The Forgotten Ten - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Forgotten Ten is the term applied to ten members 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...

who were 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...

, Dublin by British forces following courts martial from 1920-1921 during the Irish War of Independence

Irish War of Independence

The Irish War of Independence , Anglo-Irish War, Black and Tan War, or Tan War was a guerrilla war mounted by the Irish Republican Army against the British government and its forces in Ireland. It began in January 1919, following the Irish Republic's declaration of independence. Both sides agreed...

. Based upon military law at the time, they were buried within the prison precincts, their graves unmarked in the unconsecrated ground

Consecration

Consecration is the solemn dedication to a special purpose or service, usually religious. The word "consecration" literally means "to associate with the sacred". Persons, places, or things can be consecrated, and the term is used in various ways by different groups...

. The names of the Forgotten Ten are 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...

, Patrick Moran, Frank Flood

Frank Flood

Francis Xavier Flood , known as Frank, was a 1st Lieutenant in the Dublin Active Service Brigade during the Irish War of Independence...

, Thomas Whelan

Thomas Whelan

Thomas Whelan was one of six men executed in Mountjoy Prison, Dublin on 14 March 1921. He was 22 years old at the time of his death.- Background :...

, Thomas Traynor

Thomas Traynor

Thomas Traynor, was a member of the Irish Republican Army hanged in Mountjoy Prison during the Irish War of Independence.-Background:...

, Patrick Doyle

Patrick Doyle (Irish Republican)

Patrick Doyle was one of six men hanged in Mountjoy Prison on the morning of the 14 of March 1921. He was aged 29 and lived at St. Mary's Place, Dublin. He was one of The Forgotten Ten.-Background:...

, Thomas Bryan

Thomas Bryan (Irish Republican)

Thomas Bryan was member of the Irish Republican Army hanged in Mountjoy Prison on 14 March 1921 along with six other men.-Background:...

, Bernard Ryan

Bernard Ryan

Bernard Ryan was one of six men hanged in Mountjoy Prison, Dublin on the 14 March 1921. He was a member of the Irish Republican Army and part of the Dublin Brigade's Active Service Unit...

, 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...

and Patrick Maher

Patrick Maher (Irish Republican)

Patrick Maher was a member of the Irish Republican Army executed in Mountjoy Prison. He was aged 32 and a native of Limerick.-Background:...

.

The executions were carried out by Thomas Pierrepoint

Thomas Pierrepoint

Thomas William Pierrepoint was one of the United Kingdom's executioners from 1906 until 1946. He was the brother of Henry and uncle of Albert....

and his assistant John Ellis

John Ellis (executioner)

John Ellis was a Rochdale hairdresser and newsagent who served as one of the United Kingdom's executioners for 23 years, from 1901 to 1924....

, the official hangmen at that time.

Campaign for Reburial

Following the Irish War of Independence

Irish War of Independence

, Mountjoy Prison was transferred to the control of the Irish Free State

Irish Free State

The Irish Free State was the state established as a Dominion on 6 December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty, signed by the British government and Irish representatives exactly twelve months beforehand...

, which became the State of Ireland

Republic of Ireland

Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...

in 1937. In the 1920s, the families of the dead men requested their remains be returned to them for proper burial. This effort was joined in the later 1920s by the National Graves Association

National Graves Association

The National Graves Association is an Irish non-governmental organisation which seeks to maintain the graves of Irish republicans who died in the pursuit of a united Ireland...

. Through the efforts of the Association, the graves of the men were identified in 1934, and in 1996 a Celtic Cross

Celtic cross

A Celtic cross is a symbol that combines a cross with a ring surrounding the intersection. In the Celtic Christian world it was combined with the Christian cross and this design was often used for high crosses – a free-standing cross made of stone and often richly decorated...

was erected 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...

to commemorate them.

State Funeral

The campaign to rebury the men would drag on for eighty years from their deaths. Following an intense period of negotiations, the Irish government relented. Plans to exhume the bodies of the ten men were announced on 1 November 2000, the 80th anniversary of the execution of Kevin Barry. On October 14, 2001, the Forgotten Ten were afforded full state honours, with a private service at Mountjoy Prison for the families of the dead, a requiem mass at St Mary's Pro-Cathedral

St Mary's Pro-Cathedral

St Mary's Church , known also as St Mary's Pro-Cathedral or simply the Pro-Cathedral, is a pro-cathedral and is the episcopal seat of the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin and Primate of Ireland.-Status as "pro-cathedral":...

and burial 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...

.

According to the The Guardian

The Guardian

The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...

some criticised the event as glorifying militant Irish republicanism

Irish Republicanism

Irish republicanism is an ideology based on the belief that all of Ireland should be an independent republic.In 1801, under the Act of Union, the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland merged to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...

. It was also suggested that the event was coordinated for political opportunism since it coincided with the Fianna Fáil

Fianna Fáil

Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party , more commonly known as Fianna Fáil is a centrist political party in the Republic of Ireland, founded on 23 March 1926. Fianna Fáil's name is traditionally translated into English as Soldiers of Destiny, although a more accurate rendition would be Warriors of Fál...

party conference.

The progress of the cortège through the centre of Dublin was witnessed by crowds estimated as being in the tens of thousands who broke into spontaneous applause as the coffins passed. On O'Connell Street

O'Connell Street

O'Connell Street is Dublin's main thoroughfare. It measures 49 m in width at its southern end, 46 m at the north, and is 500 m in length...

a lone piper played a lament as the cortege paused outside the General Post Office

General Post Office (Dublin)

The General Post Office ' in Dublin is the headquarters of the Irish postal service, An Post, and Dublin's principal post office...

, the focal point of the 1916 Easter Rising

Easter Rising

The Easter Rising was an insurrection staged in Ireland during Easter Week, 1916. The Rising was mounted by Irish republicans with the aims of ending British rule in Ireland and establishing the Irish Republic at a time when the British Empire was heavily engaged in the First World War...

.. In his homily during the requiem mass, Cardinal

Cardinal (Catholicism)

A cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official, usually an ordained bishop, and ecclesiastical prince of the Catholic Church. They are collectively known as the College of Cardinals, which as a body elects a new pope. The duties of the cardinals include attending the meetings of the College and...

Cahal Daly, a long-time critic of the IRA campaign

Provisional Irish Republican Army

The Provisional Irish Republican Army is an Irish republican paramilitary organisation whose aim was to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and bring about a socialist republic within a united Ireland by force of arms and political persuasion...

in Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

, insisted that there was a clear distinction between the conflict of 1916-22 and the paramilitary-led violence of the previous 30 years:
In his graveside oration the Taoiseach

Taoiseach

The Taoiseach is the head of government or prime minister of Ireland. The Taoiseach is appointed by the President upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas , and must, in order to remain in office, retain the support of a majority in the Dáil.The current Taoiseach is...

Bertie Ahern

Patrick Bartholomew "Bertie" Ahern is a former Irish politician who served as Taoiseach of Ireland from 26 June 1997 to 7 May 2008....

echoed these sentiments and also paid tribute to the Ten:
The state funeral, broadcast live on national television and radio, was only the thirteenth since independence.. Patrick Maher would not be reburied with his comrades. In accordance with his wishes, and those of his family, he was reinterred in Ballylanders

Ballylanders

Ballylanders is a village in south County Limerick, Ireland. It is situated on the R513; Mitchelstown-Limerick regional road, being approximately 14 km. from the former and 44 km. from the latter...

, County Limerick

County Limerick

It is thought that humans had established themselves in the Lough Gur area of the county as early as 3000 BC, while megalithic remains found at Duntryleague date back further to 3500 BC...

.

A feature length Irish language

Irish language

Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...

documentary on the re-interrments, An Deichniúr Dearmadta (The Forgotten Ten) aired on TG4

TG4

TG4 is a public service broadcaster for Irish language speakers. The channel has been on-air since 31 October 1996 in the Republic of Ireland and since April 2005 in Northern Ireland....

on 28 March 2002.

Campaign for Reburial

State Funeral

See also