The Manchester Martyrs (1867), William Philip Allen, Michael Larkin and Michael O’Brien, stand among the honoured dead of Irish Republicanism. Fenians of courage and conviction, they were condemned by the British state after the rescue of Fenian prisoners in Manchester, an action carried out in the cause of comradeship and national freedom. Though the Crown sought to brand them as criminals, Ireland remembered them as patriots who gave their lives for the Republic. Their execution awakened grief, anger and renewed determination among Irish people at home and abroad. In death, they became symbols of sacrifice and fidelity to the Fenian cause. Their memory strengthened the Republican tradition and proclaimed again that Ireland’s freedom would demand courage, endurance and sacrifice.