Kevin Barry – An Unforgotten Patriot

“The ten volunteers executed in Mount Joy died defending and upholding the independence declared by Dáil Eireann on 21st day of January 1919.”   An Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, T.D. (Irish Prime Minister).

After the 1916 Easter Rising the popular public opinion was for Irish Independence from the British Empire. Since 1801 there was no parliament in Ireland, all Irish Members of Parliament sat in the British Parliament in Westminster. In 1918 elections were held for the British Parliament, most of those elected to represent Ireland refused to take up their seats in Westminster and instead met in the Mansion House, Dublin in January 1919 and set up their own parliament, the Dáil. What followed became know as the Irish War of Independence.                                   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bronze bust of Kevin Barry on his memorial in Rathvilly, Co. Carlow.                                       
Photo: Carlow County Museum.

Kevin Barry from Tombeagh, Hacketstown, Co. Carlow had attended national school in Rathvilly, Co. Carlow and secondary school in Belvedere College, Dublin and in 1920  he was a medical student in University College Dublin (U.C.D.). Although only in his late teens Kevin was an active Volunteer in County Carlow since 1917 and remained active when he moved to Dublin where he was a member of H Company, 1st Batallion, Dublin Brigade.

He along with his fellow Volunteers attacked a military lorry at Monks Bakery at North King Street on 20th September 1920. During the raid Kevin’s gun jammed and while he was trying to fix his gun he was captured. He was tried for murder and sentenced to death, he was just eighteen years old. The news of such a proposed execution of such a young person caused not only outcry in Ireland but also abroad. Never the less the execution was carried out the 1st November 1920 in Mountjoy Prison, Dublin where he was hanged. Kevin was the first person to be executed by the British during the War of Independence. Such was the outcry about his pending execution that hundreds gathered outside the jail on the morning of his execution in the hope that a last minute reprieve would be given but their hopes were dashed when the prison bell was as tradition had it, rung fifteen minutes after the execution took place.

During the course of the War of Independence nine others would be executed like Kevin and although the families requested the return of the bodies they were refused and they were all buried within the walls of the Mountjoy Prison. As a result they became know as the “Forgotten Ten”.          

Carlow had a second representative among the Forgotten Ten, Thomas Traynor from Tullow. Ironically he was the eldest of the ten while Kevin was the youngest. Thomas had taken part in the 1916 Easter Rising having been positioned at Bolands Mill under the command of Eamonn de Valera.. As a result he served time in a number of British prisons including Wakefield and also in Frongoch in Wales. He was married with ten children, the eldest was eighteen while his youngest was just five months.  He was a boot maker by trade. He was captured during an ambush of Auxiliaries in Brunswick Street, Dublin and executed in Mountjoy Prison on 25th April 1921. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Thomas Traynor Monument, Tullow Co. Carlow. Photo: Carlow County Museum.

The “Forgotten Ten” remained buried in Mountjoy Prison until 2001 when it was agreed between the families, the Prison and the State to release the bodies from the Prison.  Both Kevin and Thomas along with seven others (the tenth was brought to Co. Limerick) were on the 14th October 2001 after a large State funeral where thousands lined the streets of Dublin were reinterred in Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin.

“Today it is an historic day and I think it is the right
decision to have these men released. After eighty years returned to the wider community where I hope they will rest in peace.” John Lonergan, Governor Mountjoy Prison, in Mountjoy Prison at the beginning of the State Funerals of the Forgotten Ten.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First Day Cover of the Kevin Barry fifieth anniversary commemorative stamp. Photo Carlow County Museum, ccm 80-022-f.

“We are gathered here today to honour the ten volunteers who died on the scaffold of Mountjoy Prison in the cause of freedom and Ireland. We are all here to lay the remains to rest in the soil at last with dignity and honour. We all understand how much we owe theses ten young men and all the volunteers of that period, both men and women. The Irish State today is discharging a debt of honour that stretches back eighty years.”   An Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, T.D. (Irish Prime Minister) at the graveside oration in Glasnevin Cemetery at the State Funerals of the Forgotten Ten.

Although they were referred to as the “Forgotten Ten” in many ways they were not and in particular Kevin who fame is known worldwide. Even on the day of his death his story, fame and what he stood for was growing. Through out Ireland and abroad a variety of clubs, organisations and associations used and still use and have Kevin Barry’s name in their title or in the naming of their buildings. The Carlow New York Association walk under the Kevin Barry Banner in the New York St. Patrick’s Day Parade. One of the main reasons for this fame apart from his young age is the Ballad of Kevin Barry, which gained national popularity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the thirty eighty anniversary of his execution in 1958 a monument was unveiled in his honour in the village of Rathvilly, Co. Carlow. Photo Carlow County Museum.

Ballad of Kevin Barry

In Mountjoy Jail one Monday morning
High upon the gallows tree,
Kevin Barry gave his young life
For the cause of liberty.
But a lad of eighteen summers,
Yet no one can deny,
As he walked to death that morning
He proudly held his head on high.

'Why not shoot me like a soldier,
Do not hang me like a dog,
For I fought to free old Ireland,
On that bright September morn
All round that little bakery,
Where we fought them hand in hand.
Why not shoot me like a soldier
For I fought to free Ireland.'

Just before he faced the hangman
In his dreary prison cell,
 British soldiers tortured Barry
Just because he would not tell
The names of his brave companions,
And other things they wished to know.
Turn informer or we'll kill you'
Kevin Barry answered 'No!"

Calmly standing to attention,
While he bade his last farewell.
To his broken-hearted mother,
Whose sad grief no one can tell,
For the cause he proudly cherished
This sad parting had to be;
Then to death walked, softly smiling,
That old Ireland might be free.

Another martyr for old Ireland,
Another murder for the crown,
Whose brutal laws may kill the Irish,
But won't keep their spirit down.
Lads like Barry are no cowards,
From the foe they will not fly;
Lads like Barry will free Ireland,
For her sake they'll live and die.

Kevin Barry you must leave us,
On the scaffold you must die.
Cried his broken-hearted mother,
As she bade her son good-bye.
Kevin turned to her in silence,
And said: 'Mother do not weep,
For it's all for dear old Ireland,
And it's all for Freedom's sake,'


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