Ballynahinch Castle, above, the home of ‘Humanity Dick’ Martin and now a hotel.

Richard Martin, a wealthy Protestant born into one of the 12 tribes of Galway and raised on land that once belonged to Grace O’Malley, was an M.P., supporter of Catholic Emancipation, and humane landlord.  Martin owned 200,000 acres in County Galway which made his estate, in the 1830’s, the largest in Ireland.  During the 1839 potato shortages in Galway, the Crown’s eyes on the ground – Captain Chads – sent 13 reports back to London praising Martin (and others) for his efforts to alleviate the distress.  Richard Martin is noteworthy for something else: he was an animal rights activist at a time when such things were not in fashion.  He earned the nickname ‘Humanity Dick’ when the Prince of Wales, later King George IV, recognized his Parliamentary efforts in aid of animals.  Richard Martin later founded the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Richard Martin’s Irish estates were lost during the Famine and he died in France, exiled from his homeland because of debts and scandal.  But his legacy lives on in the minds of those who remember those landlords who, though of Norman or Protestant stock, stood with their tenants against the evils of religious discrimination and in opposition to London’s apathy in the face of mass starvation.