Tom Barry (Irish republican)
Tom Barry | |
---|---|
Chief of Staff of the IRA | |
In office 1937–1937 | |
Preceded by | Seán MacBride |
Succeeded by | Mick Fitzpatrick |
Personal details | |
Born | Killorglin, County Kerry, Ireland | 1 July 1897
Died | 2 July 1980 Cork, Ireland | (aged 83)
Resting place | St. Finbarr's Cemetery, Cork |
Spouse |
Officer Commanding, 3rd (West) Cork Brigade, Irish Republican Army 's Southern CommandChief of Staff, Irish Republican Army Operations Officer, Irish Army |
Battles/wars | |
Thomas Bernardine
Born in County Kerry, Barry was the son of a former Royal Irish Constabulary constable. In 1915, at the age of seventeen, he joined the British Army and would go on to see action as a gunner in the Middle East during the First World War. Despite expressing some British patriotism during his early years, Barry's views slowly began to change towards Irish republicanism. In his memoir, Barry stated that this started shortly after he heard about the Easter Rising in 1916, though records show that after the war he made two unsuccessful attempts at joining the British Civil Service. In July 1920, he joined the IRA's 3rd Cork Brigade. Using his experience from his time in the British Army, he was able to train up the men in the flying column so it could become an effective fighting unit. Barry then became the column's overall commander and would lead the Brigade in a number of successful attacks against British forces, including the ambushes at Kilmichael and Crossbarry.
Barry was amongst the
Early life
Thomas Barry was born in Killorglin, County Kerry. He was the son of a Royal Irish Constabulary policeman Thomas Barry and Margaret Donovan. Four years later, Thomas Barry Senior resigned and opened a business in his hometown of Rosscarbery, County Cork.[4] Barry was first educated at Ardagh Boys' National School before later attending Mungret College in County Limerick from 25 August 1911 to 12 September 1912.[5] The reason for his short stay is indicated by a reference from the school register of the Apostolic School, Mungret College: "Went–Home (ran away) without knowledge of superiors – no vocation".[6]
World War I
In 1915, during
In June, in my seventeenth year, I had decided to see what this Great War was like. I cannot plead I went on the advice of John Redmond or any other politician, that if we fought for the British we would secure Home Rule for Ireland, nor can I say I understood what Home Rule meant. I was not influenced by the lurid appeal to fight to save Belgium or small nations. I knew nothing about nations, large or small. I went to the war for no other reason than that I wanted to see what war was like, to get a gun, to see new countries and to feel a grown man. Above all, I went because I knew no Irish history and had no national consciousness.[8]
Barry enlisted in the Royal Field Artillery on 30 June 1915 and was sent to the military depot at Athlone for basic training.[7] After six months he was posted to the Mesopotamian front (modern Iraq) on 21 January 1916.[7] He fought from January 1916 in Mesopotamia (then part of the Ottoman Empire). On 1 March, he was raised to the rank of corporal.[9] In April, while his brigade was attempting to break the Turkish Siege of Kut, Barry first heard of the Easter Rising, which he describes in his memoir as "a rude awakening".[10] Perhaps, in reaction to the British response to the Rising, Barry dropped his rank at his own request on 26 May and reverted to his original rank of gunner, which he would hold until the end of the war.[11]
From January 1917 until March 1918, he saw further action south of Kut, where his unit suffered heavy casualties, and also at
War of Independence
On his return to
In fact Barry acted as secretary to the Bandon Branch of the ex-servicemen's association, which was headed by local unionist the Earl of Bandon, from mid-1919 until mid-1920.[14] He also applied to join the British Civil Service and for a posting to India, but seems to have failed the relevant exams.[15]
Barry claimed in his Military Pension Application in 1940 that he had been infiltrating the ex-servicemen's organisation on orders from IRA Intelligence officer Sean Buckley and was secretly enrolled in the IRA from August 1919.[16]
However, it was only in July 1920 that he formally applied join the 3rd (West) Cork Brigade of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), which was then engaged in the Irish War of Independence (1919–1921).[17] A number of events have been cited as influencing his decision to join the IRA. One was his failure to secure employment after the war.[18] Another was the death of fellow ex-serviceman John Bourke, a veteran of the Royal Munster Fusiliers, who was bayoneted to death in a riot between Irish veterans and British troops; Barry acted as a guard of honour at Bourke's funeral.[14] A possible third reason was the brutal beating of IRA members Tom Hales and Patrick Harte, both of whom were from Bandon, by officers of the Essex Regiment during an interrogation in July 1920.[17]
Before being accepted into the IRA, he was first interviewed by IRA officers Ted O'Sullivan and Charlie Hurley, in order to vet him.[14] Having overcome the suspicion he could be a spy, and helped by the fact that Tom Hales had been arrested and replaced as Brigade commander by Charlie Hurley, by late summer he was acting as their brigade training officer.[19] Barry was initially highly valued by the IRA for his military experience and his ability to train their own raw volunteers.[20]
At this time the IRA's guerrilla tactics were taking shape and small groups of dedicated guerrillas were being organised and trained. Barry participated in four training camps
However, Barry soon came to command the West Cork Brigade's flying column and definitively made his name as a guerrilla commander at the
Barry was hospitalised for a time after the Kilmichael action and martial law was proclaimed in County Cork and across much of the province of
In March 1921, Barry mobilised his largest guerrilla force of 104 men, divided into seven sections, and at the
In total, British forces numbered over 12,500 men in County Cork during the conflict, while Barry's men numbered no more than 310. Eventually, Barry's tactics made West Cork ungovernable for the British authorities except by military means. In the late spring and early summer of 1921, British forces mounted large sweeps of the West Cork area, complete with aerial surveillance and armoured vehicles, forcing Barry's column to spend much of its time "on the run" in mountainous terrain to avoid them. While they did avoid being encircled, they were able to mount only one more major attack, which was on Rosscarbery police barracks in late March 1921.[30][31][32]
Barry's ability as a guerrilla commander was widely acknowledged in the IRA, and in the early summer of 1921 he was summoned to Dublin to meet with IRA leader Michael Collins and President of the Irish Republic Éamon de Valera. He also participated in the formation of the IRA's First Southern Division, of which he was made Deputy Commander.[33]
Barry openly admitted in his memoir to taking a hard line with people he believed were collaborators with the British forces. He stated that his unit executed 16 civilians accused of informing in the first six months of 1921.[34] While he acknowledged that nine of the 16 killings were Protestants, who were a minority in West Cork, he maintained that they were killed for no other reason than for their aid to British forces. He maintained, "The majority of the West Cork Protestants lived at peace throughout the entire struggle and were not interfered with by the IRA".[35] Barry also stated that his unit burned the houses of local loyalists in retaliation for burning of republicans' homes by British forces and carried out reprisal killings of captured and off-duty British soldiers in response to the execution of IRA men.[36]
The war in rural Cork was abruptly ended with a truce negotiated to come into effect on 11 July 1921. At this time the West Cork flying column was, with other IRA units, in a training camp in the mountains along the Cork/Kerry border. Barry recalled his initial reaction as "dazed and uncertain of the future" but relief that the "days of fear were ended, at least for a time".[37] He claimed that his unit had killed over 100 British troops and wounded another 93 during the conflict.[38]
Barry later wrote of the period:
They said I was ruthless, daring, savage, blood thirsty, even heartless. The clergy called me and my comrades murderers; but the British were met with their own weapons. They had gone in the mire to destroy us and our nation and down after them we had to go.[8]
Civil War
During the truce period, Barry married Leslie Mary Price, who was herself a republican activist. Barry opposed the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 6 December 1921 because he felt it gave up the Irish Republic and accepted the partition of Ireland. In March 1922, he participated in an IRA convention which disavowed the authority of the Dáil to approve the Treaty and was elected on to the anti-Treaty IRA's executive. In March 1922, he and his men occupied barracks in Limerick in defiance of the new Irish Free State government, and it looked as if fighting would break out until Liam Lynch IRA Chief of Staff arrived and defused the situation.[39] In May 1922, Barry along with Rory O'Connor and Ernie O'Malley seized a convoy of arms intended for the new Free State police force and drove it to the anti-Treaty IRA headquarter in the Four Courts in Dublin.[39]
On 28 June 1922, the
However, as 1923 went on, Barry found his column increasingly weakened by casualties and arrests. By February 1923, Barry increasingly argued with Liam Lynch, the Republican commander in chief, that the war should be brought to an end, as there was no hope of victory. Barry proposed to a meeting of the IRA Executive on 23–26 March that a ceasefire should be called, but he was defeated by six votes to five. After the death of Lynch in a Free State attack on 10 April, the anti-treaty campaign was halted on 30 April, then called off when Frank Aiken issued an order on 24 May to "dump arms". One author claims that Barry tried to act as intermediary with the pro-Treaty Irish Republican Brotherhood to end the war and for a time had a letter from the Free State authorities granting him 'immunity from arrest'. This caused him to fall out with other members of the IRA Army Council.[42] For his part, Barry stated that rumours, some spread by Republicans, about his negotiating for peace or compromise with the Free State were "absolutely false".[43]
Nevertheless, the Free State government never formally acknowledged the end of the civil war marked by the republicans' ceasefire and dump arms order. Barry had to remain on the run until a general amnesty was declared in November 1924.[44]
The Third Cork IRA Brigade, of which Barry commanded the Active Service Unit or flying column, lost 34 men killed in the war against the British and another 21 anti-Treatyites killed in the civil war. This made a total of 55, excluding pro-Treaty volunteers who died in the civil war but whom Barry did not record in his memoir.[45]
Subsequent IRA career
According to historian Brian Hanley, Tom Barry left the IRA shortly after the Executive had narrowly defeated his proposal (of March 1923) to hand over its arms to prevent further bloodshed between nationalists.[46] In his letter of 11 July 1923 to the Army Executive, Barry resigned as a member of that body, the Army Council and an IRA officer. He offered his services if, at some future date, arms should be taken up again in the struggle to make Ireland an independent country.[47] Barry's biographer Meda Ryan disputes this evidence, claiming that Barry only resigned from the IRA leadership in 1923, but remained a rank and file member before reassuming a leadership role in 1932.[48]
He served as general superintendent of
In 1937, he succeeded
Irish Army career
In 1940, Barry was made responsible for Intelligence in the Irish Army's Southern Command, a position he held, with the rank of Commandant, for the duration of World War II (see The Emergency). In 1941, he was denounced by the IRA for writing for An Cosantóir, the Irish Army's official magazine.[citation needed] In 1942, following the fall of Singapore to the Imperial Japanese Army, Barry purportedly sent a telegram to the British commander Arthur Percival, who was his opponent during the war of independence, "congratulating" him on the defence.[54][55]
Later life
He was an unsuccessful candidate at the
In 1966, Barry was invited to a number of events commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Easter Rising but declined each one of them, expressing that he felt it wouldn't be appropriate to partake in any commemoration as he was serving in the Middle East at the time of the rising.[57] On 10 July the same year, Barry attended the unveiling of the monument to the Kilmichael ambush along with other surviving participants, where they formed a guard of honour during the ceremony.[58]
Barry took a militant line on the
I back the right of Republicans to shoot, kill and bomb British occupying forces. Nobody can deny that. But I do not back the bombing of obvious civilian targets like pubs and that bloody carry-on...They have a perfect right to attack occupying forces, but nobody has the right to bomb civilian targets. Nobody... I wouldn't have done
the Birmingham job if it was going to set Ireland free and flowing with milk and honey.[60]
Memoir
In 1949, Barry published his memoirs of the Irish War of Independence, Guerilla Days in Ireland. It describes his Brigade's activities, such as the ambushes at Kilmichael and Crossbarry, as well as numerous other less known actions which were directed against the British Army, Black and Tans, the Auxiliary Division and the Royal Irish Constabulary.
Death
Barry died on 2 July 1980 at a hospital in Cork.[5][61] He is buried in St. Finbarr's Cemetery, Cork.[62]
In popular culture
- Bobby Sands wrote a poem about Barry after his death, entitled Tom Barry. It was published posthumously in the collection Prison Poems.[63]
- In 2011, Barry's memoirs were adapted into a four-man stage play of the same name. Written and directed by Neil Pearson, the play follows Barry's service during the First World War and War of Independence.[64][65]
See also
References
Notes
- ^ As chief of staff: e.g. see Liam Lynch.
Citations
- Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004
- ^ "National Archives: Census of Ireland 1911". www.census.nationalarchives.ie. Archived from the original on 30 July 2012. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
- ^ "National Archives: Census of Ireland 1911". www.census.nationalarchives.ie. Archived from the original on 29 July 2012. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
- ISBN 978-0-85342-672-1.
- ^ a b c Michael Hopkinson, Tom Barry, Dictionary of Irish Biography Archived 9 July 2021 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Irish Jesuit Archives, School Register of Apostolic School, Mungret College, p. 66
- ^ a b c d e f "Tom Barry: guerrilla days in Iraq". 6 March 2013. Archived from the original on 27 June 2021. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
- ^ a b "Mercier Press - Oops... Looks Like We Couldn't Find Your Page". Mercier Press. Archived from the original on 31 August 2021. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
- ^ "Military Heritage Tours Ltd Coughlan VC Day Speech". www.militaryheritagetours.com. Archived from the original on 4 November 2006. Retrieved 29 April 2008.
- ^ Barry, Guerilla Days in Ireland, p.1
- ISBN 978-0-717-16234-5
- ^ Bunbury, Turtle: p. 273
- ^ Meda Ryan, the Tom Barry Story, p17
- ^ a b c "Tom Barry and the Road from Mesopotamia to Kilmichael – The Irish Story". Archived from the original on 7 December 2020. Retrieved 10 December 2020.
- ^ White, Gerry (3 June 2020). "From Gunner to Guerrilla, Tom Barry's Road to Rebellion". Irish Times. Archived from the original on 28 November 2020. Retrieved 10 December 2020.
- ^ "Tom Barry and the Road from Mesopotamia to Kilmichael". The Irish Story. Archived from the original on 7 December 2020. Retrieved 10 December 2020.
- ^ a b Bunburry, Turtle: p.273
- ^ Gerry White, From Gunner to Guerrilla, Tom Barry's Road to Rebellion, Irish Times 3 June 2020
- ^ Bunburry, Turtle: p. 273
- ^ Peter Hart, The IRA and its Enemies, p. 30–32
- ^ Tom Barry, The reality of the Anglo-Irish war, 1920-21 in West Cork, p22
- ^ Hart, The IRA and its Enemies, p32
- ^ Tom Barry Guerilla Days in Ireland, p44-45
- Kilmichael Ambush#Controversy
- ^ Barry Guerilla Days pp 70-86
- ISBN 978-1-85635-644-2.
- ISBN 978-0-7864-8519-2.
- ^ Barry, Guerilla Days, p97
- ^ Barry, Guerilla Days, p 130, for British losses, Hart, IRA and its Enemies p. 321
- ^ Barry, Guerilla Days, pp. 133–141, 152–153 and 193–201
- ^ McGreevy, Ronan (22 March 2021). "Home advantage – Ronan McGreevy on Tom Barry and the Rosscarbery attack". Irish Times. Retrieved 27 October 2021.
- ISBN 978-0-19-959899-1.
- ^ Meda Ryan, Tom Barry IRA Freedom Fighter, p 135
- ^ Barry, Guerilla Days, p105
- ^ Barry, Guerilla Days, p113
- ^ Barry, Guerilla Days, p116
- ^ Barry, Guerilla Days, p. 227
- ^ Meda Ryan, Tom Barry, IRA Freedom Fighter, p 139
- ^ a b Meda Ryan, Tom Barry IRA Freedom Fighter, p. 154
- ^ Meda Ryan, Tom Barry IRA Freedom Fighter, p. 173–186
- ^ Michael Harrington, The Munster Republic, p. 110–112
- ^ Meda Ryan, Tom Barry IRA Freedom Fighter, pp. 189-198
- ^ Síobhra Aiken et al. (ed.), The Men Will Talk to Me. Ernie O'Malley's Interviews with the Northern Divisions (2018), p. 205
- ^ Meda Ryan, Tom Barry IRA Freedom Fighter, p. 200
- ^ Barry, Guerilla Days, pp. 236-238
- ^ Hanley, Brian (22 February 2013). "Tom Barry". historyireland.com. Archived from the original on 31 August 2021. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
- ^ Síobhra Aiken et al. (ed.), The Men Will Talk to Me. Ernie O'Malley's Interviews with the Northern Divisions (2018), pp. 204–205
- ^ Ryan, Meda (22 February 2013). "Tom Barry". historyireland.com. Archived from the original on 11 July 2021. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
- ^ Ryan, Tom Barry, IRA Freedom Fighter p. 212
- ^ The Times, Vice-Admiral Shot Dead Outrage in County Cork 25 March 1936
- Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, January 2008
- ISBN 9781476623726.
- ISBN 0-7165-2756-1; S 47
- ^ Farrell, Tom (15 February 1997). "AN IRISHMAN'S DIARY". The Irish Times. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
- ^ "From Bandon to Singapore -- it's war Tweets of the week". Irish Independent. 10 April 2010. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
- ^ "Cork Borough: 1946 by-election". irelandelection.com. Archived from the original on 7 December 2020. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
Fianna Fáil Patrick McGrath 47.9% 14230
Fine Gael Michael O'Driscoll 32.7% 9707
Cork Socialist Party Michael O'Riordan 10.7% 3184
Independent Tom Barry 8.7% 2574 - ^ Baker, Noel (29 April 2016). "VIDEO: This letter explains Tom Barry's absence at 50th anniversary of Easter Rising". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
- ^ "Kilmichael Ambush Monument Unveiled 1966". RTÉ Archives. Retrieved 3 December 2021.
- ^ a b McGreevy, Ronan. "Tom Barry said Provos only had 'themselves to blame' for losing support". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 2 June 2021. Retrieved 24 May 2021.
- ^ Corvin, Donal (7 March 1976). "I do not back the bombing of civilians". The Sunday Independent. Dublin.
- ^ "Does Tom Barry's wedding photo reveal veiled tensions?". Irish Independent. 1 October 2009. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
- ^ "Republican headstones vandalised ahead of Easter Rising commemorations". Irish Examiner. 30 March 2013. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
- ^ "CAIN: Events: Hunger Strike: Sands, Bobby. (1991), Prison Poems". cain.ulster.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 11 February 2021. Retrieved 31 August 2021.
- ^ Lynch, Andrew (8 September 2012). "Theatre: Staged history has its limits". Business Post. Retrieved 14 December 2021.
- ^ Andrews, Rachel (23 August 2011). "Guerilla Days in Ireland". Irish Theatre Magazine. Retrieved 14 December 2021.
Bibliography
- Brian Hanley: The IRA. 1926–1936, Dublin (Four Courts Press), 2002. ISBN 1-85182-721-8
- Turtle Bunbury Archived 3 August 2019 at the ISBN 978-0-717-16234-5
External links
- West Cork Flying Column 1919–1921
- 'War of Words' over battle Archived 30 June 2006 at the Wayback Machine
- The Kilmichael ambush controversy Archived 16 May 2006 at the Wayback Machine
- 62 minute talk to the 1916–1921 Club by Meda Ryan, author of 'Tom Barry: IRA Freedom Fighter'
- Detailed account of the controversial Kilmichael Ambush