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- The arrest of Kevin Barry on 20th of September, 1920, in
Upper Church Street
Kevin Gerard Barry 20 Jan 1902 – 01 Nov 1920
Kevin
Barry was born on the 20th of January 1902, in Dublin, the son
of Thomas and Mary (nèe Dowling) Barry. Kevin was their fourth
of Child, altogether there was seven, two boys and five girls.
Thomas Barry, worked on the family farm at Tombeagh,
Hacketstown Co Carlow, and ran a dairy business from Fleet
Street, Dublin. Thomas died in 1908 at the age of 56. His mother
came from Drumguin, also in County Carlow, and on
the death of her husband, moved the family to Tombeagh. As a
child Kevin liked country life, and went to the national school
in Rathvilly. On returning to Dublin, he attended St. Mary’s
College, Rathmines up until the school closed in the summer of
1916. At aged 13 he went to the memorial of the Manchester
Martyrs William O'Mera Allen, Michael Larkin, and William
O'Brien, who were hanged in Manchester on the 23 November 1867
for the rescue of two officer of the Irish Republican
Brotherhood. The story of their rescuing their officers and the
final words at their own hanging “God save Ireland had such
affect he wanted to join the Fianna na hÉireann (Irish
Warriors’) but his parent wouldn’t allow it. While in Collage he
joined the Rugby team he was a promising player he move from
Junior to senior team with ease. In 1918 he moved to the newly
established Hurley Team, also taking on the roll of secretary
and was one of their most enthusiastic players. The rest of his
studies did not suffer; he excelled in the Sciences and Math’s.
He won a merit-based scholarship given annually by Dublin
Corporation, which allowed him to become a student of medicine
at UCD Early school photo
He
started at University Collage Dublin in summer of 1919; His
closest friend at college was Jerry MacAleer, from Dungannon,
who he had first met in Belvedere. Although other friends
included Frank Flood, Tom Kissane and Mick Robinson, who unknown
to many in the college, were, with Barry, IRA Volunteers Barry’s
connection to the Republican Movement start in the October of
1917 while at Belvedere Collage at the tender age of 15, he
started off in “C” Company of the 1st Battalion which was based
on the Dublin’s north side, however he was later transferred to
the newly formed “H” Company under the command of Captain Seamus
Kavanagh. His first task after joining the IRA units was
delivering orders to it commander around the city, along with
other volunteers he trained in different areas of Dublin, one of
which was 44 Parnell Square where Sinn Féin have their
headquarters today, as a point of interest the Building is now
call “Kevin Barry Hall” in his honor. At 16 he was introduced by
Seán O’Neill and Bob O’Flanagan to the Clarke Luby Club of the
Irish Republican Brotherhood which by that time had been
reorganized. The few years he spent in the IRA to his death was
very active, he was with his unit when it conducted the raid on
the Shamrock Works and taking the weapon consignment that was
destined for the RIC. He was apart of the raid on Mark’s of
Chapel St gaining more Ammunition and explosives for the cause.
On the 1st of June 1920 under the command of Vice Commandant
Peadar Clancy, he played a major part in seizing of the British
Army post at King’s Inn, Henrietta Street. Barry led a section
at the rear of the Building taking the Guardroom where his group
capturing the garrison’s arms, of 25 rifles, two Lewis machine
guns, plus an important amount of ammunition.
25 British
soldiers were captured during the attack all were released as
the volunteers withdrew. Apart from the physical gains in the
weaponry Barry’s unit action sent an embarrassing message to the
British high command and a shock way through the British
Parliament. Barry’s superiors, recognized the young man’s
dedication and commitment to the cause and promoted him to
Section Commander With the Breakup of the Collage term in the
summer of 1920 Barry returned to the family farm in Carlow,
giving a helping hand to his elder brother Michael in the daily laborers, however he may have had a break from his collage
studies in Dublin but his IRA involvement followed him to
Hacketstown. He maintain contact with C Company of the 3rd
Battalion Carlow Brigade, according to the memories of the then
Company Commander Matt Cullen, Barry participated in raids to
obtain arms from the homes of the local loyalists’, and the
cutting telephone lines to the local police and army barracks.
He also helped with the interception of the mail order of
learning how much the police knew about the Carlow Brigade and
its activities. And when the RIC evacuated the barracks at
Hacketstown, he was among those who burned the building to the
ground thus deny its use to the forces of the Crown.
With the summer over Barry returned to Dublin,
and the new Collage term, and a reunion with his IRA Dublin
comrades, he did not have to wait long to get active. On the
20th of September 1920 after mass he met with his unit at Bolton
Street Dublin where they received their orders. Their orders
were to set up and execute an ambush on a British army truck as
it was collecting a delivery of bread; the main intension was to
capture the soldier’s weapons. With the ambush set for 11.00am
Barry saw it gave him time to conduct the ambush and return to
class to take an examination that he had at 2.00 PM, however the
truck arrived late. The plan sounded simple and easy, they were
to be armed with Mauser’s, C company including Barry were to
surround the truck and disarm the soldiers, and free them of
their weapons and head back to base. Apart from the truck
arriving late thing start out as planned, Barry and his group
covered the back of the truck, ordering the five soldiers
onboard in the rear to lay down their weapon, to which they
complied. The next few minutes of events have been a cause of
debate for many years, a single shot was fired Terry Golway
author of “For the Cause of Liberty” suggests it was possibly a
warning shot from a soldier in the front of the truck. The IRA
including Barry open fire, sending round into the truck from all
directions, Barry’s weapon jammed twice and force him to dive
for cover under the truck, with all the commotion Barry did not
see that his unit had begun to withdraw, he was left on his own,
but soon he was spotted and arrested by the soldiers. The Ambush
left one of the soldiers, Private. Harold Washington dead, Two
others, Private Marshall Whitehead and Thomas Humphries were
both badly wounded to which both later died, two others were
slightly wounded. The British Army released the following
statement on Monday afternoon:
This morning a party of one N.C.O.
and six men of the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment were fired on
by a body of civilians outside a bakery in Church Street,
Dublin. One soldier was killed and four were wounded. A piquet
of the Lancashire Fusiliers in the vicinity, hearing the shots,
hurried to their comrades’ assistance, and succeeded in
arresting one of the aggressors. No arms or equipment were lost
by the soldiers To Balance this view other report states the IRA
group suddenly emerged from the crowd armed with pistols,
converged on the British lorry parked in the street and shouted
“Hands up. Hand over your arms.” When the soldiers of the escort
did not comply, some of the IRA group opened fire at them while
others who had taken positions inside the bakery premises then
began to shoot at Sergeant Banks and his two companions. But
immediately upon the British escort returning the IRA group’s
fire, the latter withdrew without taking any arms, as intended,
and leaving one of their number, Kevin Barry, to be captured
hiding under the British lorry with a loaded pistol in his hand.
Barry was placed in the back of the lorry
alongside the body of Private Harold Washington and endured
abuse by Washington's comrades. He was transported then to the
North Dublin Union. At the Barrack’s he was place under the
custody of the Military police he was searched and handcuffed. A
short while later, three sergeants of the Lancashire Fusiliers
and two officers began the interrogation. He gave his name and
his address which was 58 South Circular Road, Dublin, and his
occupation as a medical student, but refused to answer any other
questions. (Barry’s affidavit below) Barry’s Trial was to be
conducted by Court Martial on the 20th October 1920 at 10.00am
by nine Army officers, Barry’s Lawyer asked for a short
adjourment as to consult his client, this was granted. After the
short adjournment Barry announced “As a soldier of the Irish
Republic, I refuse to recognise the court.” Brigadier Onslow
explained the prisoner’s “perilous situation” and that he were
being tried on a capital charge. He did not reply. Sean
O’hUadhaigh then rose to tell the court that since his client
did not recognize the authority of the court he himself could
take no further part in the proceedings He was charged on three
counts of the murder of Pte. Marshall Whitehead. One of the
bullets taken from Whitehead’s body was of .45 calibre, while
all witnesses stated that Barry was armed with a .38 Mauser
Parabellum. The Judge Advocate General informed the court that
the Crown had only to prove that the accused was one of the
party that killed three British soldiers, and every member of
the party was technically guilty of murder In accordance with
military procedure the verdict was not announced in court. He
was returned to Mountjoy, and at about 8 o’clock that night, the
district court-martial officer entered his cell and read out the
sentence: death by hanging. The public learned on 28th of
October of that the date of execution had been fixed for 1st of
November
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- The Kevin Barry memorial in Rathvilly,
Co Carlow
- Image by Liz Wade c2008
The body of Kevin Barry was buried at 1.30 p.m,
in a plot near the women’s prison. His comrade and
fellow-student Frank Flood was buried alongside him four months
later. A plain cross marked their graves and those of Thomas
Whelan, Patrick Moran. Thomas Bryan, Patrick Doyle, Bernard
Ryan, Thomas Traynor, Edward Foley, and Patrick Maher who were
also hanged in the same prison for their part in the War of
Independence before the Treaty of July 1921. They became known
in Republican circles as the "Forgotten Ten." On the 14th of
October 2001over eight years after his death the remains Barry
and the 9 other volunteers were given a state funeral and moved
from Mountjoy Prison to be re-interred at Glasnevin Cemetery in
Dublin.
Kevin Barry funeral
The cortege of hearses carrying the
tricolour-draped coffins paused outside the GPO before funeral
mass in the Pro-Cathedral.
http://archives.tcm.ie/carlownationalist/2001/10/22/story307.asp
KEVIN BARRY
The Sworn Statement of Kevin Barry.
I, Kevin Barry, of 58, South Circular Road, in the
County of Dublin, Medical Student, aged 18 years and upwards solemnly
and sincerely declare as follows: On the 20th of September, 1920, I was
arrested in Upper Church Street by a Sergeant of the 2nd Duke of
Wellington's Regiment and was brought under escort to the North Dublin
Union, now occupied by military. I was brought into the guard room and
searched. I was then moved to the defaulter's room by an escort with a
Sergeant-Major, who all belonged to 1st Lancashire Fusiliers. I was then
handcuffed. About 15 minutes after I was put into the defaulter's room,
two Commissioned Officers of the 1st Lancashire Fusiliers came in. They
were accompanied by 3 Sergeants of the same unit. A military policeman
who had been in the room since I entered it remained. One of the
officers asked me my name, which I gave. He then asked me for the names
of my companions in the raid. I refused to give them. He tried to
persuade me to give the names and I persisted in refusing. He then sent
a Sergeant for a bayonet. When it was brought in the Sergeant was
ordered by this officer to point the bayonet at my stomach. The same
questions as to the names and addresses of my companions were repeated
with the same results. The Sergeant was then ordered to turn my face to
the wall and point the bayonet to my back. The Sergeant then said he
would run the bayonet into me if I did not tell. The bayonet was then
removed and I was turned round again. This officer then said that if I
still persisted in this attitude he would turn me out to the men in the
barrack square and he supposed I knew what that meant with the men in
their present temper. I said nothing. He ordered the Sergeants to put me
face down on the floor and twist my arm. I was pushed down onto the
floor after my handcuffs were removed. When I lay on the floor one of
the Sergeants knelt on the small of my back, the other two placed one
foot each on my back and left shoulder and the man who knelt on me
twisted my right arm, holding it by the wrist with one hand while he
held my hair with the other to pull back my head. The arm was twisted
from the elbow joint. This continued to the best of my knowledge for 5
minutes. It was very painful. The first officer was standing near my
feet and the officer who accompanied him was still present. During the
twisting of my arm the first officer continued to question me for the
names and addresses of my companions and the names of my Company
Commander or any other officer I knew. As I still refused to answer
these questions I was let up and handcuffed. A civilian came in and he
repeated the same questions with the same results. He informed me that
if I gave all the information I knew, I could get off. I was then left
in the company of the military policeman. The two officers, three
sergeants and civilian all left together. I could certainly identify the
officer who directed the proceedings and put the questions. I am not
sure of the others except the Sergeant with the bayonet. My arm was
medically treated by an officer of the Royal Army Medical Corps attached
to the North Dublin Union the following morning and by the prison
hospital orderly afterwards for 4 or 5 days. I was visited by the Court
Martial Officer last night and he read the confirmation of sentence of
death by hanging to be executed on Monday next and I make this solemn
declaration conscientiously believing same to be true and by virtue of
the Statutory Declarations Act, 1835. Declared and subscribed before me
at Mountjoy Prison in the County of the City of Dublin, 28th October,
1920.
(Signed) MYLES KEOGH,
a justice of the peace for said County.
KEVIN GERARD BARRY
- Kathleen Barry Moloney
- (Papers of Kathleen Barry Moloney (1896–1969)
- Deposited by her grandson Eunan O’Halpin in February
1990.
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Born
in Dublin on 19 October 1896 at 8 Fleet Street, Kathleen Barry Moloney was
the eldest of seven children. Her parents Thomas and Mary (née Dowling) and
her aunt Judith ran a prosperous dairy that included an eighty-six acre
holding at Tombeagh, Hacketstown County Carlow and a retail outlet below the
family home in Fleet Street. When Thomas Barry died in 1908 the Barry family
found themselves split between their homes in Dublin and at Tombeagh. The
Barry family were staunch republicans, in particular the older Barry
Children. One brother, Michael, was active in the Carlow Brigade and the
girls, particularly Kathleen, in Cumann na mBan. She joined the university
branch of Cumann na mBan in 1920 and was close to the most senior
republicans including Michael Collins, Austin Stack, Richard Mulcahy and
Eamon de Valera throughout the 1920–24 period. She opposed the Treaty.
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Read more about Kevin Barry's sister
