Barry Coat of Arms / Barry Genealogy



Though not peculiar to Ireland, Barry is one of the names introduced into the country following the Anglo-Norman invasion - like Burke, Roche, Fitzgerald, etc. - which can now be regarded as essentially Irish. As early as 1179 Philip de Barri obtained extensive grants of land in Co. Cork (in the baronies of Barrymore, Orrery and Kinelea). Philip's posterity prospered and multiplied, and the several branches of the family formed septs somewhat in the Irish fashion, the chief of which were the important Barry Mor, Barry Og, Barry Roe, while minor branches became Barry Maol (bald) and Barry Laidir (strong). The Barrys of Rathcormac, Co. Cork, adopted the surname MacAdam, taken from one Adam Barry - Adam being a common christian name in Anglo-Norman families. The baronies of Barrymore and Barryroe were so named from the two most important of these septs. The former is very large and the latter very small, due to the fact that by Elizabethan times when the boundaries of the baronies became stabilized, the area of the Barryroe lordship had been very much reduced. The name, since the twelfth century, has always been principally associated with Co. Cork, and modern statistics indicate that quite fifty per cent of the Barrys in Ireland belong to that county, the majority of the remainder being also from the province of Munster. In this connexion it should be stated that there is a Gaelic surname O Beargha belonging to a sept which, at one time, were lords of a territory in the barony of Kenry, Co. Limerick. Except in cases where a pedigree is preserved, or a family tradition exists, it is not possible to be certain of the origin of the Barrys in Co. Limerick and north cork, but it is probable that even there many, if not most of them, are of Norman stock - though, of course, continued intermarriage with their Gaelic neighbours has made them indistinguishable from the older race. One of the leading descendants of Philip de Barry became Baron Barry in 1490, and his family was advanced in the peerage as Viscount Buttevant in 1535 and Earl of Barrymore in 1627. The Four Masters record that in 1507, Barry Roe, accompanied by the chief men of his people, went from Cork on a pilgrimage to Spain and that all were lost at sea on the return journey. Among the most distinguished Irishmen of the name are two soldiers of the 1641 war - David Barry, Earl of Barrymore (1605-1642), and Gerald Barry who was also an author of note - the former was killed in that war and the latter outlawed and exiled to Spain. There was a Capt. Barry in the Irish Brigade in France who would have been arrested for his anti-revolutionary sympathies at the time of the French Revolution but for the fact that the letter he had written, expressing these views, was in the Irish language and there was no one among his captors who could translate it. Kevin Barry (1902-1920) may also be included in that category for he was an active member of the I.R.A. in the Irish War of Independence and was hanged for his part in it. In the field of literature "Lo" (probably James) Barry (b. c. 1591) is regarded as the first Irish dramatist; while John Milner Barry (1768-1722), Sir Samuel Barry (1696-1776) and Sir David Barry (1780-1835), all physicians, wrote widely on medical subjects; while James Greene Barry (1841-1931), did valuable work as a historian in his native Co. Limerick. In art James Barry (1741-1806), was a celebrated painter, and Sir Charles Barry (1795-1860), was the architect of the London Houses of Parliament. Spranger Barry (1719-1777), himself a fine actor, built theatres in Dublin and Cork. The most renowned of all Irish Barrys did not, like most of the foregoing, come from Co. Cork: he was John Barry (1745-1803), who was born in Co. Waterford and is known as the "father of the American navy". He is one of the very few individuals who have been commemorated by the issue of an Irish postage stamp. Another who made a name in America was also born far from Co. Cork - Belfast-born Patrick Barry (1816-1890), leading horticultural authority in the U.S.A. Gerald de Barri, or Barry (c. 1145-c. 1220), better known as Giraldus Cambrensis, though famous for his commentary on twelfth century Ireland was, of course, himself Welsh not Irish.