The High Sheriff of County Galway was the Sovereign's judicial representative in County Galway. Initially an office for lifetime, assigned by the Sovereign, the High Sheriff became annually appointed from the Provisions of Oxford in 1258. Besides his judicial importance, he had ceremonial and administrative functions and executed High Court Writs. The first (High) Shrivalties were established before the Norman Conquest in 1066 and date back to Saxon times. In 1908, an Order in Council made the Lord-Lieutenant the Sovereign's prime representative in a county and reduced the High Sheriff's precedence. However the office retained his responsibilities for the preservation of law and order in a county. In Galway the office of High Sheriff was established when Connacht was shired around 1569 and ceased to exist with the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922.

Elizabeth I, 1558–1603

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