(Valerie Robinson, Irish News)

The grave of a Donegal man who shot dead Invincibles leader James Carey is to be preserved by London City Cemetery. The National Graves Association (NGA) last night revealed that it had identified and marked the grave of Pat O'Donnell in the London cemetery.

Manchester-based NGA members Charlie McLauchlan and Eva O'Cathaoir discovered the site of O'Donnell's grave after lengthy research. The NGA then marked the spot with a bronze memorial plaque and rose bushes and persuaded cemetery authorities to leave the site undisturbed as an historic monument.

James Carey, a Dublin councillor, led a breakaway group called The Invincibles which killed Dublin Castle, Chief secretary, Lord Frederick Cavendish and permanent under-secretary T.H. Burke in Dublin's Phoenix Park in May 1882.

Carey, under questioning by British forces, admitted his role in the murders and identified his fellow gang members. He was given immunity and arrangements were made to move him to South Africa with his family under an assumed name. Five of the Invincibles were hanged in Kilmainham Gaol a year after the Phoenix Park murders.

O'Donnell, who had moved to the US after the 1867 Fenian rising but later returned home to Ireland, was travelling to South Africa by ship when he killed Carey during a row.

The British authorities suspected that the Donegal man was at the centre of an execution plot and brought him to London where he was tried at the Old Bailey.

High profile individuals who made appeals on O'Donnell's behalf included famed French author Victor Hugo, but he was hanged at Newgate Gaol in December 1883.

His remains were moved to the City of London Cemetery in 1902 when the notorious prison was demolished.

This article appeared first in the April 30, 2003 edition of the Irish News.

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