From Castlebar, Westport, and Foxford, the regiment marched on the 10th and 11th of September, agreeably to routes received, for Galway. Two companies, under a field-officer, were stationed at Oughterard; one company at Tuam, one at Ballinasloe, detaching one subaltern, one serjeant, and twenty rank and file to Mount Shannon, and a similar party to Kinavara. The company at Dunmore did not move on this change of the quarters of the regiment. On the 17th of November, the detachment at Kinavara joined the company at Ballinasloe, and on the 5th of April, 1830, one company from Oughterard proceeded to Banagher.
In August, 1830, whilst the regiment was stationed in Galway, a general election took place, and the representation of both the town and county was keenly contested; during the fortnight the elections lasted, the corps was constantly under arms and patrolling, and performed the harassing duty of that period with so much temper, conduct, and forbearance, that a public meeting was held, composed of the most respectable inhabitants of the town and its vicinity, including the several candidates and their supporters, and the following resolution, declaratory of their grateful sense of the good conduct of the regiment unanimously passed:—
"Resolved,
"That having witnessed the prompt, active, and efficient exertions of Lieutenant-Colonel Sutherland, the officers, non-commissioned officers, and privates of the Fifth Regiment, in preserving peace and good order during the late contested election for the representation of this town, we deem it an act of justice thus to put upon public record the high value we entertain of their services; and that our worthy chairman is requested to convey to the gallant Commander of our garrison this expression of our warmest gratitude and thanks, and we request he will convey these sentiments to the officers, non-commissioned officers, and privates of the corps."
It may not be irrelevant to mention, that the Fifth Regiment has always been remarkable for the good feeling that has subisted between it and the inhabitants of the different stations at which it has been quartered.
The regiment being ordered to Cork, the head-quarters and detachments marched from their respective stations on the 19th, 20th, 21st, 22nd and 23rd of October, and on the 26th it was countermanded to Buttevant barracks, where the several divisions arrived on the 27th, 28th, and 29th of the same month.
1831
A detachment was furnished by the corps to Mitchelstown on the 14th of February, 1831, and being removed on the 2nd of May to Galbally, it rejoined at Buttevant on the 15th of June.
On the 14th of March, the head-quarters, with four companies,—and on the 16th, four more companies, marched per route to Clare Castle, where they arrived to preserve order during the Clare election on the 17th and 19th, detaching one company to Kilrush, one to Corrofin, and subalterns' parties to Kildysart, Quinn, Kilkeshan, and Six Mile Bridge. The head-quarters marched to Ennis on the 30th of March; and the detachments at Quinn, Kilkeshan, and Six Mile Bridge, to the same place on the 6th of April. On the 5th of May the head-quarters returned to Buttevant, leaving eight companies detached in various directions (some being afterwards encamped) in the county of Clare, which was then, and had for some months been, in a very disturbed state—in fact, bordering on open rebellion. A small party of fifteen, half military (of the Fifth) and half police, who were almost unarmed, having only a pistol and five rounds of ammunition each (being employed on a particular service), were attacked on the morning of the 8th of May, by some hundreds of the turbulent peasantry of the parish of Clondegad, in the county of Clare, and, in the course of a running fight, which was bravely sustained by these few men for several miles, Colour-Serjeant James Robinson of the grenadier company, was basely and barbarously murdered. His remains were buried at Ennis, and a handsome tomb with an appropriate inscription, placed over them by the regiment.