Liam Langley was a central figure in the preparation leading up to and the maneuvers in Tuam during Easter Week 1916. An account of their activities is given in the Witness Statement 1437 of Thomas Nohilly, Company Captain. Battalion Adjutant.
‘My first association with the national movement was in the
year 19l14 when I joined Fianna Eireann in Tuam. Liam Mellows was the first
organiser of the Fianna in Tuam, and when he had complete the organising work, Liam Langley, afterwards head of the
Fianna in Dublin, took charge. Our strength was about thirty-five, and the
majority were apprentices serving their time as shop assistants in various
business houses in the town. We did our training about a mile outside the town,
near the village of Cluainthoo, in a field owned by William Concannon who
charged us no rent. Our training was under the supervision of Liam Langley, and consisted of some
foot drill and arms drill with .22 rifles. We also had target practice once a
week with the .22 rifles. We organised football matches and sports meetings. At
one of our sports meetings in Tuam, I remember that special trains were run
from Galway City, Gort and Claremorris. I remember that, on this occasion,
Larry Lardner from Athenry afterwards one of the leaders of the County Galway
Volunteers during Easter Week 1916 was handicapper. We had a revolver as one of
the prizes.
Meetings of the I.R.B. were held in Connolly's forge in High
Street. I cannot remember anything of the meetings except that Liam Langley presided at them. As far
as I know, he was head centre for the whole North Galway area. Other members of
the I.R.B. I remember from that time were Thomas Kilgarriff, afterwards Brigade
I.0., North Galway brigade, Con Kennedy of Dunmore and John Costello of Killower,
and two brothers named Connolly who owned the forge where the meetings were
held.
Before Easter Week 1916, I had been transferred from the
Fianna to the Volunteers. On Easter Tuesday 1916, I was summoned to a meeting
of the I.R.B. at Connolly's forge. I received the summons from Liam Langley, with instructions to go
to Confession before the meeting. I went to Confession to Fr. Henegan at the
Cathedral, and arrived at the meeting place about 9.30 p.m. There were nine or
ten men present when I got there. I remember that three or four side-cars, full
of R.I.C., passed by Connolly's. They were from Castlehackett, Cummer and
Headford barracks. The general mobilisation centre for the North Galway
Volunteers was at the fair green, Tuam, where they were to be assembled by
midnight on Easter Tuesday. The nine or ten men who attended the meeting at
Connolly's forge all went to the mobilisation place. Liam Langley was in charge. I did not at that time know of the rising,
or of any plans in connection with it. We were armed with three or four
out-of-date rifles, a few shotguns and revolvers. If all the Volunteers from
the surrounding districts of Dunmore, Sylane and Kilbannon had turned up at the
mobilisation centre, there would have been about thirty men, all members of the
I.R.B. I remember that Patrick Dunleavy and Joseph Cummins were sent by Liam Langley to meet the men who were
expected to come from the Dunmore area. We waited at the fair green until
daylight, but neither the Dunmore men nor the two men we had sent to meet them
had come by that time. We then dispersed, and there was no further mobilisation
in Tuam, as far as I know. I learned afterwards that the men coming to the
mobilisation centre from Dunmore were arrested by R.I.C. just outside the town
of Tuam. The two men who had been sent to contact them were also arrested. Liam Langley was the only one from Tuam
who was arrested in Easter Week 1916. The plans for the North Galway
Volunteers, as far as I know, were that they would proceed to Athenry on Easter
Tuesday night, or the following day. They were to be taken there on a train driven
by Volunteer Sam Browne who was a loco engineer attached to the Great Southern
and Western Railway Company. The re-organisation of the Tuam company of the
Irish Volunteers took place late in 1917.’
Note: Following
dispersal of the group Liam Langley made his way to Moyode Castle outside Athenry
where he met up with Liam Mellows. He
remained there until the following early Sunday morning 30th April. The
following week he spent in and around Tuam keeping the RIC busy and off the
trail of Mellows who was now on the rum. Langley was arrested in his home at
4am on Monday 8th May 1916.
