Kevin Barry

In the same period at St. Mary's he also attended a commemoration concert for the Manchester Martyrs, who were hanged in England in 1867.

These events served to incite his nascent nationalism to the extent that he expressed his desire to join Constance Markievicz's Fianna Éireann.

His family attempted to dissuade him, but one sister later expressed the belief that he joined.

With the closure of St Mary's College, Barry transferred to Belvedere College, a Jesuit school in Dublin.

He was a substitute on the championship Junior Rugby Cup team, and earned a place on the senior team.

Kevin Gerard Barry (20 January 1902 – 1 November 1920) was an Irish Republican Army (IRA) soldier who was executed by the British Government during the Irish War of Independence.

He 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.

His execution inflamed nationalist public opinion in Ireland, largely because of his age.

The timing of the execution, only seven days after the death by hunger strike of Terence MacSwiney, the republican Lord Mayor of Cork, brought public opinion to a fever-pitch.

His pending death sentence attracted international attention, and attempts were made by U.S. and Vatican officials to secure a reprieve.

His execution and MacSwiney's death precipitated an escalation in violence as the Irish War of Independence entered its bloodiest phase, and Barry became an Irish republican martyr.

Kevin Barry was born on 20 January 1902, at 8 Fleet Street, Dublin, to Thomas and Mary (née Dowling) Barry.

The fourth of seven children, two boys and five girls, Kevin was baptised in St Andrew's Church, Westland Row.

His father, Thomas Barry Sr., ran a prosperous dairy business in Dublin based at Fleet Street and supported by the output of the family's farm at Tombeagh, Hacketstown, County Carlow.

Thomas Barry Sr. died of heart disease on 8 February 1908, at the age of 56, when Kevin was six years old.

Kevin Barry's mother, the former Mary Dowling, came from Drumguin, County Carlow, and, upon the death of her husband, moved the family to the farm at Tombeagh while retaining the family's townhouse on Fleet Street.

As a child he went to the National School in Rathvilly.

In 1915 he was sent to live in Dublin and attended the O'Connell Schools for three months, before enrolling in the Preparatory Grade at St Mary's College, Rathmines, in September 1915.

He remained at that school until 31 May 1916 when it was closed by its clerical sponsors.

During this period he was undoubtedly affected by the events in April of the Easter Rising.

In October 1917, during his second year at Belvedere, aged 15, he joined Company C, 1st Battalion of the Dublin Brigade of the Irish Volunteers.

When Company C was later reorganized he was reassigned to the newly formed Company H, under the command of Captain Seamus Kavanagh.

In 1918 he became secretary of the school hurling club which had just been formed, and was one of their most enthusiastic players.

In 1919, his final year at Belvedere, Barry wrote an essay supporting the Dublin Lockout as a "forcible demonstration of the power of Labour and had an experience also of the power of agitation in the person of that marvellous leader James Larkin and his able lieutenant, Commandant James Connolly".

This piece earned him only sixty points out of a possible 100.

Generally speaking, Barry's performance as a student was erratic.

In his first and third years at Belvedere he won no honors, although he did earn honors in five subjects in his middle year.

He must have learned more than his grades reflected.

After graduation he won a merit-based scholarship given annually by Dublin Corporation, which allowed him to become a student of medicine at University College Dublin (UCD).

Barry entered UCD as a first year medical student in October 1919 and remained a student for the next year.

His closest friend at UCD was Gerry MacAleer, from Dungannon, whom he had first met in Belvedere.

Another friend at UCD was Frank Flood, whom he had met at the O'Connell Schools, and was now an engineering student at the university.

Barry's medical studies competed with other attractions, including dancing, drinking, gambling, and cinema.

As a result he only managed to attend about three quarters of his medical school lectures.

Not least of his distractions was his membership in the Irish Volunteers.

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 Barry in the Monk's Bakery ambush, along with Frank Flood.

Kissane, Grimley, Robinson and Flood all survived the ambush unscathed.

Flood was later captured and executed by the British in 1921.

Despite Barry's extensive involvement in Volunteer actions, he appears to have been very discreet.

Although Barry was a member of the Volunteers for three of the four years of their friendship, his closest friend, Gerry McAleer was unaware of this aspect of his life.