DESCRIPTION:
DUN LAOGHAIRE`S LOCKOUT MARTYR

James Byrne (born 1875, died Nov. 1st 1913)

James Byrne, was until recently a somewhat forgotten figure from Dún Laoghaire (then Kingstown), who died as a result of a hunger strike during the Great Lockout of 1913. In 1913, James Byrne, then 38 years old, became Secretary of the Bray & Kingstown branch of the ITGWU. On Wed. Aug. 27th 1913, the 2nd day of the Great Lockout, the Kingstown tram was stopped, and James Byrne was involved in a confrontation with a tramways inspector, John Fellows. A few days later he was arrested and accused of intimidation, but due to lack of evidence was released eight days later.

On Oct. 20th, James Byrne was once again arrested on a second intimidation charge, and was held on remand where he went on a hunger and thirst strike. While incarcerated, James Byrne caught pneumonia and was released to Monkstown County Hospital, where he died on Nov. 1st 1913.

His funeral, two days later, became a mass demonstration for the ITGWU. Over 3,000 people attended with 25 mourning coaches and two trade union bands. James Connolly gave James Byrne's funeral oration from the roof of one of the funeral cabs, where he described James Byrne as 'a martyr to the scared cause of liberty'.

On Nov. 1st 2003, the 90th anniversary of James Byrne's death, a joint SIPTU/IMPACT committee unveiled a memorial headstone on his grave at Deansgrange cemetery.

The newly-composed ballad 'The Martyr James Byrne' was written at the end of 2012 to co-incide with the commemorations for the Great Lockout of 1913 and has been sung at a number of events to commemorate the Lockout in both Dublin and Dún Laoghaire, including The Traditional Singing & Walking Tour held on Sunday Sept 29th 2013 as part of the annual Frank Harte Singing Festival.

The Martyr James Byrne (air: Miss Brown)

In the city of Dublin, as 1913 dawned
The rich, they were powerful, the poor, they were scorned
In tenement squalor they begged for their bread
Worked long hours for low wages, sometimes wished themselves dead

But a new voice spoke loudly, stand strong and stand true
The workers are many and the bosses are few
T'was the voice of Jim Larkin,he made their heads turn
And amidst the crowd cheering stood the martyr James Byrne.

From Bray unto Kingstown, James Byrne he toiled long
Organising the workers for the struggle to come
"The great appear great while on our knees we remain,
Arise, Sons of labour, and your freedom proclaim".

On the 26th of August the Great Lock-Out began
In both city and county workers took their stand
So, it happened in the suburbs the following day
That James Byrne led his comrades, the Kingstown tram to waylay.

Well, a Tramways inspector, John Fellowes by name
At once saw his chance this 'red Union' to shame
He swore James Byrne attacked him on that very day
And had Byrne before the courts on a charge of affray.

Well, the magistrates ruled and James Byrne took no bail,
Remanded he was then unto Mountjoy Jail
Where a hunger and thirst strike he did undergo
While his striking comrades suffered heartache and woe.

James Byrne caught pneumonia, he lay at death's door,
On the 1st of November, his torment was o'er
For poverty, sickness, starvation & strife
That day brought an end unto his young life.

Three thousand mourners to his funeral came
Where James Connolly spoke of his sorrow and pain
That James Byrne, our comrade, we'd nevermore see
He died for the sacred cause of liberty.

One hundred years later we remember with pride
The Great Lock-out martyrs who struggled and died
Alice Brady, James Nolan, Eugene Salmon, John Byrne,
And from the town of Dún Laoghaire, the martyr James Byrne.

© Pat 'de Verse' Burke Dec. 2012