George is keen while in Dublin to investigate the family connection to
Irish Republican Kevin Barry who was executed by the British he's visiting
his aunt Phyllis in your comb so found out a little bit of information about
nanny Glynn on their marriage certificate so yesterday which is really
nice they put her father's name even though was he wasn't around he'd
already died but they put John Kenneth on as the father and they put Richard
Glynn Frank's father which is your other grandfather right oh right yeah yes I
never met them Frank's mother or father so what what do you know about them well
no that's my granny and granddad and my uncle dick sir which is your grace
granny and Grandpa yeah what do you know about him
well I know he was in the British Army and he fought in the First World War
until 1922 Ireland remained at a British rule from London during this period many
working-class Irishmen like Richard green joined the British Army as it
provided a decent job and a regular income his wife granny Glynn was married
before and she had two children so she was
married before oh yeah but she was Marty Josh
scandalous she was married to his brother and then when he died she
married me grounded oh so she was married to his brother yes
the brother got killed in the war yeah so she made the other brothers she
married you had a brother practical and she had her daughter from the forced
marriage her name was Annie Annie Glenn and Annie marriage and a fella called
Thomas Brian and he was a Republican and he was in Mount Joy frizam and he was
hung in 1921 by British Army and he was buried beside Kevin Barry no you know
Kevin Brady I've heard you singing that song oh yeah I remember we were kids
obviously there was this album the Freedom Fighters there was a guy in a
cloth cap standing in front of the Irish flag okay and I used to play those songs
obviously you know chem very my only son was shot in Dublin the wearing of the
green one yeah and then we used to play all the way we loved the Queen oh the
way of the green there hanging men and women for wearing I know you had a guys
in the north again I remember playing those songs I remember my auntie kit she
was used to say like run about 7 o'clock when there's been a bit of drinking on
Christmas Day we're done there evidence that no I always thought we were growing
up I thought we were related to Kevin Barry oh did you for some reason so it
was Brian it was Brian perhaps Brian he was someone that married into the family
yeah so Richard Glynn yeah my
great-grandfather was in the British Army that's right yeah
his son-in-law Thomas Brian was hung with Kevin Barry yeah Matt
George L so that's that makes sense yeah George has learned that his maternal
great-grandfather Richard Glynn married his brother's widow and that her
daughter Annie George's great-aunt married an Irish
Republican called Thomas Brian who was executed by the British
so I'm doing a little bit of detective work I'm looking at with the marriage of
my great aunt Annie Glynn and Thomas Brian they got married on the 20th in
November 1920 Thomas Bryan and Annie Glenn 14 Henriette Street Dublin
so they actually lived in 14 Henrietta Street where we went the other day to
that Museum George is returning to the tenement Museum at 14 Henrietta Street
where he's discovered his great uncle Thomas Bryan lived how are you so let me
show you her Thomas Bryan and family lived exciting he's meeting historian
Kieran Wallace come on through so have you met Thomas and Annie
no let me introduce you Wow he's a very handsome matheny she looks
quite fierce do you think yeah she could taste Annie
so Annie um Thomas would live in this space in this room this was their home
where they set out on their merry life as a young couple I've got a lot of
questions obviously because it's an interesting contradiction the fact that
my great-grandfather Richard fall in the British Army and then you've got this
young handsome whippersnapper coming into your family with with quite radical
views you know that's gonna be interesting for Richard with his
background yeah yeah I've got a few more things to show you
what I'm interested in is I don't know anything about Thomas Brian prior to him
meeting my great arm well I've a document here that might
give you some background as to who he was Mount Joy prison Wow
Thomas Brian he was nineteen nineteen is empty so nineteen twenty so he was in
prison three years before he married Annie he's an electrician so that's
quite a good job at the time for a guy from this area he's got at range
fourteen Henry registry so this is what he's charged with his acted in
contravention of regulation ninety of the defense of the realm reg by taking
part in a certain drill of a military nature so basically he was pretending to
be a soldier while pretending is an interesting word
so he's rounded up in 1917 for taking part in a drill of the Irish Volunteers
all the Irish ones is the IRA they're the precursor to the IRA the Easter
Rising in 1916 so Irish Republican rebels launched an armed campaign in
Dublin to bring an end to British rule although the British quickly put down
the rising when they then decided to execute its leaders the public mood
swung behind the republican movement especially among young men like Thomas
Brian so Thomas growth in this area where
there was suddenly a really brutal set of killings of civilians during the 1916
rising and this would have radicalized him and many other guys like him okay
and they thought right it falls to all snow the younger man of the city to do
something so they were forming a secret army which was the Irish Volunteers out
in fields in the countryside and that's how he was picked up on arrested amazing
and that's who he is by the time he meets and marries Annie
she definitely went for a bad boy it's amazing they're married in 1920 yeah
how do you think well here's the happy ever after this is what happens next
secret evidence at Drumcondra on the 21st the first 1921 Thomas Bryan was
found with one revolver and 20 rounds of ammunition Frances flood also so this
relates to Anton tin Drumcondra which is a suburb about a mile north from here
Erin Condren is a bridge across the river this is a unit of IRA men who's
waiting behind the balustrade of the bridge to attack a lease Larry that's
coming past this is during the Irish war of independence
so things have really heated up in the city and in the country entirely
the Irish war of independence began when the Republican Shin feint party formed a
breakaway government in January 1919 and declared independence from Britain the
Irish Volunteers that Thomas Bryan had joined now became the Irish Republican
Army or IRA it launched a guerrilla campaign in Ireland and the British
responded by imposing martial law this meant being arrested could have
serious consequences for an IRA volunteer like Thomas Bryan and this
event goes horribly wrong Reid actually goes ahead it happens nobody's killed on
the police start but it keeps going but within moments the other battalion a
police arrive on they start to capture and chase after the IRA unit and they
round up most of them does he go to prison for this he's arrested on this
very serious charge and he's taken to remain in jail and this is where things
get very seriously Thomas brand for me this is really
interesting because you know when I was a kid I used to play this album of rebel
songs and being here you know and it's like climbing into those songs you know
and you know it's interesting because I became a musician and music such a big
part of my life it's it is my life so it just feels like I'm climbing into a
piece of really important kind of no only family history but also harsh
history you know and that just feels kind of incredible
you