Richard Barrett (17 December 1889 – 8 December 1922), commonly called Dick Barrett, was a prominent
Irish Republican Army
The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is a name used by various paramilitary organisations in Ireland throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Organisations by this name have been dedicated to irredentism through Irish republicanism, the belief th ...
officer who fought in the
War of Independence
This is a list of wars of independence (also called liberation wars). These wars may or may not have been successful in achieving a goal of independence.
List
See also
* Lists of active separatist movements
* List of civil wars
* List of ...
and on the Anti-Treaty side in the
Irish Civil War
The Irish Civil War ( ga, Cogadh Cathartha na hÉireann; 28 June 1922 – 24 May 1923) was a conflict that followed the Irish War of Independence and accompanied the establishment of the Irish Free State, an entity independent from the United ...
. He was assistant quartermaster-general of the IRA with the rank of commandant. During the Civil War he was captured by Free State forces at the Four Courts on 30 June 1922 and later executed unlawfully on 8 December 1922.
Barrett's execution by the Free State has been described as "murder" by Irish
Taoiseach
The Taoiseach is the head of government, or prime minister, of Ireland. The office is appointed by the president of Ireland upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legislature) and the of ...
and head of
Fianna Fáil
Fianna Fáil (, ; meaning 'Soldiers of Destiny' or 'Warriors of Fál'), officially Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party ( ga, audio=ga-Fianna Fáil.ogg, Fianna Fáil – An Páirtí Poblachtánach), is a conservative and Christia ...
party
Micheál Martin. In 2011, then Taoiseach
Leo Varadkar
Leo Eric Varadkar ( ; born 18 January 1979) is an Irish politician who has served as Taoiseach since December 2022, and previously from 2017 to 2020. He served as Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment from June 2020 to D ...
said "People who were murdered or executed without trial by the Cumann na nGaedheal Government were murdered. It was an atrocity and those people killed without a trial by the first government were murdered."
Early life
Richard Barrett was born 17 December 1889 in Knockacullen (Hollyhill),
Ballineen
The twin villages of Ballineen () and Enniskeane () in County Cork in Ireland are southwest of Cork City, on the R586 road. Ballineen and Enniskean lie on the River Bandon between Bandon and Dunmanway and the fertile Bandon valley.
History
Bal ...
,
County Cork
County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns a ...
, son of Richard Barrett, farmer, and Ellen Barrett (née Henigan). Educated at Knocks and Knockskagh national schools, he entered the
De La Salle College,
Waterford
"Waterford remains the untaken city"
, mapsize = 220px
, pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe
, pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe
, pushpin_relief = 1
, coordinates ...
, where he trained to be a teacher. Obtaining a first-class diploma, he first taught at
Ballinamult
Ballinamult () is a hamlet in County Waterford situated near the border with County Tipperary.
It is in the historic Sliabh gCua district between the Comeragh and Knockmealdown Mountains.
Ballinamult Barracks
The barracks was built by 1714 as ...
,
County Tipperary
County Tipperary ( ga, Contae Thiobraid Árann) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. The county is named after the town of Tipperary, and was established in the early 13th century, shortly after ...
but then returned to Cork in early 1914 to take up a position at the Upton industrial school. Within months he was appointed principal of
Gurrane National School. Devoted to the Irish language and honorary secretary of Knockavilla GAA club, Barrett did much to popularise both movements in the southern and western districts of Cork. He appears to have been a member of the Cork Young Ireland Society.
War of Independence
From 1917, inspired by the Easter rising, Barrett took a prominent part in the organisation and operation of the
Irish Volunteers
The Irish Volunteers ( ga, Óglaigh na hÉireann), sometimes called the Irish Volunteer Force or Irish Volunteer Army, was a military organisation established in 1913 by Irish nationalists and republicans. It was ostensibly formed in respon ...
and
IRB. By this time he was also involved with
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Gr ...
, in which role he attended the ard-fheis at the Mansion House in October 1917 and the convention of the Irish Volunteers at Croke Park immediately afterwards. What follows is a description of the convention by
Richard Walsh:
Through planning and participating in raids and gun-running episodes, Barrett came into close contact with many
GHQ staff during the
War of Independence
This is a list of wars of independence (also called liberation wars). These wars may or may not have been successful in achieving a goal of independence.
List
See also
* Lists of active separatist movements
* List of civil wars
* List of ...
, thereby ensuring his own rapid promotion. Dick Barrett was an active
IRA brigade staff officer and occasionally acted as commandant of the West Cork III Brigade. He also organised fundraising activities for the purchase of weapons and for comrades on the run. In July 1920, following the arrest of the Cork III Brigade commander Tom Hales and quartermaster Pat Harte, Barrett was appointed its quartermaster. He was arrested on 22 March 1921 and imprisoned in Cork jail, later being sent to
Spike Island, County Cork
Spike Island ( gle, Inis Píc) is an island of in Cork Harbour, Ireland. Originally the site of a monastic settlement, the island is dominated by an 18th-century bastion fort now named Fort Mitchel.
The island's strategic location within t ...
.
Spike Island
As one of the senior officers held in Spike Island, Barrett was involved in many of the incidents that occurred during his time there. After the
truce
A ceasefire (also known as a truce or armistice), also spelled cease fire (the antonym of 'open fire'), is a temporary stoppage of a war in which each side agrees with the other to suspend aggressive actions. Ceasefires may be between state ac ...
was declared on 11 July 1921, some prisoners went on hunger strike but Barrett called it off after a number of days on instructions from outside as a decision had been made that able-bodied men were more important to the cause.
In November, he escaped by row boat alongside
Moss (Maurice) Twomey
Maurice Twomey ( ga, Muirgheas Ó Tuama; 10 June 1897 – October 1978) was an Irish republican and the longest serving chief of staff of the Irish Republican Army (IRA).
Early life
Twomey was born in 1897 in Clondulane, near Fermoy, Cou ...
, Henry O'Mahoney, Tom Crofts, Bill Quirke, Dick Eddy and Paddy Buckley.
Irish Civil War
Following the War of Independence, Barrett supported the
Anti-Treaty IRA's refusal to submit to the authority of the
Dáil (civil government of the Irish Republic declared in 1919). He was opposed to the
Anglo-Irish Treaty
The 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty ( ga , An Conradh Angla-Éireannach), commonly known in Ireland as The Treaty and officially the Articles of Agreement for a Treaty Between Great Britain and Ireland, was an agreement between the government of the ...
and called for the total elimination of English influence in Ireland. In April 1922, Barrett was one of some 200 hardline anti-treaty men who took over the
Four Courts building in the centre of
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...
in defiance of the new Irish government. They wanted to provoke British troops, who were still in the country, into attacking them. They hoped this would restart the war with Britain and reunite the IRA against their common enemy. However, on 28 June 1922, after the Four Courts garrison had kidnapped J.J. O'Connell, a general in the new
Free State Army, Collins' soldiers shelled the Four Courts with British artillery to spark off what became known as the
Battle of Dublin
The Battle of Dublin was a week of street battles in Dublin from 28 June to 5 July 1922 that marked the beginning of the Irish Civil War. Six months after the Anglo-Irish Treaty ended the recent Irish War of Independence, it was fought betw ...
. The garrison surrendered following two days of fighting. Barrett, the assistant quartermaster-general, was arrested and held with most of his comrades in
Mountjoy Gaol
Mountjoy Prison ( ga, Príosún Mhuinseo), founded as Mountjoy Gaol and nicknamed ''The Joy'', is a medium security men's prison located in Phibsborough in the centre of Dublin, Ireland.
The current prison Governor is Edward Mullins.
History
...
. This incident marked the official outbreak of the
Irish Civil War
The Irish Civil War ( ga, Cogadh Cathartha na hÉireann; 28 June 1922 – 24 May 1923) was a conflict that followed the Irish War of Independence and accompanied the establishment of the Irish Free State, an entity independent from the United ...
, as fighting escalated around the country between pro- and anti-treaty factions.
Execution
After the death of
Michael Collins Michael Collins or Mike Collins most commonly refers to:
* Michael Collins (Irish leader) (1890–1922), Irish revolutionary leader, soldier, and politician
* Michael Collins (astronaut) (1930–2021), American astronaut, member of Apollo 11 and ...
in an ambush, a period of tit-for-tat revenge killings ensued. The government implemented martial law and enacted the necessary legislation to set up military courts. In November, the government began to execute Anti-Treaty prisoners, including
Erskine Childers. In response, Liam Lynch, the Anti-Treaty Chief of Staff, gave an order that any member of the Dáil who had voted for the 'murder legislation' was to be shot on sight.
On 7 December 1922,
TD Sean Hales
Seán Hales (30 March 1880 – 7 December 1922) was an Irish political activist and member of Dáil Éireann from May 1921 to December 1922.
Biography
Hales was born in Ballinadee, Bandon, County Cork as John Hales, one of nine children of R ...
was killed by anti-Treaty IRA men as he left the
Dáil. Another TD
Pádraic Ó Máille
Pádraic Ó Máille (23 February 1878 – 19 January 1946) was an Irish politician. He was a founder member of Sinn Féin and of the Conradh na Gaeilge in Galway. He was a member of the Irish Volunteers from 1917 to 1921.
He was born in Kilmilk ...
was also shot and badly wounded in the incident. An emergency cabinet meeting was allegedly held the next day to discuss the assassination of Hales. It was proposed that four prominent members of the Anti-Treaty side currently held as prisoners be executed as a reprisal and deterrent. The names put forward were Barrett, O'Connor,
Liam Mellows and
Joe McKelvey. It has been alleged that the four were chosen to represent each of the four provinces –
Munster
Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following t ...
,
Connacht
Connacht ( ; ga, Connachta or ), is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms ( Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, Conmhaícne, and ...
,
Leinster
Leinster ( ; ga, Laighin or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, situated in the southeast and east of Ireland. The province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige. Following the 12th-century Norman invasion of ...
and
Ulster
Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kin ...
respectively, but none of the four was actually from Connacht. The executions were ordered by Justice Minister
Kevin O'Higgins
Kevin Christopher O'Higgins ( ga, Caoimhghín Críostóir Ó hUigín; 7 June 1892 – 10 July 1927) was an Irish politician who served as Vice-President of the Executive Council and Minister for Justice from 1922 to 1927, Minister for External ...
. At 2 o'clock on the morning of 8 December 1922, Dick Barrett was awoken along with the other three and informed that they were all to be executed at 8 o'clock that morning.
File:Richard Barrett, IRA, page 1 of letter written prior to execution, 1922.jpg
File:Richard Barrett, IRA, page 2 of letter written prior to execution, 1922.jpg
Bloody ironies would stack one upon the other. Barrett was a member of the same IRA brigade as Hales during the Anglo-Irish War, and they were childhood friends. O'Connor had been best man at O'Higgins' wedding less than a year earlier. The rest of Sean Hales’ family had remained staunchly anti-Treaty, and publicly denounced the executions. In reprisal for O'Higgins' role in the executions, the Anti-Treaty IRA killed his father and burned his family home in
Stradbally,
County Laois
County Laois ( ; gle, Contae Laoise) is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and in the province of Leinster. It was known as Queen's County from 1556 to 1922. The modern county takes its name from Loígis, a med ...
. O'Higgins himself would die by an assassin's hand on 10 July 1927 (see also
Executions during the Irish Civil War).
The executions stunned Ireland. The Free State government continued to execute enemy prisoners, and 81 men were executed by the Free State army by the end of the war.
Barrett is now buried in his home county, Cork, following exhumation and reinterment by a later government. A monument was erected by old comrades of the West Cork Brigade, the First Southern Division, IRA, and of the Four Courts, Dublin, garrison in 1922
which was unveiled on 13 December 1952 by the
Tánaiste
The Tánaiste ( , ) is the deputy head of the government of Ireland and thus holder of its second-most senior office. The Tánaiste is appointed by the President of Ireland on the advice of the Taoiseach. The current office holder is former Tao ...
Seán Lemass.
A poem about the execution was written by
Galway
Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a City status in Ireland, city in the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lo ...
clergyman
Pádraig de Brún
Pádraig de Brún (13 October 1889 – 5 June 1960), also called Patrick Joseph Monsignor Browne, was an Irish clergyman, mathematician, poet, and classical scholar, who served as President of University College, Galway (UCG). He was also know ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barrett, Richard
1889 births
1922 deaths
People from County Cork
Irish Republican Army (1919–1922) members
Irish Republican Army (1922–1969) members
People of the Irish Civil War (Anti-Treaty side)
Executed Irish people
People executed by the Irish Free State
People executed by Ireland by firing squad
Alumni of De La Salle Teacher Training College, Waterford