THE British authorities are to be asked to release documents so an Easter 1916 patriot can finally be given a family burial.

Thomas Kent (51) was executed and then buried in the yard of Cork Prison for his role in the failed rising on May 9, 1916.

Kent was the only rebel outside Dublin, with the exception of Sir Roger Casement, to be executed for his role in the Easter Rising. He also participated in the only armed rising outside the capital.

That took place at the Kent family's farmhouse at Bawnard outside Castlelyons in north Cork when members of the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) and British army raided the property of the well-known nationalist family just hours after fighting began at the GPO in Dublin.

Thomas Kent and his brothers had been waiting for orders to support the Dublin volunteers with a Cork rising.

They refused to surrender to the RIC and a four-hour gun battle erupted. Thomas's brother, David, was badly wounded and another brother, Richard, killed.

The Kent family has long campaigned for Thomas's grave to be identified in the Cork Prison yard so that his body can be reinterred in the family plot in Castlelyons. Secret British documents may now shed light on precisely where the burial took place.

Narrowing down the area would allow specialist earth examination equipment to be used to locate the burial site.

Former Lord Mayor of Cork Cllr Joe O'Callaghan said everything must be done to allow the body to be located.

Irish Independent