Joe Barrett - Biography

Biography

Joe Barrett was born at 67 Rock Street, Tralee in 1902. The third of five sons and six daughters, his father, John Barrett (1858–1915), was a well known pig and cattle dealer while his mother, Nora O’Mahony, hailed from Ballyduff. The influences in his family home were strongly Roman Catholic and nationalist. It were these views that shaped his outlook in his adulthood. Barrett received a brief national school education, however, in 1915 he followed his older brother, Christy, into the family business. World War I was raging at the time and the export of bacon and other meats created a huge demand which kept the Barrett's gainfully employed through their agency for the two local bacon factories.

Tragedy was to strike the family again two years later when the eldest brother, Christy, died at the age of 30 after contracting pneumonia during the great flu epidemic. The onus then fell on Joe and his fourteen-year old brother Jimmy to hold the business together, however, in spite of the economic realities of the time the Barrett's survived.

At the age of fifteen Barrett joined the Irish Volunteers, a revolutionary organistaion that hoped to established independence for Ireland. He remained active during the War of Independence. He took the republican side in the subsequent Civil War that followed the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty. Barrett was arrested in September 1922 and suffered much hardship during his imprisonment. While in prisoned he embarked on a 22-day hunger strike which undoubtedly affected his health in later life. Upon his release Barrett and his siblings set about building up their business once again. It proved difficult at a time when political tensions divided friends and neighbours and boycotts of certain shops and businesses were regular occurrences.

In 1935 Barrett married Kitty Barrett (1912–2009) from Fenit and together they had four children. John, the eldest of the family, was a noted sports journalist with the Kerryman, the Irish Press and the Irish Post before his untimely death in 1995. Tim, who died in a motor accident at the age of 35, captained the Kerry minors in the 1954 All-Ireland final. He was also a high-ranking trade union official in Dublin. A third son, Jo Jo Barrett, is a well known journalist and author who lives in Bray. He won under-21 and senior All-Ireland medals with Kerry in the 1960s.

At the age of forty-five Barrett's health started to decline. He died on 2 June 1952, just a month short of his fiftieth birthday.

Long after his death Barrett's son, Joe Joe, wrote In the name of the Game, a book about how his father and other footballers such as John Joe Sheehy and Con Brosnan were joined by their love of Gaelic football but took opposite sides in the Civil War. In 2007 he was enraged when it was announced that God Save the Queen would be played at Croke Park due to Ireland's rugby international with England. Barrett withdrew his father's medal collection from the adjoining GAA museum in protest.