The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1904-06-04
The Late Tomas Barry, Of Cork,
an Active Nationalist Since
Boyhood.
In Prison Times Without Mum.
Der for the Cause He Held
So Dear.


of the United Irish league, in a recent
letter to the Irish World has the fol-
lowing to say in reference to the late
Thomas Barry. one of the best and
most noted Nationalist on either side
of the Atlantic during the past thirty
years:
The Irish mail to hand brings news
of the death of one of the sturdiest
fighters in the Irish national ranks in
Munster, and indeed in Ireland during
the struggle of the last twenty-five
years, Mr.. Thomas Barry, member of
the Cork county council, and for sew
eral years past, since the passage of
the local government act of 1898, chair
man of the Mallow rural district coun-
Gil.
Mr.. Barry, whose name will be
known to former residents of Munster
wherever they reside throughout the
United States, died on May 9th, at his
home near Killavullon, after a very
brief illness, his death being entirely
unexpected. Although he had not been
well for some weeks past. it was felt
that his sturdy frame and robust con-
stitution ensured his recovery, but such
was not to be.
Repeated terms of imprisonment for
his connection With the Irish national
cause during the past quarter of a cen
fury had undoubtedly undermined his
health, for the sulferings he underwent
in prison, although he never complain
ell or wished to talk of them. We're suf-
fcicnt to break down the most rugged
frame.
From his boyhood Mr.. Barry was
known as sturdy and earnest fighter
in the Nationalist ranks wherever the
fight was thickcst throughout Munster.
At the very start of the Land league
by Davitt in 1870 he threw himself
heart and soul into the movement, and
almost Immediately by his strong char
by popular choice as we'll as by gov
ernmental attention as among the lead
ers of the national cause in his section
of the country. He was then little
more than a boy, but from that time
up to his death he was in the thick of
the fray. Indeed, it is no eXaggeration
to say that to his eXertions more than
to those Of any other one man was due
revolutionary changes in the social and
political life of his district which have
been brought about in the interval.
At an early stage in the Land league
movement Mr.. Barry succeeded in
Wrestling from the hands Of the local
landlords the representation in the poor
law board in Mallow, and one by one
| the blows he struck at the castle in
stitution succeeded in finally demol-
fishing it. The board which he entered
alone as Nationalist twenty years
ago is to-day unanimously National
list body, and mainly through his eff
forts
Mr. Barry's activity in the national
struggle frequently brought him into
collision with the officials of Dublin
castle. and more than half a dozen
times he was sent to prison for his
connection with the Land league, the
National league and the United Irish
| league movements. He took q most
active part in the prediction cam
paign which twenty years ago resulted
in Mr.. William O'Brien's first election
as member for MallOw in the British
Parliament, and at later period was
foremost in the national protest made
by the people of Ireland against the
political campaigning tour made by the
present King of England, then Prince
of Wales, to Ireland in 1885.
Every political honor his Nationalist
fcllow-countrymen could bestow on
him they conferred, and as far back
as Parnelrs time he on more than one
occasion declined to allow himself to
be nominated for seat in Parliament,
although his election would have been
practically unanimous. He preferred
to take a more humble place i'll the
fight on the old soil, among those who
knew and loved him.
He had been successfully poor law
guardian of the Mallow union, a mem
Der and at his death chairman of the
Mallow rural district council, n mem.
Der Of the Cork county council and one
of the three representatives by election
from the county Cork on the board of
agricultural and technical instruction
in Ireland, established after the pas
sage of the local government act III
1898. He was also magistrate fol
the Mallow district, by virtue Of his
position as chairman of the district
council, and in that capacity frequent
ly sat on the bench beside the Dublin
castle magistrates, who, on more thar
one occasion, had sent him to prison
Mr.. Barry was also the representa-
tive of northeast Cork on the nationa
directory of the United Irish league.
The fight made by Mr.. Barry in tho
early eighties against the imposition OF
the people of the ubiquitous police Ia,
for the protection of landlords and lant
grabbers was so successful that i
really led to the breakdown of tn