Thomas Kent, Remembrance wreath laying ceremony

Post 25 Irish United Nations Veterans Association Fermoy, will hold a wreath laying ceremony for the late Thomas Kent at St Nichola’s Church, Castlelyons, Co, Cork after the 11.30am Mass on Sunday, 8th May.

Wreaths will be laid on behalf of Cork County Council and the 4th Infantry Battalion Association and Post 25 Irish United Nations Veterans Association.

Musical honours will be rendered, A Pipers Lament and the Last Post.

THOMAS KENT 1865 – 1916

Thomas Kent was born in 1865, the fourth in a family of nine children. In 1916 he was the eldest of four sons living with their mother, then in her eighties, in the family home at “Bawnard House, Castlelyons, Co Cork.

Thomas had a great love of Irish culture, the Irish language and Gaelic games. He was also a member of the Pioneer Total Abstinence Association. He joined the Irish Volunteers shortly after their foundation November 1913. By April 1916 he had risen to the rank of Commandant and was a leading member of the Galtee Battalion.

Conflicting orders from Dublin meant that the Kents did not take part in the Easter Rising. However, they were among those selected for arrest in the immediate aftermath. Thomas and his brothers Richard, David and William resisted arrest after the R.I.C surrounded their home on the 2nd May, 1916. Their mother was also in the house. A gun battle ensued in which Head Constable William Rowe was killed and David Kent was injured. Richard Kent was wounded while trying to escape and died a few days later.

Thomas and William were tried by court martial. William was aquitted but Thomas was found guilty and sentenced to death. He was executed by firing squad on the 9th May, 1916 in the Military Detention Barracks, Cork and buried in an unmarked grave in its grounds. In June 2015, his remains were exhumed and DNA testing confirmed their identity.

On the 18th September 2015, Thomas Kent’s remains were reinterred in the family crypt in St Nicholas’s Church grounds in Castlelyons, Co Cork.

Apart from Roger Casement, Thomas Kent was the only one of the 16 men executed after the Easter Rising to be executed outside Dublin.

“GOING HOME” BY WILLIAM ARMS FISHER

Going home, going home I am going home, Quiet like, some still day, I am going home.

It’s not far, just close by, Through an open door, Work all done, care laid by, Never fear no more.

Mother’s there expecting me, Father’s waiting too, Lots of folks gathered there, All the friends I knew. “I’m just going home”

No more fear, no more pain, No more stumbling by the way, No more longing for the day, Going to run no more.

Morning star lights the way, restless dreams all gone, Shadows gone, break of day, Real life has begun.

There’s no break, there’s no end, just a living on, Wide awake with a smile, Going on and on.

Going home, going home, I am going home, Shadows gone, break of day, Real life has begun.

“I’m just going home”