Thomas Bernardine Barry (1 July 1897 – 2 July 1980

Early life

Barry was born in Killorglin, County Kerry. He was the son of a Royal Irish Constabulary policeman Thomas Barry and his wife Margaret Donovan. Four years later, Thomas Barry Senior resigned and opened a business in his hometown of Rosscarbery, County Cork. 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.

World War I

In 1915, during Ireland's involvement in World War I, he enlisted in the Royal Field Artillery at Cork and became a soldier in the British Army.

Barry enlisted in the Royal Field Artillery on 30 June 1915 and was sent to the military depot at Athlone for basic training. 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". 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.

From January 1917 until March 1918, he saw further action south of Kut, where his unit suffered heavy casualties, and also at Fallujah, Samarra and Baquba.

War of Independence

On his return to Bandon in County Cork, Barry first began to study Law and Business Affairs, while at the same time maintaining friendship with local ex-servicemen's organisations and building connections to the Irish republican movement. Initially Barry seemed proud of his wartime British Army service and hoisted a Union flag at Bandon on the first anniversary of the war's end in November 1919. For this reason he was distrusted by some local republicans, particularly Tom Hales.

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. He also applied to join the British Civil Service and for a posting to India, but seems to have failed the relevant exams.

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.

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). 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. 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. Barry was initially highly valued by the IRA for his military experience and his ability to train their own raw volunteers.

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 and two attacks on British forces in the autumn of 1920 – the Fanlobus ambush on 9 October and the Tooreen Ambush on 22 October, at the latter of which he commanded a section. He also tried, with Charlie Hurley, to assassinate a number of local police and judicial officials.

thumb|left|250px| The Kilmichael memorial

However, Barry soon came to command the West Cork Brigade's flying column and definitively made his name as a guerrilla commander at the Kilmichael Ambush on 28 November 1920. This was a turning point of the war, when a company of 18 Auxiliaries was wiped out at the cost three IRA killed. The British alleged that Barry's men had killed wounded and surrendering Auxiliaries and mutilated their corpses. This was a charge that Barry always denied, claiming that he had ordered that no prisoners be taken after the Auxiliaries faked a surrender resulting in the death of some of his men.

thumb|right|250px|Crossbarry Memorial, [[Crossbarry Ambush|Crossbarry, County Cork. In March 1921, 104 Irish Republican Army volunteers under the command of Tom Barry attacked and later escaped from an encircling manoeuvre by 1,200 British soldiers and Black and Tans.]]

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 Munster in response. However, in December the column regrouped, attacking a number of police and military barracks in the West Cork region. In one such instance in February 1921, Barry's column attempted to launch an attack on the RIC Barracks in Rosscarbery, billeting at Burgatia House, which was owned by a Loyalist family, to avoid detection. However, a contingent of Black and Tans was sent out to arrest them after being tipped off by a postman. After a brief firefight, Barry and his men were able to push them back and escape. The column, which was around 30–40 strong, dispersed shortly afterwards into smaller units and subsequently lost 11 men killed. Three men died in the Upton Train Ambush and eight more died in various incidents and encounters with British forces.

In March 1921, Barry mobilised his largest guerrilla force of 104 men, divided into seven sections, and at the Crossbarry Ambush broke out of an encirclement of 1,200 strong British force from the Essex Regiment. At least ten British soldiers were killed in the action, along with three IRA volunteers including Brigade commander Charlie Hurley.

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.

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.

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. 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". 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.

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". He claimed that his unit had killed over 100 British troops and wounded another 93 during the conflict.

Barry later wrote of the period:

Memoir

thumb|upright|Cover of 1968 edition of Barry's 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. He is buried in St. Finbarr's Cemetery, Cork.

  • Bobby Sands wrote a poem about Barry after his death, entitled Tom Barry. It was published posthumously in the collection Prison Poems.
  • 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.

See also

  • Seán Hogan
  • Seán Mac Eoin

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

  • Brian Hanley: The IRA. 1926–1936, Dublin (Four Courts Press), 2002.
  • Turtle Bunbury : The Glorious Madness, Tales of The Irish and The Great War, <br /> Gunner Tom Barry and the Siege of Kut; pp.&nbsp;259–273, Gill & Macmillan, Dublin 12 (2014)
  • West Cork Flying Column 1919–1921
  • 'War of Words' over battle
  • The Kilmichael ambush controversy
  • 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