TS-EMOG-0520

Record Date: 
19 January 2016
Graveyard: 
Emly
Exact wording of epitaph: 

ALLEN ,  

LARKIN,  

O’BRIEN , 

BARRET

 DIED   FOR   IRELAND  

NOV  23RD   1867.

 FAR   DEARER  THE  GRAVE   OR  THE  PRISON ,

ILLUMED  BY  ONE  PATRIOT’S   NAME ,

THAN  THE  TROPHIES  OF  ALL  WHO  HAVE  RISEN,

ON   LIBERTY’S   RUIN   TO   FAME.

 GOD    SAVE   IRELAND.

Memorial Type: 
Celtic Cross
Grave location
County: 
Tipperary
Latitude: 
52.46277
Longitude: 
-8.3510266666667
Number of people commemorated: 
4
People commemorated: 
Surname: 
Allen
Date of death - day: 
23
Date of death - month: 
November
Date of death - year: 
1867
Surname: 
Larkin
Date of death - day: 
23
Date of death - month: 
November
Date of death - year: 
1867
Surname: 
O'Brien
Date of death - day: 
23
Date of death - month: 
November
Date of death - year: 
1867
Surname: 
Barret
Notes: 

One  of  many   memorials  erected  in  Ireland   to   the    Manchester   Martyrs  .  

William   Philip   Allen  (1848-1867),   Michael   Larkin (1838-1867)  and  Michael  O’Brien  (1836-1867),   were  executed   on   the  23-11-1867  at  New  Bailey  prison  in  Salford,  Manchester by head hangman William Calcraft  and  they  were  buried  in  quicklime  in  the  prison  cemetery.  

They   were  members  of  the  I.R.B  and  were  falsely   accused   of  the   murder   of  a   policeman  who  was  shot  when   two  Fenian  prisoners  under  armed  guard  in  a  prison  van  were   freed   by   I.R.B .  supporters  in   Manchester.

In 1868 their bodies were transferred to the new Strangeways Prison and when this gaol was being renovated in 1991, the remains of all those buried there were cremated and reinterred at Blackley cemetery in Manchester, but as the bodies of the Manchester Martyrs hadn’t been segregated, their ashes couldn’t be identified, and so efforts by the Irish government in 2006 to have them brought home to Ireland came to nothing.

Michael    Barret ,  whose   surname   is  on  the  inscription,  was  also  convicted   of   the  same   offence and of the Clerkenwell prison explosion in London  and he  was  executed  in front of Newgate prison in London on  May  26th 1868.

William Philip Allen was born near Tipperary Town in Apr 1848 to a Protestant father & a Catholic mother. When he was three yers old, the family moved to Bandon, Co. Cork.

Michael  Larkin was born in Aug 1838 in the parish of Lusmagh, near Parsonstown, Co. Offaly.

Michael  O'Brien was born circa 1836 in Ballymacoda in the parish of Kilmacdonagh, Co. Cork. His father was a substantial farmer but in 1856 the family were evicted from their home..

Michael  Barrett was born circa 1841 in Drumnagreshial in the Ederney area of Co. Fermanagh.