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In Fermoy, Ireland |
William Philip ALLEN-23rd November, 1867THE MANCHESTER MARTYRS James Stephens founded a society on 17 March 1858 dedicated to bringing about an independent Ireland - the Irish Republican Brotherhood, known as the Fenians. The Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) was a small, secret, revolutionary body committed to the use of force to establish an independent Irish republic.  William Phillip Allen The Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) was reorganised in Manchester, England, in July of 1867 and a supreme council elected. Two armed Fenian uprisings occurred in March, 1867 but were aborted when an informer betrayed the conspirators.  Allen, Larkin and O'Brien On 11 September, 1867, Colonel Thomas Kelly and Captain Timothy Deasy were arrested in the centre of Manchester on a vagrancy charge. News of their arrest was immediately sent to Mr. Disraeli, the Prime Minister, as Colonel Kelly was the most prominent Fenian of them all, having only recently been confirmed as Chief Executive of the Irish Republican Brotherhood and as such was considered quite a capture. On 18 September, these two prisoners were conveyed from the Court House in Manchester to the County Gaol, Bellevue Goal, on Hyde Road, West Gorton. The two Fenians were handcuffed and locked in two separate compartments inside the Police van and there was a posse of twelve mounted policemen to escort them.  Black Maria on its journey On the journey, as the van passed under a railway arch, a man darted into the middle of the road, pointed a pistol at the driver and called on him to stop. At the same time, a party of about thirty men leapt over a wall at the side of the road and surrounded the van and seized the horses, one of which they shot. The police being unharmed offered little resistance, and were soon put to flight. After a vain attempt to burst open the van with hatchets, sledge hammers and crowbars, the group of rescuers called upon Police Sergeant Charles Brett, who was inside the van with the prisoners, to open the door. Sergeant Charles Brett refused, thereupon one of the rescuers placed his revolver at the keyhole of the van and fired. Just at that moment Sergeant Brett had put his eye to the keyhole to see what was going on outside, and the bullet passed through his eye into his brain and killed him instantly. One of the women prisoners grabbed the keys and handed them out so the door could be opened and American Civil war veterans, Colonel Thomas Kelly and Captain Timothy Deasy escaped, never to be recaptured. Once freed, they were smuggled back to America  Tri-Commemoration "shamrock". Other casualties were a police officer shot in the thigh, and a civilian shot in the foot. After a chase, the police made 29 arrests, including, they claimed, the three men who had fired the revolvers. By November, five of the men arrested for taking part in the rescue; William Philip Allen, Michael Larkin; William Goold alias O'Brien, Thomas Maguire and Edward Stone, were found guilty and sentenced to death. Maguire was pardoned and discharged, Stone's sentence was commuted on the eve before the day fixed for his execution.  Commemoration "shamrock". Among those arrested in connection with the 'Smashing of the Van' were William Philip Allen who was born in Tipperary and raised in Bandon, Co Cork where his father was a Bridewell-keeper. William's father was a Protestant and his mother a Catholic so William was educated in both Protestant and Catholic schools. He was a carpenter by trade. His first visit to Manchester was to visit relatives and on returning home he stayed in Dublin were he became a builder's clerk. In the summer of 1867 he again went to Manchester.  The Irish Flag Another man arrested was Michael O'Brien, who was born in Ballymacoda, Co Cork. He was a draper by trade. Michael emigrated to America where, at the outbreak of the Civil War, he enlisted in the Union Army. After the War, when his regiment was disbanded, he returned to Cork. He disappeared on the night before the Fenian Rising and was not heard of again until he was arrested for taking part in the attack on the prison van. Michael Larkin was born in 1835 in Co Offaly. His grandfather was James Quirke who was flogged and transported for his part in the 1798 Rising. Michael, who trained as a tradesman, went to London and worked there until the time of his arrest in 1867. He had, like his two companions, a great love of Ireland and he was very conscious of the condition of the Irish at home. All three of them, in their last statements, claimed that they were innocent of the crime for which they were about to die.  The Hanging of the Three Men William Philip Allen, Michael Larkin and Michael O'Brien were hanged on 23 November, 1867, for their complicity in the events leading up to their successful attempt at rescuing Thomas Kelly and Timothy Deasy, and they subsequently became known as 'The Manchester Martyrs'. Their words from the dock, "God save Ireland", were soon embodied in a popular patriotic ballad written by T.D. Sullivan. Paul Rose in his book The Manchester Martyrs, A Fenian tragedy, states "This was to be no ordinary execution. The whole might of authority seemed to be determined that the extreme penalty should be exacted. 500 soldiers in and around the prison were augmented by 2,000 ordinary and special constables…a large detachment of troops from the 72nd Highlanders was on duty at the prison and a squadron of the Eight Hussars was stationed at the front in Stanley Street with another battery in reserve within the prison walls…infantry occupied the railway viaduct…Salford railway station was occupied by the reserves of the infantry….New Bailey Street was policed by 500 men drawn from the Manchester, Salford and County forcesall traffic into and out of the area was stopped." |
