Agnes Gallagher was a revolutionary musician and music teacher. She was born on November 19th, 1863, in Westport to parents Patrick Gallagher and Margaret Gill.

Both sides of her family were actively involved in the struggle for Irish independence.

Martin Gallagher, one of her half-siblings, was a Fenian who played a significant role in Irish national affairs. He was forced to leave Ireland for America as he was considered a marked man.

Major John MacBride, second in command in Jacob's biscuit factory during the 1916 Easter Rising, captured and executed in Kilmainham Jail on 5th May 1916, was her cousin.

Joseph MacBride, elected to represent South Mayo in 1918, was also her cousin.

The Gallagher family was wealthy, and Agnes and her sister studied violin to become talented musicians. By 1880, they performed at local concerts.

They became music teachers and ran a music academy for children from Agnes’s home on Bridge Street. She organised concerts with her orchestra of twenty-four musicians, raising funds for the Volunteers and Fianna Eireann members.

On Easter Monday, April 24th, 1916, she organised a concert at the Town Hall to raise money, unaware of the rising in Dublin. The concert was ongoing when news of the uprising reached Westport.

Also she was asked to raise funds for the imprisoned volunteers in Britain organising musical events. As a member of Cumann na mBan, she was sent to Dublin for Thomas Ashe’s funeral and to attend a meeting at no. 6 Harcourt Street.

In 1918 she became Westport Cumann na mBan Branch president, when Tessie Moane migrated to Cork. She also campaigned for the election of her cousin Joseph MacBride as a candidate for Sinn Fein MP.

She made her home available to the IRA senior officers and it soon became a liaison office to debate over the truce terms accommodating Arthur Griffith, Thomas Derrig and Michael Kilroy during the War of Independence.

She was able to procure rifles and ammunition for the IRA and to purchase leggings and other items from a shopkeeper in Westport.

When the First Dáil Eireann met in January 1919, and officially, the Anglo/Irish War had begun she provided accommodation for the Courts of Dail Eireann from April 1919.

From 1919 to 1920, British forces began to suspect her due to her activities. As a result, her house was raided multiple times by the authorities.

During one such raid, they were searching for a Thompson machine gun, but she was able to hide it. The situation escalated to a point where they even tried to burn her house down, but he house was saved when the Black and Tans ran out of petrol a few doors down from her home.

She managed to escape to Islandmore, an island in Clew Bay for some time, where she stayed with her relations, the Gills.

Despite being on the run, she organised her female comrades to conduct surveillance on incoming boats.

Upon returning home for Christmas, she established a communication station, which recorded dispatches and set up an intelligence service to warn of impending attacks and often went herself to deliver dispatches two or three times a week due to a fear of who to trust.

Agnes became the main courier for IRA despatches in the Westport area and had to make several visits to Dublin with important information.

On 28th June 1922, Civil War broke out, Agnes was strongly Anti-Treaty and was in conflict with former republican comrades in her town. It was a difficult time for her.

Aged fifty-nine, she was arrested by the Claremorris troops on 21st April 1923 and sent to Galway Prison without any trial. She was transferred to Kilmainham Jail on 21st May that year.

On 13th October, she was among the seven thousand Republican prisoners to go on hunger strike. In jail, she lost her sight due to a fall, and despite being weak and blind, she was transferred to the brutal North Dublin Union on 28th September 1923.

She was released on 27th October 1923 and sent back to Westport. After three hunger strikes and being blind, she couldn’t resume her music teacher job. Her brother, Edward, supported her financially.

In 1934, the government introduced the Military Pension Act, which included eligibility for the Cumann na mBan women. In 1935, she tried to apply for that, and she got her pension only in 1942 with a Grade E status of £17 10s per annum.

She died in Westport at her home on 19th June 1946 at 82.