page_title: Manchester Martyrs
section_title: Monuments
hierarchical_section_title: Manchester Martyrs / Monuments
caption_attribution_description: This monument, raised by public subscription, was erected to the memory of the Manchester Martyrs and stands in the Roman Catholic Cemetery in Moston, North Manchester, England,UK. See wikipedia article entitled Manchester Martyrs.
context_page_description: The Manchester Martyrs— William Philip Allen, Michael Larkin, and Michael O'Brien—were three men executed for the murder of a police officer in Manchester, England, in 1867, during an incident that became known as the Manchester Outrages. The three were members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, also known as the Fenians, an organisation dedicated to ending British rule in Ireland, and were among a group of 30–40 Fenians who attacked a horse-drawn police van transporting two arrested leaders of the Brotherhood, Thomas J. Kelly and Timothy Deasy, to Belle Vue Gaol. Police Sergeant Charles Brett, travelling inside with the keys, was shot and killed as the attackers attempted to force the van open by blowing the lock. Kelly and Deasy were released after another prisoner in the van took the keys from Brett's body and passed them to the group outside through a ventilation grill; the pair were never recaptured, despite an extensive search.
context_section_description: Monuments erected in honour of Allen, Larkin, and O'Brien stand in Tralee (County Kerry), Limerick, Kilrush (County Clare), Clonmel (County Tipperary), Tipperary Town (County Tipperary), Birr (County Offaly), Ennis (County Clare), Milltown Cemetery, Belfast, (County Antrim), Ladysbridge (County Cork), Glasnevin Cemetery (Dublin), and in St Joseph's Cemetery, Moston, Manchester. The monument in St Joseph's Cemetery was designed by J. Geraghty and unveiled in November 1898 (53°30′56.17″N 2°11′24.14″W). Commissioned by the Manchester Martyrs Central Memorial Committee, it stands just over 20 feet (6 m) high and takes the form of a Celtic cross. On three sides of the pedestal are medallion portraits of the three men, originally surmounted by figures of the Irish Wolfhound, now removed. The site of this monument has been the scene of several disturbances, as it has been the tradition for Republican sympathisers to parade there on the anniversary of the deaths of those hanged. The monument has suffered several attacks to its structure, as well as acts of vandalism, and is listed as being "at risk" by the Public Monument and Sculpture Association National Recording Project.
  To commemorate the centenary of the men's execution, the Manchester Connolly Association commissioned the artist Arthur Dooley to produce a memorial sculpture to stand on the site of New Bailey prison in Salford. There was opposition to the proposal, and it seems that the sculpture was never made, let alone installed. Dooley did however produce a foot-high maquette which now forms part of the collection of the Working Class Movement Library in Manchester. The maquette suggests that the memorial was to consist of a Wicklow granite base with three standing steel pillars with attached Celtic shields each bearing a martyr's name and some detail of the event's significance.  The maquette was donated to the WCML in 2011 by the family of Jud Cooper who had been given the maquette by Dooley.
  
  Police Sergeant Brett was buried in Harpurhey Cemetery; the words "I will do my duty" are engraved on his tombstone. There is also a memorial tablet to him in St Ann's Church, Manchester.
caption: Monument to the Manchester Martyrs in St Joseph's Cemetery, Moston, Manchester
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