1. Kevin Gerard Barry was an Irish Republican Army soldier and medical student who was executed by the British Government during the Irish War of Independence.
44 Facts About Kevin Barry
1. 2.
Kevin Barry was sentenced to death for his part in an attack upon a British Army supply lorry which resulted in the deaths of three British soldiers.
3.
Kevin Barry's pending death sentence attracted international attention, and attempts were made by US and Vatican officials to secure a reprieve.
4.
Kevin Barry was born on 20 January 1902, at 8 Fleet Street, Dublin, to Thomas and Mary Barry.
5.
The fourth of seven children, two boys and five girls, Kevin was baptised in St Andrew's Church, Westland Row.
6.
Kevin Barry remained at that school until 31 May 1916 when it was closed by its clerical sponsors.
7.
Kevin Barry's family attempted to dissuade him, but one sister later expressed the belief that he joined.
8.
Kevin Barry was a substitute on the championship Junior Rugby Cup team and earned a place on the senior team.
9.
In 1919, his final year at Belvedere, Kevin Barry wrote an essay supporting the Dublin Lockout as a "forcible demonstration of the power of Labour and had an experience of the power of agitation in the person of that marvellous leader James Larkin and his able lieutenant, Commandant James Connolly".
10.
Kevin Barry must have learned more than his grades reflected.
11.
Kevin Barry entered UCD as a first-year medical student in October 1919 and remained a student for the next year.
12.
Kevin Barry was one of several UCD medical students involved in the Volunteers, including Tom Kissane, Liam Grimley and Mick Robinson, all of whom were involved with Kevin Barry in the Monk's Bakery ambush, along with Frank Flood.
13.
Kevin Barry was attached to Company C, of the 3rd Battalion of the Carlow Brigade during his vacations from school in Tombeagh.
14.
Training sites were regularly shifted to avoid discovery, but the extent of training that Kevin Barry received is questionable.
15.
Kevin Barry took part in a number of small operations including a raid on the Shamrock Works for weapons intended for the Royal Irish Constabulary, and a raid on Mark's of Capel Street, looking for ammunition and explosives.
16.
Kevin Barry observed the lorry arrive and confirmed the particulars Douglas had related.
17.
Kevin Barry was shown a passage from the bakery yard leading into a shop in North King Street which would provide a useful line of retreat for any men posted in the yard.
18.
Kevin Barry directed that no one was to carry anything that could be used to identify him in the event of capture.
19.
Kevin Barry then met privately with Barry and asked if he had an examination at UCD the next day.
20.
Kevin Barry covered the back of the vehicle and, when challenged, the five soldiers complied with the order to lay down their weapons.
21.
Kevin Barry's gun jammed twice and he dived for cover under the vehicle.
22.
Kevin Barry was then spotted and arrested by the soldiers.
23.
Kevin Barry was placed in the back of the lorry with the young body of Private Harold Washington, and with Washington's comrades.
24.
Kevin Barry was transported then to the North Dublin Union.
25.
Kevin Barry gave his name and an address of 58 South Circular Road, Dublin, and his occupation as a medical student, but refused to answer any other questions.
26.
Kevin Barry tried to persuade me to give the names, and I persisted in refusing.
27.
Kevin Barry then sent the sergeant out of the room for a bayonet.
28.
Kevin Barry ordered the sergeants to put me face down on the floor and twist my arm.
29.
Kevin Barry informed me that if I gave all the information I knew I could get off.
30.
The Irish Bulletin declared Kevin Barry to be a prisoner of war, suggesting a conflict of principles was at the heart of the conflict.
31.
The War Office ordered that Kevin Barry be tried by court-martial under the Restoration of Order in Ireland Act, which received Royal Assent on 9 August 1920.
32.
At 10.25, Kevin Barry was brought into the room by a military escort.
33.
Kevin Barry was charged with three counts of the murder of Private Marshall Whitehead.
34.
Kevin Barry 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.
35.
Kevin Barry spent the last day of his life preparing for death.
36.
Kevin Barry is meeting death as he met life with courage but with nothing of the braggart.
37.
Kevin Barry's death was one of the most holy, and your dear boy is waiting for you now, beyond the reach of sorrow or trial.
38.
The only full-length biography of Kevin Barry was written by his nephew, journalist Donal O'Donovan, and published in 1989 as Kevin Barry and his Time.
39.
In 1965, Sean Cronin wrote a short biography, simply entitled "Kevin Barry"; this was published by The National Publications Committee, Cork, to which Tom Barry provided a foreword.
40.
Kevin Barry is remembered in a well-known song about his imprisonment and execution, written shortly after his death and still sung today.
41.
The tune to "Kevin Barry" was taken from the sea-shanty "Rolling Home".
42.
In 1934, a large stained-glass window commemorating Kevin Barry was unveiled in Earlsfort Terrace, then the principal campus of University College Dublin.
43.
The ballad "Kevin Barry", relating the story of his execution, has been sung by artists such as Paul Robeson, Leonard Cohen, Lonnie Donegan, Stompin' Tom Connors, the Hootenanny Singers, Damien Dempsey, The Clancy Brothers, Tommy Makem and The Dubliners.
44.
At the place where Kevin Barry was captured, there are two blocks of flats named after him.