Fenian attack on a prison van in Manchester, September 1867.

In September 1867 Colonel Kelly was arrested in Manchester. Thirty Fenians attacked the unescorted prison van in an attempt to rescue him. Police sergeant, Charles Brett, was killed during the raid. Kelly escaped but five men were put on trial and three men, William Philip Allen, Michael Larkin and Michael O’Brien, who became known as the ‘Manchester Martyrs’ were hanged on the 24 November 1867. This was the first time since the execution of Robert Emmet in 1803 that Irishmen were put to death for nationalist activity. 60,000 people attended the public funeral in Dublin. The executions alienated the Irish public and helped to increase recruitment into the IRB.