelignite in a locked metal box behind the back door in the family home. His youngest son Michael once sold the revolver to a neighbour for the price of a ticket to the cinema, something he was fascinated with and would spend all his money on. Michael continued his interest in the cinema into adulthood, working with a traveling cinema as a projectionist for some time.

My grandmother Mary Treacy née Forry, who turned 103 on 19th July 2019 last, remembers her father Michael as a very kind man who always carried his Land Commission notebook in his inside jacket pocket and would often give his surplus motor fuel to his neighbours.