Winifred Barrington, born 5th July 1897. Daughter of Sir Charles Burton Barrington, 5th Baronet (
born 1848, succ 1890)
killed in the Coolboreen Ambush , 14th May 1921, age 23 yrs.
Winifred Frances Barrington was born on 5 July 1897. She was the only daughter of Sir Charles Burton Barrington, 5th Bt. and Mary Rose Bacon.
She served as a nurse in WWI, as a VAD in Queens Mary's Auxiliary Hospital in Roehampton
Fr. Hubert Janssens de Varabeke, wrote an account in 1928: 'Sir Charles Barrington's daughter was very popular about Glenstal. Now that she is dead for some years, all the people from Murroe, and even from Limerick and Tipperary, say that she was extremely nice. "She was not a bit proud'', says Sir Charles' farming workmen. "She was quite wild", says Mr. O'Brien, who lives in the lodge at the entrance of the park. He says' that she came inside his little house and did his cooking ... she had been cooking for a London ambulance division during the European War. When she was on a journey, even abroad, she used to send postcards to the gate-keeper, telling him she would soon be back to do his cooking. "Now was not that a nice lady?" says Mr. O'Brien. "I always said: nicer than Winnie Barrington will never be found!" Mr. O'Brien is aged eighty, and had been in charge of the officers' mess with the Irish Fusiliers in the British Army, in Ireland, Canada, Egypt, India, Aldershot and the Channel Islands ... Afterwards, for more than twenty-five years, he was in the service of Sir Charles Barrington, Bart., who is exactly as old as himself. Miss Barrington was nice to everyone.
Sir Charles Barrington came home from the station on the afternoon, May 14th. His daughter greeted him, and then out for tea, riding her white pony accompanied by a lady friend riding a bicycle. At the outside gate Mr O'Brien, who guessed where she was going, tried to stop her: "I am soldier myself, but I would not dare to speak to those soldiers across the street", he said. She replied that having been in the ambulance service and in the Flying Corps during the during the Great War she need not fear anyone. And she went on. She was dressed in a riding outfit and officer's cap, and could have been mistaken for a man.
She rode her pony into Newport, with her friend Miss Coverdale, where they met Mr Gabbett, and later Biggs and Trengrouse
After the Coolboreen Ambush her body was taken to Glenstal Castle and was laid out in the big room over the entrance hall. It was surrounded by blooms of the largest pink rhododendrons. "Miss Winifred looked as if she were still alive'; said her old teacher.
The funeral of Winifred Barrington took place to Abington cemetery. A report of the funeral, including a generous tribute to 'the amiable young girl' was published in the Limerick Chronicle on 19 May. The report stated: 'Passing through the village of Murroe all houses were closed and blinds drawn. The bell of the Catholic Church tolled mournfully until the end procession passed out of sight'. She was buried in Abington Church of Ireland on , Wednesday, May 16th, 1921. Her parents did not allow her brothers to come to Ireland for the funeral owing to the disturbed state of the country. The stone above her grave bears the following inscription: "Here lies all that could die of Winifred Frances Barrington ".
The court found that she died of a shot gun wound
Sir Charles Burton Barrington sold Glenstal Castle, and took his family to England after death of Winifred. The decision to leave was a mix of economic reasons (land reforms removed much of his estate) and the loss of his daughter. He died 12th Aug 1943, age 95 yrs,