Rosary beads, Kevin Barry, 1920

Rosary beads, Kevin Barry, 1920

These rosary beads belonged to Kevin Barry, and were found in his pocket after his execution.
Kevin Barry, a UCD medical student and member of ‘H’ Company, 1^st Battalion Dublin Brigade of the IRA, had been active in a number of operations since he joined at the age of 15. In September 1920 he took part in an ambush on a British Army truck in which a number of soldiers were killed.
Barry was captured and tortured for information, and was executed in Mountjoy Jail on 1^st November 1920, aged 18. He was the first man to be executed for republican activities since the execution of the leaders of the 1916 Rising, and the first of the ten IRA men executed between 1920 and 1921 who would become known as the Mountjoy Ten.