The High Sheriff of County Galway was the Sovereign's judicial representative in County Galway. Initially an office for lifetime, assigned by the Sovereign, the High Sheriff became annually appointed from the Provisions of Oxford in 1258. Besides his judicial importance, he had ceremonial and administrative functions and executed High Court Writs.
The first (High) Shrivalties were established before the Norman Conquest in 1066 and date back to Saxon times. In 1908, an Order in Council made the Lord-Lieutenant the Sovereign's prime representative in a county and reduced the High Sheriff's precedence. However the office retained his responsibilities for the preservation of law and order in a county.
In Galway the office of High Sheriff was established when Connacht was shired around 1569 and ceased to exist with the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922.
Contents
Elizabeth I, 1558–1603
1582: William Óge Martyn
James I, 1603–1625
1607: Henry Bingham / Robert Martin
1612: John Donelan
Charles I, 1625–1649
1641: William Donelan
1642: Ulick Burke of Castle Hacket
1644: Robert Martin of Ross