Phoenix Park, Dublin - Magazine Fort opens for visitors

Good to hear that the Magazine Fort in the Phoenix Park in Dublin has undergone renovation and is now open for visitors

RTE : Magazine Fort opens to the public/0727/1585210-magazine-fort/

Office of Public Works Tours

The Military Archives have a number of documents available online worth a look in their collection of maps, plans and drawings :

Map of Phoenix Park

Outline of Magazine Fort 1851

Outline of Magazine Fort 1851 (2)

Magazine Fort drainage 1902

plus

Interwar aerial photographs of the Magazine Fort

Howth Landing 26th July 1914 and Kilcoole Landing 2nd August 1914

On display at the National Museum in Dublin in its own building is the yacht Asgard, having undergone major conservation work. An excellent, free exhibit to head to if you are in Dublin on top of all the other excellent displays at Collins Barracks.

Originally owned by Erskine and Mary/Molly Childers (a wedding present from Molly's father) it was one of several boats used to transport guns and ammunition for the Irish Volunteers in 1914.

The crew of the Asgard for the  trip were :

Erskine Childers
Molly Childers
Mary Rice Spring
Gordon Strachy Shephard (aka "Mr Gordon"), a British soldier.
Patrick McGinley
Charles Duggan

Mary Rice Spring kept a diary of the voyage and this is available to read online at :

Diary of the Asgard

The Asgard entered Howth harbour with its cargo of 1500 rifles and 29000 rounds of ammunition in daylight on the 26th July 1914.  Remarkably, the Irish Volunteers had only been formed the previous November and it was quite a job putting the money, contacts and plans together in that time. The daylight landing was a deliberate propaganda coup.

As part of the same operation, a second landing took place at Kilcoole, County Wicklow. 600 rifles and 20000 rounds of ammunition had been loaded onto a boat called the Kelpie on 12th July 1914 from the tug Gladiator. The Asgard was loaded the same day just after the Kelpie - the original plan was that they would take half each. Kelpie was full; Asgard was seriously overloaded with the extra cargo. On the 24th July off the coast of Wales, the Kelpie cargo was transferred to a larger boat, the Chotah. Assisting in the landing at Kilcoole was the Nugget, a small trawler from Howth. 

Unlike the Howth landing, the Kilcoole landing in the early hours of 2nd August 1914 was a much more secretive operation, taking place during darkness and avoiding the interference by the British that resulted in the deaths at Bachelors Walk following the Howth landing.

Though there were two landings, all the rifles landed are generally referred to as "Howth Mausers".

Aboard The Kelpie

Connor O'Brien (owner)

Kitty O'Brien

Diarmuid Coffey

Thomas Fitzsimons

George Cahill

Aboard The Chotah

Sir Thomas Myles (owner)

James Creed Meredith

Thomas Fitzsimons (transferred from Kelpie)

George Cahill (transferred from Kelpie)

Hervey de Montmorency

Aboard The Nugget

James McLoughlin (Skipper)

Nicholas McLoughlion (crew)

William McLoughlin (crew)

Michael Moore (crew)

Edward Moore (stowaway)

Frank Daly (IRB)

Luke Kenny (IRB)

Sean Tobin (IRB)

The rifles transported by the above boats were Mauser M1871, single shot, black powder weapons firing an 11mm round - surplus that had been acquired by arms dealer Moritz Magnus. 

Ian McCollum (aka "Gun Jesus") has a fairly watchable video re the Howth Mauser giving some background to the Childers etc, showing the workings of the rifle, and discussing the hash made of attaching bayonets, while Mae at C&R Arsenal gives a very quick demo in her video firing this beast of a rifle.

The weapons were being stored in Liege, Belgium at the time of their acquistion by the Irish Volunteers and as part of their ruse, their purchase was earmarked as being for Mexico. They were to be exported via Hamburg where there was the possibility of being impounded by German customs officials. The weapons were not being sent to Ireland at the behest of the German government.

Further Reading

Two very readble publications on the operations :

A set that is generally good reads re Mauser rifles

but not so good on the Howth Mausers

Policing Exhibition in Clonmel, Tipperary

 A hat tip to Dr John Reynolds for information about an exhibition being hosted at the Tipperary Museum of Hidden History, through to March 2027.

"Order from Chaos - The Policing History of Tipperary and Ireland" looks at 200 years of policing from the days of Robert Peel's force through to the Royal Irish Constabulary, and on to the modern Garda.

https://tipperary.com/event/order-from-chaos-the-policing-history-of-tipperary-and-ireland/

Tipperary Museum of Hidden History
Mick Delahunty Square
Clonmel
Co. Tipperary
Ireland
E91 Y891

Malaya Ireland Waterloo Libya

One of the small names that appeared in one of the modules in this years course was a reference to an Irish man in the police force in Malaya during the post war rebellion. Just a very small reference with no real detail.

A quick delve into the limited records available found the policeman, Richard Craig, and he has an audio interview on the Imperial War Museum site.

Interview with Richard Joseph Wauchope Craig

It turned out that his brother, Henry Craig, was closer to some of my interests having  been involved in writing the scripts for some of my favourite films  - Waterloo, Anzio and the lesser seen Lion of the Desert.

Henry Craig has a fairly good write up in the Dictionary of Irish Biography, following a very different life style to his brother.

The brothers were the grandsons of a Royal Irish Constabulary constable, Henry Armitage Llwellyn (1850-1911), from what was Queen's County, now County Laois.

Haig's Rolls-Royce staff car in Ireland

 In the following picture, Field Marshall Haig and a few others can be seen near his staff car, registration LB 5057.

The Rolls-Royce Enthusiast's Club book on the early Rolls-Royce cars has an entry for the car

confirming it as Haig's, giving its chassis number as 3RD and its War Office registration M18045. It also notes it went to Dublin in 1921. No idea who used it in Dublin. The car used by Lord French when he was ambushed has a different registration number.

A list of cars transferred to the new government in the 6 counties, lists an "armoured car" registration LB 5057.  Not sure if Haig's car was actually armoured (I think it's lazy typing in the transfer list) but it's definitely not one of the 1914/1920 Pattern armoured cars. While I have some information about the 6 x 1920 Pattern Rolls-Royce armoured cars that eventually ended up with the Royal Ulster Constabulary, there is currently no lead about what happened to Haig's car.

If anyone has any leads about its use anywhere in Ireland, suggestions to follow up, please let me know in the comments.

Armoured Car Ambush - Phibsboro, Dublin 14th October 1920

Lurking in the files in the archive at The Tank Museum at Bovington, England, are the records of No 5 Armoured Car Company (ACC). This had been 17th (Armoured Car) Battalion, Tank Corps previously but with post war demobilization and reorganisation it became a company instead of a battalion. It remained based at Marlborough (now McKee) Barracks in Dublin, with some sections dotted around Ireland.

There are a number of interesting items re numbers and types of vehicles, the units involvement at Belleek and Pettigo etc.

One item that caught my attention was a report regarding an attack on one of the armoured cars while it was collecting soldiers pay from a bank in the Phibsborough area of Dublin. Written by the Second in Command, Major Vyvyan Pope, it outlined the events of the ambush, the actions of the crew and the attackers, and the shooting of one of the attackers. The report was dated 14th October 1922, ie after the Truce and before the December 1922 departure of No 5 ACC to Belfast. 

However, the general write up of the units activities made it look like the event was on 14th October 1920, the same day that Sean Treacy was killed in Dublin in an action that involved an Austin armoured car but this wasn't in Phibsborough (the diary of No 5 ACC makes no mention of the action involving Sean Treacy).

It appears that the ambush that Pope's report relates to was in 1920 so the date on his report is a typing error. The Rolls-Royce armoured cars were not delivered to No 5 ACC until January 1921 onwards and Pope's car was likely an Austin armoured car.

The ambush gets a mention in Ronald Lewin's "Man of Armour" book about the life and career of Pope, as well as two publications looking at casualties in Ireland during the War of Independence.

The Irish Volunteer killed in the ambush was William (aka Liam) O'Connell of D Company,1st Battalion, Dublin Brigade. 

His family house in Co Cork appears to have been used during the kidnap and detention of General Lucas.

O'Connell was buried in the family plot at Glantane, Co Cork. A century later, a plaque to William O'Connell was unveiled in October 2020.

Pope identified Pte Scatchard (1898-1979), a chauffeur in civilian life, as the soldier who shot O'Connell.

After the incident, Pope was sent to England on leave for a sort while before he returned to Ireland and took charge of the armoured cars of No 5 ACC that operated in Munster. The photographs of General Peter Strickland, General in Charge of British troops in Munster and over to Wexford, hosted by the Imperial War Museum contain a number of Rolls-Royce armoured cars and these are probably from the section commanded by Pope.  As Pope had only one arm, it should be easy to see if he appears in any of the photographs but I've not spotted any yet.

Pope served through the interwar period and on to France in 1940. He was killed in an air crash in October 1941 while taking charge of XXX Corps in the Western Desert.

Leonard Horace Charles Hatton (1888-1980)

 

Mentioned alongside Arthur John Bather in Egypt and aid to the Long Range Desert Group is Leonard Horace Charles Hatton.

He entered the Great War as a Sergeant in the 20th Hussars. Commissioned shortly afterwards, he served through the war and survived earning a Military Cross in 1918.

In 1921 he was in Constantinople. It's not clear when he got to Egypt first but in 1926 he is awarded the Order of the Nile while commanding the Egyptian Frontiers Administration Camel Corps and Car Patrol.

Egyptian Frontiers Administration officer Major David Johnston Wallace (ex-Royal Scots Fusiliers) wrote up a short report about the organization and work of the Camel Corps and Car Patrol :

Hatton gets a very brief mention in Major Dun's book about the 12th Lancers Expedition to Siwa oasis.

In 1937, the Car Patrol appears to have been using Ford Cars and have had at least one unit with Vickers Machine Guns accoding to the British Military Report on Egypt

 Hatton's OBE in 1941 does not appear directly related to the frontline war.

Born 11^th April 1888, Kensington London,

Father William (1844-1893), mother Hannah Ross (1848-1904)

Died 7^th November 1980 The Spinney Woodside Morley Derbyshire

 

1911 Census

20^th Hussars, Lance Sergeant.

20^th Hussars

Sergeant, number 5277

Entered France 16^th Aug 1914. Clasp and Rose for 1914 Star.

 

LONDON GAZETTE 23 October 1914

War Office, 23rd October, 1914.

REGULAR FORCES.

The undermentioned to be Second Lieutenants for service in the Field: —

Dated 16th September, 1914.  

20th Hussars, Squadron Serjeant-Major Ernest Frederick Wyborn.

Serjeant Leonard Hatton.

https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/28949/page/8515

 

LONDON GAZETTE 08 December 1914

War Office, 9th December, 1914. Revised and corrected list of names appended to Sir John French's Despatch, dated 8th October, 1914 (including those published for the first time in the London Gazette, dated 4th December, 1914).

No. 5277 Serjeant L. Hatton

https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/29001/supplement/10538

 

Marriage

October 1915 to Ella Lucy Margaret Gosling.

 

LONDON GAZETTE 16 July 1918

Military Cross

Lt. (A./Capt.) Leonard Horace Charles Hatton, Hrs. For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. He displayed great gallantry in searching a village still containing several hostile machine guns and snipers who were causing losses. He performed this difficult and dangerous task with great coolness and showed a fine example of courage.

https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/30801/supplement/8462

 

1921 Census

20^th Hussars, Constantinople

 

LONDON GAZETTE 30 April 1926

Whitehall, April 28, 1926.

The KING has. been pleased to give and grant unto Leonard Horace Charles Hatton, Esq., M.C., Camel Corps and Car Patrols, Frontiers Administration, War Office, Cairo, His Majesty's Royal licence and authority to wear the Insignia of the Fourth Class of the Order of the Nile, which Decoration has been conferred upon him by His Majesty the King of Egypt, in recognition of valuable services rendered by him.

https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/33156/page/2930

 

LONDON GAZETTE 5 April 1929

15^th/19^th H.—Capt. L. H. C. Hatton, M.C., retires on ret. pay, 6th Apr. 1929, and is granted the rank of Maj.

https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/33483/page/2280/data.pdf

 

LONDON GAZETTE 01 June 1934

OBE

Major Leonard Horace Charles Hatton, M.C., retired pay, Reserve of Officers, 15th/19th The King's Royal Hussars, attached Egyptian Army, Officer Commanding, Camel Corps and Car Patrols, Frontiers Administration.

https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/34056/page/3562

 

LONDON GAZETTE 8 FEBRUARY, 1938

ORDER OF THE NILE.

Insignia of Commander.

Major Leonard Horace Charles Hatton, O.B.E., M.C.

Robert Augustin Gardner, Esq., B.Sc., M.B., Ch.M.

Arnold Kirkpatrick Henry, Esq., M.B., M.Ch., F.R.C.S.I.

Jasper Wyndham Macaldin, Esq.

https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/34480/page/809/data.pdf

 

Who’s  Who Le Mondain Egypt 1941

BRITISH  MILITARY  MISSION  TO  THE  EGYPTIAN  ARMY

Frontier  Force

Col.  R.H.C.  Hatton,  O.B.E.,  M.C. ;

Lt.  Col.  A.J. Bather,  R.T.C.

 

BATHER,  Major  A.J.,  R.T.C.,  attache,  British

Military  Mission  to  the  Egyptian  Army,  7,  rue

Amir  Fouad,  Zamalek,  [II]  56765,  Caire.

https://archive.org/stream/TheEgyptianWhosWho1941/LeMondainEgyptien1941.PartI_djvu.txt