Who were "The Men of the West"? Folk historiographies and the reconstruction of Democratic histories

In contradiction to the stories from Ballinamuck, which dwell on Blake's execution, his wake and his burial, a story was told in Blake's home village of Garracloon of a "false hanging" and Blake's escape to the continent. It has been attempted to explain this apocryphal narrative, by suggesting confusion with Blake's kinsman, General Joachim Blake of Furlough, who was a distinguished Irish officer in the Spanish army (Irish Press 6 June 1935; Hayes 1979, 270-1; Quinn 1993, 146-50). Yet, this kind of tradition most probably relates to what the historian Eric Hobsbawm defined as the ultimate accolade of the bandit hero: popular refusal to believe in his death (Hobsbawm 1972, 125). Oral tradition often refuses to acknowledge the execution of local resistance heroes, and favours alternative narratives of secret escape and continued life in exile. In the case of Blake, numerous testimonies irrefutably confirm that he was indeed executed (Auckland Papers, British Library MSS 34454 f. 485; Shannon Papers, Public Record Office Northern Ireland MSS D 2707/A3/3 ff. 116-117; Impartial Relation 1799, 40; Mangin 1841, 38-9; Maxwell 1881, 235; Gribayedoff 1890, 136; Heyland 1913, 23; Bourke 1954-6, 291). The alternative narrative of Blake's escape may have drawn support from a misreading of an influential contemporary historical account. Writing two years after the Battle of Ballinamuck, the loyalist historian Sir Richard Musgrave observed: "Three of their leaders were taken, among who was Mr. Blake, a popish gentleman, who was hanged" (Musgrave 1995, 573). Yet elsewhere, in reference to the fate of Mayo rebel leader Colonel James Joseph McDonnell of Carnacon, Musgrave wrote:

   [H]e [McDonnell] and colonel Blake concealed themselves in a bog.
   Blake was taken prisoner, but he had the good fortune to escape and
   made his way from thence into the wild mountains of Connemara, and
   from thence embarked for Spain or France, with some other fugitives
   of his own description (Musgrave 1995, 585).

The wording of this passage is slightly confusing and has generally been interpreted to mean Blake escaped from captivity (for example see Quinn 1993, 147-8), though it actually states that Blake was captured while McDonnell escaped. In folklore traditions, the martyrdom of Blake was central to history-telling in the Ballinamuck area. However, it was not an integral part of local tradition in his home area. It appears that, around Garracloon, Blake was remembered as a celebrated local personage and news of his distant death was rejected. The distribution of Blake's folklore suggests that he was less a national hero and more a local hero, with two main constituencies, in terms of local communities that preserved his memory: south Mayo and the area surrounding Ballinamuck in south Leitrim-north Longford.

Although different traditions may exist in a community, they are not isolated in personal memories independent of each other, but interact in realms of social memory. An example of dialogue between different fragments of folklore within a community is the story of the betrayal of General Blake. According to local folk narratives from the vicinity of Ballinamuck, Blake was discovered hiding in a bog and, even though he paid money so as not to be informed upon, he was handed in to the military authorities. [8] A local tradition told of how Blake was detected by a yeoman named Leslie and his servant Hugh McDermott (Hayes 1979, 238; IFC S vol. 225, 151 and 153). Richard Hayes cited a verse from a popular ballad that acknowledged this account: