Administrative History
Kevin Barry (20 January 1902–1 November 1920) was a medical student at University College Dublin and a member of the 'H' Company of the Irish Volunteers.
He was arrested by the British Army during the war of independence for his part in an ambush on a British Army vehicle which resulted in the deaths of three British officers. He was subsequently charged with murder for his part in the ambush and was executed by hanging on 1 November 1920 at eighteen years of age. Shortly after his death, the Student’s Representative Council of University College Dublin agreed that a memorial should be erected in his honor, funded by students and graduates of the university.
A committee was formed to appeal to graduates of University College Dublin for funds to create the memorial. Through the collection of subscriptions and the sale of mortuary cards, the Kevin Barry Memorial Fund gathered the sum of £100 to pay for the project.
Following this initial period, there was a lull in activities and the money already collected rested with the trustees of the fund. Interest in erecting a memorial was renewed in 1929 when the Kevin Barry Memorial Committee, also referred to as the Kevin Barry Memorial Fund, was re-established, almost a decade following Barry's execution. The committee featured members such as John V. Bourke, secretary of the committee, Richard McA. O’Rahilly (who appears within the collections as The O’Rahilly or Ua Rathghaille), Desmond C. Bell, William P. Fay, Kevin Mangan, John Kent, G.P.S. (Sarsfield) Hogan, Tadhg Forbes (Mac Firbishigh/Mac Fir Bhishigh), Tadhg O'Neill, Patrick Donovan, (Pádraig O Donnobhán), R.J. McHugh and Patricia Browner.
Following delays by the Governing Body of University College Dublin in granting permission for the project and debates surrounding the most appropriate form the memorial might take, it was decided to commission Harry Clarke Stained Glass Limited to create a stained glass window dedicated to Kevin Barry and the other students and graduates of University College Dublin who lost their lives in the struggle for Irish Independence. The window was designed and worked in double-glazed glass by Richard King, a contemporary of Harry Clarke.
The window was to feature eight scenes from Irish history and the struggle for independence. Among the scenes and events represented in the window are the death of Cuchalain; the mortal combat between Turlough, son of Brian Borumha, and the Dane; the capture of Red Hugh O'Donnell; the blowing up of William of Orange's siege train in 1690 by Patrick Sarsfield and Michael 'Galloping' Hogan; the arrest of Lord Edward Fitzgerald; the Battle of New Ross in 1798; the 1916 Easter rebellion and a large scale figure of Kevin Barry.
Although the committee experienced lengthy delays and financial setbacks, the window was erected in Earlsfort Terrace and was unveiled on 1 November 1934, on the fourteenth anniversary of the execution of Kevin Barry.
In 2010, following the final complete evacuation of the Earlsfort Terrace site by UCD, it was removed from its original location, conserved, restored and placed in the Charles Institute at Belfield, the current campus of University College Dublin.
Archival History
This collection was transferred from the UCD Students’ Centre and deposited in UCD Archives in July 2014.