On the day Kevin Barry was arrested for the murder of Pte Matthew Whitehead the exam board at UCD decided the 18-year-old medical student had failed his first year. According to his nephew and biographer, Donal O'Donovan, Barry enjoyed his time at college and was fond of drinking and dancing.
He also enjoyed holidays spent on the family dairy farm in Carlow and divided his time between there and 8 Fleet Street, Dublin, now home to House of Rock, a restaurant and bar. He was the fourth child of seven.
At Belvedere College, Barry played the unusual combination of rugby and hurling.
While most of his family were nationalists his older sister Cathy was actively involved in the republican movement. At 15, Barry joined the Irish Volunteers.
At 11 a.m. on September 20th, 1920, Barry and three men ambushed a group of soldiers collecting bread from Monk's Bakery on North King Street. One soldier was killed, and two who were wounded died later. Kevin Barry was arrested at the scene with an automatic pistol. He was court-martialled and sentenced to death.
The Archbishop of Dublin and the Lord Mayor of Dublin wrote to the British Prime Minister Lloyd George asking for a reprieve for Barry especially on account of his young age. The Inspector General of the Royal Irish Constabulary threatened to resign if a reprieve was granted. Barry, he said, was only a year younger than one of the men killed.
Some 2,000 people gathered outside Mountjoy prison on November 1st, the morning of his execution. "Many of the women were in tears and even men displayed signs of emotion," an Irish Times report from the day said. Kevin Barry was the first person to be executed in Mountjoy Prison in nearly 20 years.
An affidavit from Barry was read out in the House of Commons after the execution describing how he had been mistreated in custody.