Thomas Kent
Photo: Thomas Kent
Born: 29 August 1865
Died: 9 May 1916
1901 Census Address: Coole Lower (Coole, Cork)1
This Census return for 1901 recorded the mother of Thomas Kent, Mary (60) a widow and a farmer as head of the family. Thomas (32), his brothers Edmond (40), David (29), William (26) and Richard (21) are all recorded as farm labourers and his sister Lizzie (24) is recorded as a general domestic servant. Also present on Census night was Arthur Fitzgerald (39), a jockey from Co. Dublin. All the family were proficient in Irish and English and all the people in the household were recorded as being able to read and write. The religion stated for each member of the household was Roman Catholic. The house and building return for this property recorded the family living in a house with 8 rooms.
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Cork/Coole/Coole_Lower/1144017/
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai000573047/
Aged 43 at the time of the 1911 Census
1911 Census Address: Coole Lower (Coole, Cork)1
The Census return for 1911 recorded the mother of Thomas Kent, Mary (70) a widow and a farmer as head of the family. Thomas (43), his brothers David (41) and Richard (34) were all recorded as farmer’s sons. Also present on Census night was Denis Healy (39) a farm labourer. All household members could read and write and all were Roman Catholics. Only Thomas and his mother however were recorded as proficient in Irish and English. Thomas’s mother Mary stated that she had given birth to 9 children, of whom 6 were still living at the time of the 1911 Census. The house and building return for this property shows that the family lived in a house with 11 rooms.
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Cork/Coole/Coole_Lower/412331/
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai001927473/
Apart from Roger Casement, Thomas Kent was the only person outside of Dublin to be executed for his role in the events of Easter Week. He was born into a prominent nationalist family at Bawnard House, Castlelyons, near Fermoy Co. Cork. He was one of 7 sons and 2 daughters. By the time of the 1901 Census his father David had died. Following the death of his father, Thomas moved to Boston where he worked at the office of a Catholic publisher and church-finisher and participated in Irish cultural activities.
In 1888 cousins (and neighbours) of the Kent family were evicted from their farm for non-payment of rent and the farm was sold to a Belfast based landowner who appointed a Scotsman Robert Browne as general manager. The Kent family deeply resented this and the Kent brothers were arrested, together with the local priest Father O’Dwyer, for their involvement with the local Land League under a charge of conspiracy to evade payment of rent. Edmond and William were given 4 months hard labour and David was given 2 months, which they served at Cork Gaol, but Richard was released due to his youth. After Thomas returned from America in 1889, he became involved in the land movement and he and his brother William were arrested and served a term of hard labour in Cork Gaol. On their release they were met by thousands of people in Fermoy who escorted them home2.
In 1914 and 1915, Thomas and David took an active part with Terence McSwiney in the enrolment of the Irish Volunteers in North Cork, which was the first teetotal company in Ireland. They advised the Volunteers to have nothing to do with British Army recruitment. “The Irish Volunteers were first organised in this area in January, 1916. The unit was organised by Terry MacSwiney and Tom Kent. They addressed a public meeting in connection with the foundation of the unit at Ballynoe village. They were later arrested and charged with preaching sedition3”. They were acquitted but Thomas ended up in prison again after a quantity of arms and ammunition were found at his home. In 1915 Thomas attended the funeral of Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa and was present to hear Pearse’s graveside oration.
At Easter 1916, Thomas was a commandant of the Galtee Battalion of Volunteers. They were mobilised and ready for the rebellion but waited in vain for orders from Dublin. On May 1st the brothers returned to their home and the following morning British forces surrounded the house. A fierce conflict took place with the Kent’s elderly mother helping the fighting by loading weapons and shouting words of encouragement. During this gunfight an RIC officer, William Rowe, was killed. The Census record for William Rowe and his family is shown below.
William Rowe and family
1911 Census Address: 34, Gardiners Hill (Cork No. 3 Urban, Cork)1
The Census return for 1911 recorded William Rowe (44), originally from Co. Wexford, as head of the family. William was a Sergeant in the Royal Irish Constabulary and was married to Sarah for 10 years. They had 5 children: Joseph (9), Annie (8), William (6), Edward (5) and Marguerite (3). (An application was made subsequently by Sarah Jane Rowe for £2,500 in compensation because her husband’s death was directly connected to the Easter Rising.)
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Cork/Cork_No__3_Urban/Gardinershill/385726/
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai001853375/
Military reinforcements arrived at the Kent house and the Kents were forced to surrender when they ran out of ammunition. Following the surrender Thomas was not permitted to put on his boots and both he and his brother William were handcuffed. Richard was an athlete and fast runner and made a last minute dash for freedom and was fatally wounded. The police who were present wanted to shoot the whole family by firing squad but the military officer intervened and the family were instead arrested as prisoners of war.
The family were taken under heavy escort to Fermoy Military Barracks where Thomas’s mother was released. Richard died in hospital 2 days later and David, who was wounded, was kept under medical treatment by Dr. Brody. David was later taken to Cork Barracks where he was initially sentenced to death but this was subsequently reduced to penal servitude. David was released in 1917 however but health was poor and he died in 1930.
A Witness Statement of Charles Browne recalled that he spent a week at the Military Detention Barracks where he saw the Kent brothers who he considered put up an excellent fight and who were kept isolated from the rest of the Volunteers at the Barracks4. On 4th May Thomas and William were court-martialled. While William was acquitted, Thomas was sentenced to death. He was executed on the 9th May by firing squad in the Military Detention Barracks at Cork. He was unmarried. Thomas’s last request was that no Irishman be ordered to shoot him. He was buried in an unmarked grave in the grounds of Collins Barracks, Cork (formerly Victoria Barracks), despite numerous pleas from the Kent family to have him buried in the family vault.
The exact location of his body remained a mystery, though there was an annual commemoration held at the Barracks. In June 2015, Thomas Kent’s remains were exhumed and DNA testing confirmed his identity. On 18th September 2015, the State funeral of Thomas Kent took place 99 years after his execution. Thousands of people lined the route from Collins Barracks to the Church of St. Nicholas, Castelyons, Co. Cork. and the requiem mass was attended by President Michael D. Higgins.
On the 50th anniversary of the Easter Rising in 1966 a number of commemorative events took place including the renaming of Kent Railway Station in Cork (originally Glanmire Road Station), the placing of a memorial on the bridge over the Blackwater River in Fermoy, and a large monument at Bridesbridge, Castlelyons5.
Sources:
Reference:
http://www.nli.ie/1916/exhibition/en/content/executed/thomaskent/
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