You feeling Christians, both male and female,
I hope with me you will sympathise.
And mourn the death of three noble heroes
Who were murdered cruelly all in their prime.

In was in Manchester in cruel England,
Where nothing but cruelty was ever found.
Where those three heroes, they were arrested,
And in cold iron firmly bound.

On the twenty-third day of November
It brought a scene of gladness to that English hall.
For to see those martyrs walk on the scaffold
To answer death on their fatal call.

The judge arose and he spoke as follows,
‘Come, tell me, Allan, what you’ve got to say.
Or why's death's sentence passed upon you,
You now must answer without delay.’

Young Allan arose and he spoke as follows,
‘I’ll meet that sentence, if that it be for.
I’m prepared to meet the God and justice
He awaits your Lordship as well as me.

I can swear today before God almighty
That I never fired at any man.
But had I nine lives, I’d freely give them
To restore the rights of my native land.

In history pages in future ages,
I hope our names will forever shine.
And it will be that password all over Ireland:
Remember Allen, Larkin and O’Brien!

“On November 23rd. 1867, William Phillip Allen, Michael Larkin and Michael O'Brien were executed for their part in the escape of two leading members of the Fenian movement, Thomas Kelly and Timothy Deasy, from a prison van transporting them to Belle Vue Gaol in Manchester. In the course of the escape a policeman was accidentally shot and killed. The executions of Allen, Larkin and O’Brien in Salford Gaol in 1867, were followed a year later by that of Fenian Michael Barratt in Old Newgate, in London; Barratt’s execution was the last public hanging to be carried out in Britain. The executions were responsible for a huge increase in popular support for Fenianism in Ireland and the partial reconciliation between the Catholic Church and the Fenian Movement.”

Reference:
The Manchester Martyrs, A Fenian Tragedy, Paul Rose (MP)
More Irish Street Ballads, Colm O Lochlainn.
Jim Carroll

See also
The Manchester Martyrs sung by Michael Flanagan
The Manchester Martyrs sung by Tom Lenihan