Given the News Room’s earlier links with the United Irishmen, it is unsurprising that it became a symbol of contested authority in Newry’s early nineteenth-century politics. Run by subscription and used mainly by merchants and professionals, it occupied an uneasy position; it facilitated public discussion, yet access remained restricted. This raised clear questions about who truly spoke for the town. These tensions came to a head in 1816, when the local landlord interest, led by Viscount Kilmorey, held a meeting in the News Room to express support for Lord Castlereagh. The meeting was poorly advertised and held in a private setting, limiting attendance. Patrick O’Hanlon, a prominent local figure, strongly objected to it. Speaking within the News Room itself, he argued that decisions affecting Newry should be made openly and through proper public discussion, not by a small and select group meeting behind closed doors.
O’Hanlon was a significant and well-connected figure. He was the first Catholic in Ulster to be called to the bar after the profession opened to Catholics in 1793. His family had strong links to radical politics: his brothers Hugh and Felix fled Ireland as suspected United Irishmen, while Patrick himself avoided serious damage to his reputation during the 1790s. Admitted to Lincoln’s Inn in 1794, he remained in England until at least 1798, when he married into an Irish banking family in Liverpool with connections to the Holland House Whigs. After returning to Ireland, he left the law for commerce and was later appointed to the magistracy. O’Hanlon played a central role in opposing Lord Kilmorey’s efforts to tighten control over Newry through improvement and police commissions dominated by landlord nominees and estate officials. Working with his son, Hugh Marmaduke O’Hanlon, a barrister in London, he helped shape alternative legislation.
This led to the 1828 Act for the lighting, watching, and cleansing of cities, towns corporate, and market towns in Ireland. As a result, Newry became the first town in the United Kingdom to establish an elected town commission. Although voting was limited to property holders, the system gave a much wider section of the population a voice in policing and local improvements. Twenty-one Police Commissioners were appointed, making the body an important forerunner of later local councils. Dennis Maguire, the first Chairman of the Police Commissioners, was also the first Catholic to contest a Westminster election for the borough, though unsuccessfully in 1831 and 1832. The Police Commissioners oversaw the town watch, responsible for patrolling the streets, lighting lamps each evening, and keeping the town clean and free from obstructions.
The offices of the Commissioners of Police were recorded at No. 2 Pollock’s Court, High Street, in 1832. This was possibly the Commissions first office but by 1837, they appear to have moved into the News Room itself, with the Commissioners holding their meetings in their board room on the first floor. There is a striking irony here, a space once criticised for exclusivity, had become the boardroom of a more representative system of local government. The first town clerk appointed by the Commissioners was the former United Irishman John Melling, who also happened to be one of the leaseholders of the News Room.
In 1865, the Board of 21 Police Commissioners was dissolved and replaced by 18 Town Commissioners. The first chairman of the Town Commission was John Moore, a prominent Justive of the Peace and successful merchant based in Abbey Yard. The new Town Commissioners focused on improving sanitation through sewer construction and the introduction of health regulations for public places, shops, and workplaces. These measures proved effective, with reported fever cases falling from 238 in 1864 to 48 in 1868. The Town Commission’s connection with the News Room ended in March 1875, when they moved to a new boardroom at 7 Marcus Square.
