Orders, Decorations and Medals

The outstanding Posthumous Boer War Victoria Cross awarded to Private John Barry, Royal Irish Regiment, for conspicuous gallantry during the night attack on Monument Hill

Victoria Cross, the reverse of the suspension bar inscribed ‘Private J. Barry, Royal Irish Regiment’, the reverse centre of the cross dated ‘8th Jany. 1901‘, together with Hancocks’ & Co card box of issue; India General Service 1895-1902, 2 clasps, Punjab Frontier 1897-98, Samana 1897 (3733 Pte., 2d Bn. Ryl. Ir. Regt.); Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 3 clasps, Cape Colony, Wittebergen, Belfast (3733 Pte., 1st Rl. Irish Regt.) minor edge bruises and nicks to the campaign medals, otherwise generally extremely fine £50000-60000

See colour illustration on front cover.

V.C. London Gazette 8 August 1902: ‘The King has been graciously pleased to approve of the Decoration of the Victoria Cross being delivered to the representatives of the undermentioned Officers, Non-commissioned Officer, and men who fell during the recent operations in South Africa in the performance of acts of valour which would, in the opinion of the Commander-in-Chief of the Forces in the Field, have entitled them to be recommended for that distinction had they survived:-

No. 3733 Private J. Barry, 1st Battalion Royal Irish Regiment. During the night attack on the 7th and 8th January, 1901, on Monument Hill, Private Barry, although surrounded and threatened by the Boers at the time, smashed the breach of the Maxim gun, thus rendering it useless to its captors, and it was in doing this splendid act for his country that he met his death.’

Early on the 7th of January, 1901, Major Orr’s detachment at Monument Hill was relieved by Captain Fosbery, who was in command of his own company, ‘A’, and of ‘D’ company (Captain Milner); Lieutenant Dease was the only subaltern with the party, which consisted of 93 officers, N.C.O’s and men. Everything was quiet till about a quarter to twelve (midnight), when Dease, who was in a shelter near the tents of the reserve (‘D’ Coy) heard a distant challenge, followed almost immediately by the report of a rifle. Nothing happened, and as nervous sentries often fired at imaginary enemies, no one was disturbed by the single shot, though as it turned out it was not fired by a British soldier but by a burgher, who when the sentry at the north-east trench challenged, shot him dead. Dease was trying to go to sleep again, when two more rifles rang out; he dashed out of his shelter, and with Fosbery, whom he met in the fog, hurried to the centre of the plateau to ascertain the cause of the firing.

The two officers rushed forward and reached the gun sangar (occupied by 18 men including a maxim crew) just as the burghers were advancing upon it. “The fog” writes Dease, “at this time was extremely dense and the position of the enemy could only be distinguished by the flashes of the rifles. The Boers at first concentrated on the maxim gun which was in the sangar and a tremendous hand to hand combat took place. Our men used their bayonets with effect, and some of the machine gunners (who had slung their rifles in an abortive attempt to get the gun to work) set to with picks, axes, and anything they could lay hands on.

In short, as the men said ‘it was the father and the mother of a fight’. The enemy suffered so severely that they ceased trying to get over the sangar wall, but remained a yard or two on the far side, pouring in a terrific rapid fire at the crest line of the sangar. During this phase, we lost very heavily, for our fellows, the lust of battle on them after the hand to hand fight near the machine gun, exposed themselves in a most reckless manner, and were with difficulty prevented from getting out of the sangar and charging into the enemy. The action had continued for about half an hour, when the Boers made a second rush on the gun, and being met at that point by a mere remnant, forced us back.

At this moment, as we were gradually drawing back towards the entrance of the sangar, 3733 Private J. Barry, who was nearest the maxim, picked up a pickaxe lying near it. As he forced his way to the gun through the Boers, efforts were made to stop him, and he had just time to drive in the point of the pick into the junction of the barrel and breech-casing (sic) before he was literally swept down by a hail of bullets round him. As he was shot at by about a dozen burghers within five yards’ distance and from all sides, I fancy they must have played havoc in their own ranks.”

Out of 93 officers and men of the Royal Irish on the hill only 7 escaped; the remainder were killed, wounded, or captives in the hands of the enemy (8 killed, 5 died of wounds, 23 wounded, 51 taken prisoner). The Boer losses were heavy and included 14 killed. Of the 3 officers, Captain Fosbery was killed. Captain Milner was severely wounded, Lieutenant Dease injured, and both were taken prisoners.

The attack on Monument Hill, one of the outer defence posts of Belfast, Northern Transvaal, was made by a Boer force under General B. Viljoen, consisting of 750 men of the Johannesburg and Bocksburg commandos. It took place at night, in a thick fog, with the object of destroying the garrison of the post and capturing the 4.7 gun which they believed to be in position there, but which had in fact been withdrawn at nightfall on General Smith-Dorrien’s orders. The maxim gun, which was rendered useless by Private Barry, was recaptured by the Royal Irish a few months later, and was presented to the regiment by the Secretary of State for War in 1904. It is now on display at the National Army Museum in London.

John Barry was born at St Mary’s, Kilkenny, Ireland, on 1 February 1873. He enlisted into the Royal Irish Regiment in December 1890 and saw active service in India and during the South African War. His Victoria Cross was one of the first group of posthumous crosses presented to relatives and representatives as a result of the Royal Proclamation of August 9th, 1902, five others being announced in addition to Barry’s Cross. The group is sold with a unique archive of original documentation which includes:

(a) A War Office letter to Mrs. J. Barry (March 1901) giving details of the pension she will receive, and enclosing an extract of a private letter from Major-General Smith-Dorrien, dated January 12th 1901, in which he says ‘it appears that when he saw his comrades all killed and wounded and the gun surrounded by Boers he seized a pick and commenced to smash up the breech of the gun. The Boers threatened him, but he continued until he had rendered the gun useless to his captors, whereupon the Boers, robbed of their spoil, shot him dead. Truly poor Barry died a noble death for his country’s good.’

(b) A signed letter from Field Marshal Lord Roberts, dated 30 August 1902, accompanying the V.C. sent to Mrs Barry, also enclosing an original extract from the London Gazette.

(c) A fascinating series of correspondence [1903-05] between the well known collector of the day, D. Hastings Irwin, and Mrs. Barry concerning the sale of the Cross; also with W. Egan & Sons Ltd., of Cork, who subsequently acted as agent for Mrs. Barry; and a final letter [1921] from a contemporary dealer, Mr. J. Weight, who had bought the Cross from Hastings Irwin, and then offering it to Colonel A. N. Lysaght.

(d) An original news cutting announcing the award of Barry’s Victoria Cross.