Patrick Maher was a member of the Irish Republican Army

Irish Republican Army

The Irish Republican Army was an Irish republican revolutionary military organisation. It was descended from the Irish Volunteers, an organisation established on 25 November 1913 that staged the Easter Rising in April 1916...

 executed in Mountjoy Prison

Mountjoy Prison

Mountjoy Prison , founded as Mountjoy Gaol, nicknamed The Joy, is a medium security prison located in Phibsboro in the centre of Dublin, Ireland. It has the largest prison population in Ireland.The current prison governor is Mr...

. He was aged 32 and a native of Limerick.

Background

Maher was hanged along with Edmond Foley

Edmond Foley (Irish Republican)

Edmond Foley , sometimes known as Edmund or Edward, was a member of the Irish Republican Army who was hanged in Mountjoy Prison on 7 June 1921. Together with nine other men executed by hanging during the War of Independence, he was one of The Forgotten Ten.-Background:Foley was a native of...

 for his alleged involvement in the rescue of Seán Hogan

Seán Hogan

Seán Hogan was one of the leaders of the 3rd Tipperary Brigade of the Irish Republican Army during the War of Independence.-Soloheadbeg:...

 at Knocklong

Knocklong

Knocklong is a small village situated in County Limerick, Ireland, located on the main Limerick to Mitchelstown to Cork road.-History:Knocklong was originally known as Druim Damhghaire, the Ridge of the Oxen, but takes its present title from Cnoc Luinge, the Hill of the Encampment. According to...

 Railway Station on 13 May 1919 in which two policemen died.

Trial and Execution

Unlike Foley, Maher had no direct involvement in the rescue. He merely worked at the station grading poultry and eggs and he was at a crossroads three miles away at the time of the ambush.. Nonetheless he was convicted of involvement and sentenced to death.

In a final message to other members of the IRA, Foley and Maher wrote:

Reinterment

He is one of a group of men hanged and buried in Mountjoy in the period 1920-21 commonly referred to as The Forgotten Ten

The Forgotten Ten

The Forgotten Ten is the term applied to ten members of the Irish Republican Army who were executed in Mountjoy Prison, Dublin by British forces following courts martial from 1920-1921 during the Irish War of Independence. Based upon military law at the time, they were buried within the prison...

. In 2001 Maher and the other nine, including Kevin Barry

Kevin Barry

Kevin Gerard Barry 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...

, were exhumed and given a full State funeral. He is the only one of the Ten not to be buried in Glasnevin Cemetery

Glasnevin Cemetery

Glasnevin Cemetery , officially known as Prospect Cemetery, is the largest non-denominational cemetery in Ireland with an estimated 1.5 million burials...

, Dublin. In accordance with his wishes and those of his family he is buried at Ballylanders, Co. Limerick.

External links

• Galbally Memorial Inscription from irishwarmemorials.ie 3-11-2008