I was reading over the weekend on Ireland in History Day by Day of the plot to free two Fenian leaders in which a policeman was killed, for which three Irishmen were hanged. They became known as the Manchester Martyrs. Earlier this summer, the Manchester Martyrs became a curiosity for me when, within a week, I came across monuments in honour of the three Manchester Martyrs in Ladysbridge in East Cork and also in Birr, Co. Offaly. The web reminded me as to the monument in Ennis that I photographed a while back and also educated that there are other monuments to Philip Allen, Michael Larkin and Michael O’Brien in Tipperary Town; Mount St. Lawrence Cemetery, Limerick; Kilrush; Clonmel; Glasnevin Cemetery; and, Manchester. I know a bit more now. | “18 September 1867: The rescue of the Fenian Leaders Colonel Thomas Kelly and Captain Timothy Deasy on this day. They were freed from captivity in Manchester, England. Col. Kelly was the head of the revolutionary Irish organisation, the Fenians, at the time. He was arrested with his aide de camp, Timothy Deasy. His identification by an informer led the Manchester Fenians to decide on the prison rescue.” |