Joseph Howley was a member of the local Irish Volunteers at Oranmore, County Galway. Howley mobilized and led a combined contingent of 106 Volunteers from Oranmore and neighboring Maree on Easter Tuesday morning of the 1916 Easter Rising. Their plan was to attack the Oranmore barracks.[1] The company failed to capture the barracks, and his men to join those of Liam Mellows.[2]
He was shot dead by British Forces at the Broadstone Railway Station in Dublin, Ireland, on December 4, 1920[3] A special unit of the RIC known as the igoe Gang was responsible.[4] A memorial statue to Howley was erected in 1947 in Howley Court in Oranmore.[5] The inscription reads:
Comdt. Joseph Howley. He led his volunteers in Easter week 1916 and was murdered by English agents at the Broadstone Dublin 1920. Erected in 1947 by his old comrades of 1916 - 1920.[6]