1960-61 Michael O'Malley (No 8)

A formal photo of Michael G O'Malley taken at the Lafayette photography gallery, 22 Westmoreland St. Dublin.

Michael George O'Malley (1887 - 1961) M.Ch., F.R.C.S., K.St.G. was the son of Michael James O'Malley of Kilmilkin, Maam, Co. Galway and Mary O'Malley of Ballyburke, Co Mayo. He was the 11th of their 13 children. Michael was educated at Rockwell College, Queen's College Galway and University College Dublin where he was one of the first seventeen medical graduates of that newly-formed institution in 1910. After a period in the Mater Hospital, Dublin, he worked in London, returning to Galway in 1914, where he became an Assistant in the Anatomy department of University College Galway and subsequently Professor of Surgery from 1924 until his retirement in 1956. Consulting Surgeon to the old Galway Infirmary, he later held the position of Consulting Surgeon at Galway Central Hospital which was to become the Galway Regional Hospital. Appointed a Knight of St. Gregory by Pope Pius XII  for in 1956, he was conferred with the honorary degree of M.Ch. by the National University of Ireland in 1959. A co-founder of St. Bride's Nursing Home, Galway, he was a former President of the Golfing Union of Ireland and of the Contract Bridge Association of Ireland, as well as being surgeon to the Galway Race Committee for over 30 years. A keen supporter of local industry, he was a director of many concerns, including Galway Foundry, Galway Gas Co., Galway Tile Co., Hygeia Ltd., Coldchon Ltd., the Galway Bridge Mills and Renvyle House Hotel, Connemara. 

In 1916, he married Christina Ryan of Tomcoole, Wexford, whose family were prominent in Irish political life. They had met in London where she had a teaching post before returning to Ireland and joining the teaching staff of Mary Immaculate teacher training college in Limerick. They had eight children - Máire, Eoin, Ethna, Peter, Sheila, Eibhlín, Brian and Michael. See the article on them on p. 8 of the 1993 B O'Malley Newsletter. He was elected the eighth Chieftain of the O'Malley Clan in 1960 and held his rally in the Traveller's Friend Hotel, Castlebar in 1961. His brother Conor was the second Chieftain 1954-55 and four of his children were chieftains: Eoin (No 14), Ethna (No 23), Peter (No 32) and Sheila (No 40).