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In Fermoy, Ireland |
Kevin BARRY1902 - 1920Kevin Barry was at University College Dublin, studying medicine during the Trouble Times, the years of the War of Independence.
 Barry Coat of Arms When he was only 18 he was arrested on 20th September 1920 during a poorly planned and executed raid on a British Army supply van at Monks Bakery in Church Street Dublin. Kevin Barry had been one of three Volunteers to approach the lorry from the rear. He was armed with a .38 Parabellum that jammed as soon as the shooting began. He quickly freed the jam but as he squeezed the trigger to fire his fifth round, it jammed again, forcing Kevin to kneel down in an attempt to free the mechanism. Although Volunteers had cut the telephone lines from Monk's offices prior to the attack to prevent a call for reinforcements, a picket of the Lancashire Fusiliers in the vicinity heard the shots and rushed to their comrades' assistance, forcing the Volunteers to dash away to safety.  Kevin Barry It was at this moment that Kevin, still struggling with his gun, realised that his colleagues were gone and so he dived for cover under the lorry, hoping to slip away later in the confusion. Unfortunately for him he was spotted, seized and driven away to the North Dublin Union, leaving behind one dead and two mortally wounded soldiers. He was taken to Dublin Castle, seat of British power in Ireland, where his fate would be sealed.
 Kevin Barry stamp
Although two soldiers stated that they had witnessed Barry shooting Private Harold Washington,
the soldier who had died at the scene of the ambush, Kevin was actually charged with the
murder of Private Marshall Whitehead who had died while undergoing surgery for stomach wounds
at King George V Hospital.
It was during his interrogation at the ex-workhouse that Kevin Barry was tortured at the
instigation of one of the Lancashire Fusiliers' officers, in an attempt to obtain the names
of his fellow raiders but he never relinquished their names.
Kevin Barry had been identified as a member of the ambush party and under the law he was
as guilty of murder as the man who had actually shot Whitehead. Following military protocol,
the verdict was not released in Court. It was not until 8 o'clock that evening that a Warder
entered Kevin's cell in Mountjoy Prison and informed him that he had been sentenced to death.
He was hanged on 1st November in Mountjoy Prison for his part in the killing of
a soldier.
Eighty one years later, on 15th October 2001 his body, along with nine other IRA men, was reinterred
in the Republican plot at Glasnevin cemetery in Dublin.
 Kevin Barry funeral
The remains, above, of Kevin Barry and his comrades were taken from their
graves in Mountjoy Prison for a Christian burial in Glasnevin cemetery. The cortege of
hearses carrying the tricolour-draped coffins paused outside the GPO before funeral mass
in the Pro-Cathedral.
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