Denny Barry

Denis "Denny" Barry (15 July 1883 – 20 November 1923) was an Irish Republican who died during the 1923 Irish hunger strikes, shortly after the Irish Civil War.

Early life

Barry was born into a farming family in Riverstick, in south County Cork, and learnt Irish from a young age. In 1903, he moved to Cork to work in a drapery, where he became involved in the Gaelic League and the Ancient Order of Hibernians. A successful athlete, he also played hurling for Cork.

Volunteer activity

In 1913, he joined the newly formed Irish Volunteers. In 1915, he moved to Kilkenny to take up employment there, where he continued his volunteer activities. Shortly after the Easter Rising, he was arrested in Kilkenny in a British Government crackdown, and sent to Frongoch internment camp in North Wales. In 1919, he returned to Cork, where he was Commandant of the Irish Republican Police in Cork during the Irish War of Independence. In the Cork Number One brigade of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), he helped with prisoner escapes and returning looted goods after the burning of Cork by Black and Tans. After the Anglo-Irish Treaty and the split that followed, Barry chose the anti-Treaty branch of the IRA; he was captured by Irish Free State troops and was sent to Newbridge internment camp on 6 October 1922 (Barry was not charged or convicted of any crime).

Hunger strike and death

Irish Republican prisoners in Mountjoy Prison began the 1923 Irish Hunger Strikes, protesting being interned without charges or trial and poor prison conditions. The strike quickly spread to other camps and prisons, and Barry took part. He died after 35 days in Curragh Camp hospital. IRA Volunteers Joseph Whitty from Wexford died on 2 September 1923 and Andy O'Sullivan (Irish Republican) died as a result of hunger on 22 November 1923 in Mountjoy Jail, the 41 day hunger strike was called off the next day - 23 November. Whitty, Barry and O'Sullivan were three of the 22 Irish Republicans (in the 20th century) who died on hunger-strike in 1923. Barry was initially buried by the Free State army in the Curragh, but three days later, following a court order, his remains were disinterred. Denis Barry is buried in the Republican plot at St. Finbarr's Cemetery, Cork.

Memorial

Prior to his body arriving in County Cork, the Bishop of Cork, Daniel Cohalan (bishop of Cork) issued a letter to the Catholic Churches which forbid them to open their doors to the body of Barry. Bishop Cohalan expressed far different opinions on the 1920 death (also by hunger strike) of the Lord Mayor of Cork Terence MacSwiney: "Terence MacSwiney takes his place among the martyrs in the sacred cause of the Freedom of Ireland. We bow in respect before his heroic sacrifice. We pray that God may have mercy on his soul."

In Commandant Barry's home town of Riverstick there stands a stone memorial (unveiled in 1966) in his honor and he is remembered with a wreath-laying commemoration every November.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barry, Denny
1883 births
1923 deaths
Irish republicans
People from County Cork
Irish prisoners who died on hunger strike
People who died on hunger strike
People of the Irish Civil War (Anti-Treaty side)
People of the Easter Rising
Irish Republican Army (1919–1922)