Kevin Barry - The Wolftones (Live in concert in Dublin) with lyrics on screen. video free download

(In the photo Barry is pictured in the rugby jersey of Belvedere College, Dublin). Kevin Gerard Barry (Irish: Caoimhín de Barra ) (20 January 1902 -- 1 November 1920) was the first Irish republican to be executed by the British since the leaders of the Easter Rising. Barry was sentenced to death for his part in an IRA operation which resulted in the deaths of three British soldiers.

Barry's death is considered a watershed moment in the Irish conflict. His execution outraged public opinion in Ireland and throughout the world, because of his youth. The timing of his death was also crucial, in that his hanging came only days after the death on hunger strike of Terence MacSwiney - the republican Lord Mayor of Cork -- and brought public opinion to fever-pitch. His treatment and death attracted great international attention and attempts were made by U.S., British, and Vatican officials to secure a reprieve. His execution and MacSwiney's death precipitated a dramatic escalation in violence as the Irish War of Independence entered its most bloody phase.

Because of his refusal to inform on his comrades while under torture, Kevin Barry was to become one of the most celebrated of republican martyrs. This ballad bearing his name, relating the story of his execution, is arguably the most famous Irish freedom ballad of the entire twentieth century. It has been sung by artists as diverse as Paul Robeson, Leonard Cohen and The Dubliners and is popular to this day.

Kevin Barry was hanged on 1 November, after hearing two Masses in his cell. Father Waters, who walked with him to the scaffold, wrote to Barry's mother later, "You are the mother, my dear Mrs. Barry, of one of the bravest and best boys I have ever known. His death was one of the most holy, and your dear boy is waiting for you now, beyond the reach of sorrow or trial."