Early in January 1920, a group of local IRA soldiers (including Mick Kelly, Bill Freaney and
Larry Lardner) approached Shawe-Taylor on behalf of some local people who were requesting a road to travel to Mass. While Shawe-Taylor himself was amenable to their demands, his landlord refused them outright and made this known via Shawe-Taylor.
The shooting On 3 March 1920, Shawe-Taylor and his driver, Barrett, were making their way to
Galway to attend the fair. At 6 a.m. the coach reached Egan's Pub, Coshla, where they found the road blocked. The donkey cart of a local, Johnny Kelly, had been stolen and placed across the road. From behind the wall, at least two shooters fired at Barrett and Shawe-Taylor, wounding the former and killing the latter. This resulted in a huge security presence in the area, which in turn led to more unrest with the locals. This increased with the arrival of the
Black and Tans, whose irregular methods resulted in shootings, assaults, rapes and deaths. Moorpark House was placed under
Royal Irish Constabulary protection out of fear of further killings.
Aftermath Other people who subsequently died as a result of the unrest in Galway included Ellen Quinn (1 November 1920), a pregnant mother of six and a tenant of
Lady Gregory;
Fr. Michael Griffin (14 November 1920); Tom Egan and Patrick and Harry Loughnane (two brothers). In addition, there were numerous incidents of violence, many of which were recorded with horror by
Lady Gregory in her journal, who remarked that
"the country has gone wild since the killing of Frank Shawe-Taylor." Local republican Bill Freaney at one point planned to burn Moorpark House in 'revenge' for the death of Tom Egan (which itself was thought to be a reprisal for Shawe-Taylor's killing), but was dissuaded by Mrs. Egan. Freaney himself was burned to death in Athenry in 1921. No one was ever tried for Frank Shawe-Taylor's killing, though the identities of those involved were known to some locals at the time. His widow eventually sold their property, and with her young children moved to England. ==Family==