Thursday 17 August 2023

Maxwell in Gallipoli, November 1915

 


When Kitchener visited the lines at Gallipoli in November 1915, he was accompanied by a number of other senior officers with Australian General Birdwood guiding.

Kitchener pictured in the centre with the wolly moustache, just behind General Maxwell's left shoulder. Maxwell was in charge in Egypt at the time but would find himself moved on and available in London at the time of the Easter Rising.



Maxwell second left in this picture at the same spot in the line.  Presumably no snipers operating in the area.



Maxwell in the same uniform pictured in the grounds of Trinity College, Dublin for the review of the Irish Association of Volunteer Training Corps members, St John Ambulance etc in May 1916




Maxwell can also be seen in this film clip linked to the above mentioned review :

https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1060005365










Tuesday 15 August 2023

Richard Todd (Actor) and Andrew Todd MC (Doctor)

Richard Todd gets rolled out every D-Day for his part in the operation at Pegasus Bridge and subsequent acting in the film "The Longest Day" with very little information about his family and Irish roots.

The following is a cursory run through some of the immediate family details. At some point, the Property Losses Committee website should be available again and links to claims can be added.


Richard Todd

Richard Andrew Palethorpe Todd was born in Dublin on the 11th June 1919.

A scanned image of his birth entry isn't available but a text version is

His mother is listed as Marvilla Todd, nee Agar-Daly; his father is listed as Captain Andrew Palethorpe Todd, serving with the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC)  with an address listed as "Camp, Phoenix Park".

The birth informant is listed as Emily Elizabeth Lundy with an address at 89 Lower Baggot Street. The address was a Private Nursing Home and Emily Lundy appears to have worked there.

Andrew Todd and Marvilla Agar-Daly married in Belfast on the 21st September 1915. He was listed as Andrew William Palethorpe Todd a T(emporary) Lieutenant in the RAMC, aged 23, with an address in Dublin. She is listed with no occupation, aged 23, with an address in Belfast.


Andrew Todd

Andrew William Palethorpe Todd was born in Dublin on the 6th July 1892. The address listed was 16 Upper Leeson Street, Dublin. His father Andrew Todd (1854- 1920) is listed as a Barrister; his mother is listed as Ellen nee Palethorpe.


1901 Census

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Dublin/Fitzwilliam/Hatch_Street_Lower/1306720/


1911 Census

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Dublin/Donnybrook/Simmonscourt/43616/

18 years old and a student of medicine. Listed with his mother and two servants.  The sister is not present.

His father is in Dungannon on the night of the census

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Tyrone/Dungannon/Georges_Street__South_Side/868419/

The father died 16th June 1920. His death is registered as being in Ivanhoe Private Hospital (this was on Lansdowne Road, Dublin). The informant was Henry Kenny with an address of 36 Westland Row. 


Rugby

Prior to WW1, Andrew Todd played Rugby for Ireland, facing Wales once and France twice in the 1913-1914 season.

http://en.espn.co.uk/ireland/rugby/player/2394.html


Medical Studies

He appears to have studied medicine in Trinity College Dublin and to have graduated in 1915.

He was commissioned into the Royal Army Medical Corps as a Temporary Lieutentant on the 25th August 1915.


Easter Rising

Not too sure if Andrew Todd was in Dublin at the time of the Easter Rising but he and the family do have a number of claims in to the Property Losses Committee for items lost in the Metropole Hotel and he appears to have signed an October 1916 dated document relating to one of the wounded members of the Irish Association of Volunteers Training Corps.





World War 1

Todd was posted to the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force (MEF) and to have landed in the theatre of war in October 1915.



He was awarded his Military Cross (MC) for bravery while under fire with the award appearing in the London Gazette in October 1918 with his rank as Temporary Captain. No details of the unit he was with or the location of the action; still to find when he was promoted to Temporary Captain.


In May 1919, he relinquished the rank of Acting Major and became a Temporary Captain having been noted as a Temporary Major from February 1918 (but not for the purposes of pay).


World War 2

Andrew Todd was a Major in the RAMC when he died in March 1942 at the age of just 49.

https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2929214/andrew-william-palethorpe-todd/

His obituary fills in some of the details of his life between WW1 and WW2.







Friday 11 August 2023

Dublin Cricketers 1905

A familiar postcard came up on the-salesroom auction site a short while ago titled:

‘AUSTRALIANS V DUBLIN UNIVERSITY ELEVEN (PAST AND PRESENT), JUNE 1905’. MONO POSTALLY UNUSED’

 



https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auction-catalogues/knights-sporting-auctions/catalogue-id-srkn10044/lot-bf726dff-e882-4907-9a9c-b0430138b3eb

 

I thought my bid of £20 was way too much. Hard to believe that the winning bid was £80 for a postcard.

 

The character I recognised immediately by sight was F H Browning (President of the Irish Rugby Football Union and commander of the IRFU Volunteer Training Corps when shot on the first day of the Easter Rising).

 

The second character recognised by initial/surname was R M Gwynn who I had researched a good few years ago re his role in helping set up the Irish Citizen Army following the Lockout of 1913.

 

The offices of the photographer and the printer both suffered damage during the Easter Rising.

 

The other names were not familiar so a bit of cursory research was warranted to see who the above two were mixing with.

 

P A Meldon

Philip Albert Meldon

Born 18th December 1874, Dublin

Died 8th April 1942, London

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Meldon

Meldon appears to have been in the British Army at the time of the photo, having served during the 2nd Anglo Boer War.

In the 1911 census, he is recorded as a visitor to Colonel Duncan Carter, Royal Artillery, in Sunningdale, Berkshire.

Landed in France in November 1914 with the Royal Field Artillery. Served through WW1 and awarded a DSO.

 

H H Corley

Henry Hagarty Corley

Born 20th November 1878 at 30 Lower Baggot street, Dublin.

Died 30th January 1936 in London, England

His father, Anthony Hagarty Corley, appears to have been a surgeon. His mother was Eleanor nee Purdon

Corley’s brother Anthony was killed in Gallipoli serving with the Australian forces on the 17th September 1915.

https://digitalcollections.tcd.ie/concern/works/zc77ss20m

https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/606287/anthony-purden-hegarty-corley/

 

E Ensor

Ernest Ensor

Born 17th December 1870 in Cheltenham, England.

Died 13th August 1929 in Cork, Ireland

Listed in Tipperary as a Professor in the 1901 census for Ireland

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Tipperary/Tipperary_Town/Collegeland/1719898/

Listed as Erson in the 1911 census in Cork in the 1911 census of Ireland, a School Inspector

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Cork/Cork_No__6_Urban/Morrisons_Quay/394190/

 

A L Leeper

Arthur Lindsay Leeper

Born 19th May 1883, Dublin.

Died 16th February 1942, Huddersfield, England

Served with the YMCA during WW1 initially and then as a Chaplain in the British Army.

Settled in Huddersfield and wrote “A History of Huddersfield Parish Church”

 

J T Gwynn

John Tudor Gwynn

Born 13th November 1881 in Ramelton, Co Donegal, Ireland

Died 17th May 1956 in Bangor, Co Down, Ireland

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Tudor_Gwynn

Worked in the Indian Civil Service, as a journalist and then as the headmaster of a school in Dublin.

 

S D Lambert

Septimus Drummond Lambert

Born 3rd August 1876 in Dublin, Ireland

Died 21st April 1959 in Dublin, Ireland

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sep_Lambert

He is listed in the 1901 census of Ireland as a Law Student and living with his parents etc

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Dublin/Rathmines/Rathmines_Road/1297507/

In the 1911 census he is in Rathmines with his wife and family and listed as a solicitor

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Dublin/Rathmines___Rathgar_West/Rathgar_Road/54483/

During King Edward VII’s visit to Dublin in 1903, Lambert’s father was called upon to do a post mortem on the King’s dog

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Drummond_Lambert

 

C R Faussett

Charles Reginald Fausset

Born 6th January 1880 in Waterford, Ireland

Died 3rd May 1915 in Belgium

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Fausset-71

listed as Reginald in the 1901 census of Ireland, living in Dublin with the family

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Dublin/Donnybrook/Simmonscourt/1284391/

https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/1612076/charles-reginald-fausset/


 

Rev T A Harvey

Thomas Arnold Harvey

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold_Harvey

Born 17th April 1878, Dublin

Died 25th December 1966, Dublin. Buried in St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin.

Reputed to have caught and bowled W G Grace for a duck.

He is listed as a student in Trinity College, Dublin in the 1901 census (R M Gwynn also listed)

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Dublin/Trinity/Trinity_College/1312073/

He was still in Dublin in 1906 as the Captain of the 10th Company of the Boy’s Brigade, while curate at St Stephen’s in Mount Street, Dublin (aka The Pepper Canister)

He appears to have been in Sligo in 1908 based on a letter from Jack Butler Yeats

https://www.morganodriscoll.com/art/jack-butler-yeats-illustrated-letter-from-jack-butler-yeats-to-thomas-arnold-harvey-10th-october-c1908/41578

He is in Sligo for the 1911 census of Ireland

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Sligo/Lissadill_East/Ballinfull/753518/

A photograph of him in his role as Anglican Bishop of Cashel and Waterford is in the National Portrait Gallery collection

https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw220473/Thomas-Arnold-Harvey

Harvey’s brother Frederick appears to have been a sportsman and won a Victoria Cross while serving with the Canadians in WW1.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Maurice_Watson_Harvey

By coincidence, I was at a showing of Ashley Morrison's documentary "Mark Our Place" re the 3 Rugby VCs at Wootton Bassett Rugby Club earlier this year and did not make the connection until reviewing the Wikipedia page.

 

J E Lynch

Joseph Edward Lynch

Born 26th April 1880 in Monkstown

Died 25th September 1915 in France

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Lynch_(cricketer)

http://www.hellfirecorner.co.uk/conor2.htm

 Killed while serving as a Captain in the 10th Battalion, Yorkshire Regiment.

https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/734560/joseph-edward-lynch/


Thursday 10 August 2023

(John) Gordon Lewis - this “adventurous cameraman”

 

Facing representatives of the Irish film industry in the Odeon room of Dublin’s Metropole cinema in October 1950 were a number of Irish politicians and Dublin born impresario Louis Elliman.  


 

Gathered together to acknowledge the retirement and contribution of Antrim born (John) Gordon Lewis, Elliman described Lewis as a gentleman, cameraman, film renter and as “a chapter of modern Irish history” who he first encountered while Lewis was scrambling around the rubble of the 1916 Easter Rising capturing the aftermath on film. The Metropole itself had been reduced to rubble during the Rising (which would lead to damage claims from the family of Dublin born actor Richard Palethorpe Todd).

 

Lewis’s chapter closed on 14th April 1954. Death notices appeared the following day to announce his passing, confirming his address in Clontarf, and his time with Pathe Pictures Ltd.  The Belfast Telegraph later acknowledged the passing of “an Ulsterman” and their former employee.

 

Little information subsequently surfaced about Gordon Lewis until an RTE documentary in 1993 and then a few items re early Irish cinema that acknowledge Lewis’s role, though his film clips did underpin the monumental 1950's works Mise Eire and Saoirse


The Irish Film Institute (IFI) recently completed a great project -  The Irish Independence Film Collection - to bring many Irish films clips back to Ireland from the UK, to give them a “digital clean”, and to add an Irish context. I don’t think (John) Gordon Lewis gets a mention sadly.


Many people interested in Irish history will be very familiar with the film clips Lewis created that now sit on the IFI website, on Pathe’s website and in the Irish Air Corps DVD "On Golden Wings" even if they do not know his name or background. 

 


A forthcoming trip to Dublin will involve an attempt to delve into archives where Lewis's name does linger :







The road to and from the Easter Rising generates many links to actors and film stars (Gregory Peck, Richard Todd, Hedy Lamarr/John Loder, Barry Fitzgerald, Arthur Shields, Sara Allgood, Maire Quinn/Dudley Digges) - I'm a committed fanboy for the "adventurous cameraman" as Lewis was described in a 1931 issue of Kinematograph Weekly and would love to see his name getting a wider mention.




 

 


 

Tuesday 10 May 2022

Post Rising Irish Volunteer casualties from Frongoch, Lewes etc prisons

 Lyn Ebenezer's book "Frongoch and the birth of the IRA" gives details of the following casualties from Frongoch :


Maurice Fitzsimons :  appendicitis at Frongoch but recovered after poor treatment. Survived and active in WoI.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/99502184/maurice-fitzsimons


(Edward) Tierney (aka Edward Douglas Turnley) : Breakdown. 

https://treasonfelony.wordpress.com/2018/08/31/but-eire-our-eire-shall-be-free-edward-tierney-belfast-and-1916/

Born London in 1890.

1901 census in Ashford, Staines.

Death as Edward Turnley December 1920 aged 30 :

 https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/deaths_returns/deaths_1920/05108/4403786.pdf

Married Sybil C Stewart in Lambeth, Q4 1911.


Christopher Brady from Dublin : contracted TB and died 2 months after release

Jack O'Reilly : suffered acute anaemia and died in 1917

Thomas Stokes of Enniscorthy : died of an illness caught at Frongoch

William Halpin of Dublin ; tried to slit his own throat; committed to Grangegorman where he later died


Daniel Devitt escaped 4th August 1916 and was found wandering the Welsh countryside. He had suffered a breakdown and walked out of camp unchallenged rather than trying to escape.

Mention is made of a Padraic O' Maille escaping with help from a girl but it appears he may have been moved to another location.

Dr Peters, the local doctor who visited the camp, took his own life on 14th December 1916.


Lorcan Collins book "1916 The Rising Handbook" lists :

Christopher Brady died from pneumonia 28th January 1917

Joseph Byrne, released July 1916; died 17th March 1917

Bernard Courtney. Imprisoned Frongoch; died 20th March 1917

John Cullen, imprisoned Portland and Lewes rather than Frongoch. Died 29th May 1918 aged 21

John Halpin. Suffered depression and died in Grangegorman Asylum in 1917

Bernard MacCormack. On hunger strike in Frongoch. Released Christmas 1916. Died 2nd April 1918 aged 21

Bernard Mackin. Shot at College of Surgeons. Died 22nd December 1919

William O'Brien from Galbally, Died Sir Patrick Dun's Hospital 28th November 1916. Released August 1916

Frank Sheridan. Died 20th November 1916 after ill treatment in prison.

Liam Staines. Wounded in the Rising. Imprisoned Frongoch. Died 2nd November 1918

Thomas Stokes. Released from Frongoch Christmas 1916. Died 29th September 1917 aged 24.

John Wallace, noted as died in Frongoch 14th March 1917. Need to follow up on this item as Frongoch would be closed for Irish prisoners in December 1916 and open again for German PoWs.

Bernard MacCartan Ward. Died in Wandsworth Prison, London 8th May 1917. Buried in Latlurcan Cemetery, Monaghan.


Eunan O'Halpin and Daithi O Corrain's book "The Dead of the Irish Revolution" list the following  :

Jack O'Reilly from Tralee, Co Kerry. Arrested and held in Wandsworth and Frongoch. Released in July 1916. Died 30th September 1916 from "pernicious anaemia".

Christopher Brady. Imprisoned in Wandsworth and Frongoch. Released in November 1916 due to ill health. Died in Dublin 24th January 1917 from pneumonia.

Bernard Ward. A member of 4th Bn, Dublin. Imprisoned in Wandsworth. Died from prison related illness 8th May 1917. Buried in Latlurcan Cemetery, Co Monaghan.

William Partridge fought in College of Surgeons. Died two months after being released from Lewes prison on medical grounds.

Thomas Joseph Stokes, Enniscorthy. Died 29th Sept 1917. Imprisoned Stafford, Knutsford and Wandsworth before Frongoch. Released Christmas 1916.

William Staines (aka Liam, brother of Michael) died 2nd November 1918. Wounded in the Rising, his death was attributed by the authorities to influenza and septicaemia rather than imprisonment



Would be interested if anyone else has any more to add.


Monday 9 May 2022

2nd (Garrison) Battalion, Royal Irish Regiment

 Formed in Dublin in March 1916, there doesn't appear to be too much information regarding 2nd (Garrison) Battalion, Royal Irish Regiment. It appears to have been designated for Home Service.

The Long, Long Trail website indicates it remained in Dublin until April 1918 where it's name was changed and it went to France

https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/regiments-and-corps/the-british-infantry-regiments-of-1914-1918/royal-irish-regiment/


Soldiers started joining the unit on the 11th March 1916 with a cadre of NCOs and soldiers, numbers being assigned with 2G/ as the prefix. Number 2G/1 went to CSM Arthur Marshall, a Londoner born on 29th April 1967, who joined from the Royal Irish Rifles. Most of the names listed below appear to have joined from the Royal Irih Rifles.


NoRankForenameSurname
2G/1CSMArthur WoodriffeMarshall
2G/4RSMJosephSullivan
2G/7CQMSRobertGamble
2G/8SgtPatrick JosephHouston
2G/16CplRichardWaide
2G/17WilliamNeill
2G/18L/SgtJohnCrossley
2G/21A/CplCharlesGraham
2G/22L/SgtWilliam RichardYoung
2G/44PtePatrickCarroll
2G/47PteRobertDoyle
2G/51PteWilliamDavis
2G/60PteRobertFlaherty
2G/73PteWilliamHughes


2G/7 CQMS Robert Gamble was a Dubliner. Killed during the Easter Rising near Beggar's Bush Barracks on the railway line.

We can assume that most of the above were in Dublin at the time of the Rising, though the Battalion is not listed in the various books that give details of the units present on 24th April.

Privates Waters and Flynn mentioned as injured/killed at the Magazine Fort do not appear to have been assigned 2G/ numbers. 

Henry Agnew appeard to have joined the unit on the 15th April and assigned the number 2G/646.

2G/646
HenryAgnew

It does raise the question of how many men of this unit were in Dublin at the time of the Rising, what were they doing on Day 1 and what did they do on subsequent days. Were there others like Flynn and Waters who did not have 2G/ numbers.

The unit Commanding Officer appears to have been Lt. Colonel Sir Frederick W. Shaw, D.S.O. who made his way to Beggar's Bush Barracks at the start of the Rising (he had been in command of the Ulster Volunteer Force aligned 2nd Bn, Loyal Dublin Volunteers in the run up to WW1).

2nd Lt Edward Gerrard, Royal Field Artillery, arrived in Beggar's Bush Barracks on the 24th April and noted that 2nd (Garrison) Bn, Royal Irish Regiment men were there :

one or two ranker officers (promoted from the ranks)
4 NCO's
10 men (including 3 invalids)

I had read somewhere about the unit possibly being at Richmond Barracks - possibly in conjunction with the research on Flynn and Waters or re the death of 2G/213 Pte James Cavanagh, from Co Monaghan, who looks to have been killed in the South Dublin Union area (another former Royal Irish Rifles soldier)

https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/899910/james-cavanagh/

The UK Soldiers Died in the Great War has Cavanagh as died in Gallipoli. More likely he was wounded in Gallipoli and that was the reason for his transfer in Dublin.






Officers identified as being with the Battalion at some stage are :

RankForenameSurname
CaptainThomasPowell
CaptainEdward Francis NathanielBurton
LtMorgan
CaptainF RRobinson

A few details of their service but nothing re role in the Rising yet.


The 2nd Garrison Battalion, Royal Irish Fusiliers was also formed in Dublin around April 1916. This appears to have not been for Home Service - moved to Templemore in May 1916 and then sent overseas.

Private Joseph Cullen from this unit appears to have been killed in Dublin on the 25th April 1916

https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/899969/joseph-cullen/


He appears to have been a pre-war soldier and entered France on 8th October 1914 with 2nd Royal Irish Rifles, number 4550.

Sunday 8 May 2022

Magazine Fort Casualties, Royal Irish Regiment

 During the attack on the Magazine Fort on the opening day of the Rising, Monday 24th April 1916,  the sentry at the gate was overpowered without shots being fired.

This looks to have been Private John Waters, no 9901, 2nd (Garrison) Battalion, Royal Irish Regiment.

His service records mentions the attack and notes his time in hospital.







He appears in a newspaper Roll of Honour from May 1916 but does not appear in the 1916 Rebellion Handbook among the list of wounded from the Royal Irish Regiment.





He appears to have joined up while in a spot of bother in Co Wexford (he had previous service in the Royal Navy so a surprise that he joined the Army)


He was discharged from the Army in June 1916 so may have had to face the above prosecution.




His number, 9901, does not appear to have been issued by the newly formed 2nd (Garrison) Battalion.

The attack happened on his birthday, 24th April. He was born 24th April 1876 in Duncannon, the son of John and Mary Waters.

https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/birth_returns/births_1876/03053/2119472.pdf


Inside the Magazine Fort, one sentry was shot in the leg.





This looks to have been Private John Flynn, no 8786, 2nd (Garrison) Battalion, Royal Irish Regiment. This number does not appear to be one issued by the 2nd (Garrison) Battalion.

Flynn died in June 1916 as a result of an issue with his femoral artery.



The Edward Quinn who appears a few lines down from Flynn is my Gt Gt Grandfather. This was an unexpected find while researching Flynn.

Flynn appears to have tried to enlist in the Army in 1915 but discharged as not likely to make an efficient soldier. He had a wife and a rake of kids sadly.



In the 1916 rebellion Handbook, Flynn appears in the list of Royal Irish Regiment soldiers killed and he is noted as being from Carrick on Suir. He is buried in Kilkenny

https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/663032/john-flynn/