Whilst continuing to read Two Suitcases & A Dog by Finnbar Mac Eoin (Sunday’s Blog) I discovered that an Irish man was one of the founding members of the RSPCA.
“It was Richard Martin, 1754-1834, born in Dublin, died in Boulogne-sur-Mer, one of the founding members of the RSPCA. Martin was a barrister and also a member of parliament for Galway in 1822.
It was Martin who introduced the legislation to the House of Commons for the protection of animals. He had brought many prosecutions before the courts, but the first and most famous was a case against Bill Burns for his mistreatment of a Donkey.
The magistrates were reluctant to charge Burns as the evidence was only hearsay, but Martin was having none of that, so he went and got the donkey and brought him into the courtroom to show the judges the scars. Burns was duly fined and this set the precedent for what is today international law.
At the head office of the RSPCA in Horsham, West Sussex, the original painting of Martin in court with the donkey by P.Mathews can be seen”
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