Larry Lardner, a native of

Athenry Athenry (; ) is a town in County Galway, Ireland, which lies east of Galway city. Some of the attractions of the medieval town are its town wall, Athenry Castle, its priory and its 13th-century street-plan. The town is also well known by virt ...

County Galway County Galway ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Northern and Western Region, taking up the south of the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht. The county population was 276,451 at the 20 ...

, was a Brigade Commandant for the

Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is a name used by various Resistance movement, resistance organisations in Ireland throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Organisations by this name have been dominantly Catholic and dedicated to anti-imperiali ...

in his locality. He was by trade a

publican The (Latin ; Greek τελώνης ''telōnēs'') were public contractors in the Roman Republic and Empire. In their official capacity, they often supplied the Roman legions and military, managed the collection of port duties, and oversaw pub ...

and a member of the

Irish Republican Brotherhood The Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB; ) was a secret oath-bound fraternal organisation dedicated to the establishment of an "independent democratic republic" in Ireland between 1858 and 1924.McGee, p. 15. Its counterpart in the United States ...

(IRB) Supreme Council for

Connacht Connacht or Connaught ( ; or ), is the smallest of the four provinces of Ireland, situated in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms (Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, C ...

in 1917. He, along with

Liam Mellows William Joseph Mellows (, 25 May 1892 – 8 December 1922) was an Irish republicanism, Irish republican and Sinn Féin politician. Born in England to an English father and Irish mother, he grew up in Ashton-under-Lyne before moving to Ireland, ...

and Pádraig Ó Fathaigh, travelled to

Limerick Limerick ( ; ) is a city in western Ireland, in County Limerick. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. W ...

where they were informed by

Patrick Pearse Patrick Henry Pearse (also known as Pádraig or Pádraic Pearse; ; 10 November 1879 – 3 May 1916) was an Irish teacher, barrister, Irish poetry, poet, writer, Irish nationalism, nationalist, Irish republicanism, republican political activist a ...

at an IRB meeting that a rebellion would take place at

Easter 1916 ''Easter, 1916'' is a poem by W. B. Yeats describing the poet's torn emotions regarding the events of the Easter Rising staged in Ireland against British rule on Easter Monday, April 24, 1916. The rebellion was unsuccessful, and most of the Iris ...

. Following Ó Fathaigh's arrest, Lardner and Mellows led some hundreds of local men in occupying Moyode Castle on 26 April. Within days they were informed by a local priest that the rising had failed. He is believed to have accompanied Mellows into hiding in the

Slieve Aughty The Slieve Aughty () are a mountain range in the western part of Ireland spread over both County Galway and County Clare. The highest peak in the Slieve Aughty Mountains is Maghera in Clare which rises to 400 m (1,314 ft). The mountai ...

for some months afterwards. In 1919 he was captured and imprisoned in

Wormwood Scrubs Wormwood Scrubs, known locally as The Scrubs (or simply Scrubs), is an open space in Old Oak Common located in the north-eastern corner of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in west London. It is the largest open space in the borough ...

, and was one of a group of I.R.A. men who went on hunger strike. Early in January 1920, he was part of a group of local men (including Bill Freaney) who approached Frank Shawe-Taylor on behalf of some local people who were requesting a road to travel to Mass. Shawe-Taylor himself was amenable to their demands but the landlord refused via Shawe-Taylor, who was later killed. Lardner died in Athenry in April 1936.

References

* ''Athenry: A Local History (1850-1983)'', Aggie Qualter, 1984. * ''Athenry: A Brief History and Guide'', Ann Healy, 1989. * ''The Lamberts of Athenry'', ed. Finnbarr O'Regan, Galway, 1999. * ''Pádraig Ó Fathaigh's War of Independence: Recollections of a Gaelic Leaguer'', ed. Timothy G. McMahon, Irish Narratives series, Cork University Press, 2000. * ''The Fields of Athenry: A Journey Through Irish History'', James Charles Roy, Westview Press, 2001 {{DEFAULTSORT:Lardner, Larry Year of birth unknown 1936 deaths Irish republicans Irish Republican Army (1919–1922) members Irish Republican Army (1922–1969) members People from Athenry People of the Easter Rising People of the Irish Civil War