20/1/1902 - 1/11/1920 | Irish medical student who fought in the Irish War of Independence.
Kevin Barry was born in January 1902 in Fleet Street, Dublin. He was the fourth of seven children of Thomas and Mary Barry. Thomas died when Kevin was only 6, and the family lived for a while in County Carlow, before moving back to Dublin.
Kevin Barry initially went to school in St Mary’s College, Rathmines. He then moved to Belvedere College where he was member of their championship winning rugby team. On leaving school he won a scholarship to study medicine at University College Dublin.
Kevin Barry’s interest in the nationalist movement began at a young age, by the age of 15 he was a member of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), the organisation which had led the ill-fated Easter Rising of April 1916 and was now involved in consistent skirmishes with British forces throughout Ireland. His first job as a member of the IRA was delivering mobilisation orders around the city.
Along with other volunteers, he trained in a number of locations in Dublin, including the building at 44 Parnell Square, the present day headquarters of Sinn Féin. He took part in a number of IRA operations including raids on various premises looking for ammunition and explosives, and he was promoted to Section Commander. On the morning of 15th August 1920 Kevin Barry joined a party of IRA Volunteers who had been ordered to ambush a British army vehicle and capture their weapons. As the group surrounded the truck, a shot was fired and, in the hail of gunfire that followed, three soldiers were killed. Barry was the only Volunteer captured. He was brought to the North Dublin Union and held there.
Kevin Barry initially went to school in St Mary’s College, Rathmines. He then moved to Belvedere College where he was member of their championship winning rugby team. On leaving school he won a scholarship to study medicine at University College Dublin.
Kevin Barry’s interest in the nationalist movement began at a young age, by the age of 15 he was a member of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), the organisation which had led the ill-fated Easter Rising of April 1916 and was now involved in consistent skirmishes with British forces throughout Ireland. His first job as a member of the IRA was delivering mobilisation orders around the city.
Along with other volunteers, he trained in a number of locations in Dublin, including the building at 44 Parnell Square, the present day headquarters of Sinn Féin. He took part in a number of IRA operations including raids on various premises looking for ammunition and explosives, and he was promoted to Section Commander. On the morning of 15th August 1920 Kevin Barry joined a party of IRA Volunteers who had been ordered to ambush a British army vehicle and capture their weapons. As the group surrounded the truck, a shot was fired and, in the hail of gunfire that followed, three soldiers were killed. Barry was the only Volunteer captured. He was brought to the North Dublin Union and held there.
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