Vickers Ireland

Responding to a post on LinkedIn reminded me how much involvement Vickers had in Ireland.

Vickers Submarine HMS A5 

In 1905 one of the first submarine accidents happened in Cork when the Vickers made submarine HMS A5 suffered two explosions. Six members of the crew were killed. Five are buried in Old Church Cemetery, Cobh while Sub Lt Frederick Skinner was buried in Foster Hill Road Cemetery, Bedford, England.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_A5

http://lugnad.ie/hms-a5/

http://www.maritimequest.com/warship_directory/great_britain/submarines/pages/a_1902_class/a_5_roll_of_honour.htm

http://rnsubs.co.uk/articles/lost-found/a5-forgotten.html

https://memorials.rmg.co.uk/m1912/

Vickers Machine Gun

The Ulster Volunteer Force imported a number of Vickers machine guns as part of their preparations for armed rebellion. One is currently on display at the Ulster Musuem.

A Vickers machine gun appears in the following picture at Fairview/Clontarf following the Easter Rising :

https://source.southdublinlibraries.ie/bitstream/10599/9544/3/wm_17PC-1A53-29%20Railway%20bridge%20at%20Clontarf.jpg

The Vickers machine gun and crew can be seen at 8mins 57seconds in on the British Film Institute hosted film clip :

https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-dublin-after-easter-rising-1916-1916-online

and at 7mins 30seconds in on the Imperial War Museums hosted film clip :

https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1060022694

Vickers machine gun training took place on the firing range on Dollymount and Vickers machine guns were used during the Easter Rising at Dublin Castle, firing on City Hall, and at the Shelbourne Hotel, firing on St Stephen's Green.

The Vickers machine gun was adopted by the Irish Army and served through to the 1960s, including use in the Congo as part of the United Nations peace keeping force.

Rolls-Royce Armoured Car

Rolls-Royce armoured cars were dispatched to Dublin in April 1916, arriving just after the Easter Rising had finished. Armed with either a Maxim or Vickers Machine Gun, the armoured fitted on the Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost chassis was either made or fitted by Vickers.

A number of pictures exist of Rolls-Royce armoured cars in Collins (aka Royal) Barracks in May 1916. This postcard shows one of the cars at Eden Quay.

 A Rolls-Royce armoured car appears early in on the left hand side of these IFI and IWM hosted film clips heading across Sackville Street towards Eden Quay :

https://ifiarchiveplayer.ie/dublin-rebellion/

https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1060005363

The Irish Defence Forces maintains the 1920 pattern Rolls-Royce armoured car Sliabh na mBan, reputed to have been with Michael Collins when he was killed in 1922.

Vickers in the Air Corps

A variety of aircraft were used in the early days of the Irish Air Corps. Glasnevin Cemetery is hosting a display regarding Oscar Heron, an early member of the Irish Air Corps who is buried in the cemetery.

Heron died in 1933 following his Vickers Vespa IV crashing in the Phoenix Park during an event.

https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/211257

Vickers 1927 Helmet

The Irish Defence Forces were looking for a helmet for their troops in the 1920s. Having looked at the French helmet, the decision was made to go with a German M1916 style helmet, but made by Vickers. 10021 were made and these were used until the expansion of the IRish Army in 1940, at which point the Vickers helmets were used by Civil Defence volunteers :

British Officers at arrest of Thomas Kent

 A couple of British officers/officer cadets appear in the postcard/photo of the arrest of the Kent brothers. Tom and William Kent appear to be heading over the Fermoy Bridge under escort while (it is said) that the wounded Richard and Thomas are being transported in the wagon in the background.

The man in the lead looks to be a commissioned officer while the three carrying rifles and ammunition bandoliers are most likely officer cadets from the 7th Officer Cadet Battalion at Fermoy.

Not too much appears in text re the officers involved in the action to arrest the Kent family.

Two do however give statements at the court martial of Thomas Kent :

Reginald Sebastian Page-Green (1895-1917)

Page-Green enlisted in the Canadian 31st Battalion in November 1914.

https://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.item/?op=pdf&app=CEF&id=B7537-S028

Gazetted a 2nd Lieutenant with the Royal Fusliers on 20th September 1915.

He is listed as  being with the 14th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers in the Thomas Kent court martial document.

He died in Belgium in 1917.

https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/105533/reginald-sebastian-page-green/

Mention is made of the award of a posthumous Military Cross to Page-Green :

http://s525015826.websitehome.co.uk/Obits/The%20Fallen.pdf

Percy James McChesney (1892-1959)

Not sure of enlistment date yet but appears to have started his military career in the cavalry as no 1958, County of London Yeomanry (Westminster Dragoons).

Gazetted a 2nd Lieutenant with the Royal Fusiliers on 7th December 1915.

Hea is listed as being with the 15th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers in the Thomas Kent court martial document.

He would later find himslef in the Royal Flying Corps/Royal Air Force from about Febraury 1917. He appears to have been wounded at some point and declared fit only for Home Service/Garrison duties.

Leaving the RAF in Jnauary 1919, he would live in Calcutta for a short period before returning to London in time for the 1921 census.

McChesney died in Sussex in February 1959.

The first tank in Ireland - November 1917

While a number of improvised armoured cars were constructed during the Easter Rising using lorries from Guinness and steel plate from the Inchicore rail works, and several Rolls-Royce armoured cars arrived in Ireland just after the Rising, tanks were still too new (and secret) to make an appearance in Ireland. The arrival of the 17th (Armoured Car) Battalion of the Tank Corps in January 1919 is reasonably well documented/photographed with a mixture of Mark IV, Mark V* and Whippet tanks and Austin armoured cars.

In November 1917, however, a Mark IV tank appears to have been in Dublin operating at the RDS in Ballsbridge while a host of other Mark IV tanks were preparing for the Battle of Cambrai (and two for the Lord Mayor's Show in London). There is some irony here as County Dublin born Walter Wilson was heavily involved in the design work.

There was a reference to a tank in Dublin pre 1919 mentioned on a thread on the Great War Forum many years ago and a reference to this being filmed in the blog on Early Irish Cinema (and to cameraman John Gordon Lewis) by Derek Condon (@DenisCondon on Twitter) :

https://earlyirishcinema.com/category/films/topicals/tanks-in-dublin-ireland-gfs-1917/

The Freeman's Journal carried a news item that month re the film that Lewis had taken  :

The head on image is blurry but the number 42 can be made out on the front slope of the tank. Not standard number format for the tanks and not quite sure what it means.

Lewis's offices were raided by anti-treaty Republicans and it was believed that his film of the event was lost. A visit to the National Archives in Dublin re the file containing Lewis's claim for damage didn't reveal any more information sadly.

However, a post on Twitter by @ThisDayInWWI with a video of a tank looked familiar. Sure enough, the number 42 appears on the front of the tank, the head on view matches the image from the Freeman's Journal, and there appear to be horses in the background (the RDS in the Ballsbridge area of Dublin being used as a staging point for horses going to the Army).

The film is hosted on the Imperial War Museum (IWM) website (catalogue number IWM 1196) and carries the somewhat unhelpful title :

"TANKS MARK IV, SCHNEIDER, AND MARK IV UNDITCHING [Allocated Title]"

https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1060000185

The film is made up of a number of different clips. The one related to Lewis's filming runs from 00:00 to 02:55 so not a lot of footage but enough to spark interest (and possibly meaning that there is more out there somewhere - e.g. the top photo in the Journal article doesn't match in the clip).

Tank 42 appears in this second clip on the IWM site (catalogue number IWM 1198) from about 11:15. The background from 11:22 looks to be the same as the above clip so possibly the RDS too

https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1060000187

It would appear that there was concern in England that trouble was brewing in Ireland following the death of Thomas Ashe, the Sinn Fein Convention etc and that 4 tanks in a Special Service Unit were sent across from Bovington as a potential show of force - 2 kept in Dublin, 1 sen to Cork, 1 sent to Limerick. (Updated 20th October 2024)

As well as having the first tank in Dublin in November 1917, the first Tank Corps death happened too.

Captain Leonard Bates MC was killed while a tank was being unloaded at the RDS in Ballsbridge, Dublin.

Present at the inquest were 2 members of the Tank Corps :

Sgt William Quincey Jeffs appears to have been a Sergeant instructor while Lt Thomas Frederick Murphy appears to have been a wounded officer recovering from burns.  Murphy and Bates had both been commissioned into the Machine Gun Corps from the 18th (Service) Battalion, Royal Fusiliers in early 1916, both having qualified as machine gunners.

Captain Bates is buried in Grangegorman Cemetery in Dublin.

https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/899811/leonard-john-bates/

Clips from the film appear in other films on the IWM site :

The US troops section of the film is labelled 356-2 and this can be seen in the Topical Budget 356-2 film on the IWM site (catalogue number NTB 356-2) at approx 3:47 on the timeline :

https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1060005457

Several of the clips appear in the film on the IWM site (catalogue number IWM 337) titled "Tanks The Wonder Weapon" :

https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1060022815

Links to previous related posts :

John Gordon Lewis

Guinness Lorries

Guinness Lorry Drivers

Henry Deasy (and armouring the Guinness lorries)

Colonel Allatt

Colonel Portal

17th (Armoured Car) Battalion, Tank Corps

Victory Parade Dublin July 1919

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

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. 

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 appears to have signed an October 1916 dated document relating to one of the wounded members of the Irish Association of Volunteers Training Corps (IAVTC).

The Todd family lost property in The Metropole Hotel when it was burnt out during the Rising. A number of claims were made by the family to The Property Losses Committee.

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.

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 18^th December 1874, Dublin

Died 8^th 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 2^nd 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 20^th 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 17^th 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 17^th December 1870 in Cheltenham, England.

Died 13^th 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 19^th May 1883, Dublin.

Died 16^th 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 13^th November 1881 in Ramelton, Co Donegal, Ireland

Died 17^th 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 3^rd August 1876 in Dublin, Ireland

Died 21^st 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 6^th January 1880 in Waterford, Ireland

Died 3^rd 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 17^th April 1878, Dublin

Died 25^th 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 10^th 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 26^th April 1880 in Monkstown

Died 25^th 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 10^th Battalion, Yorkshire Regiment.

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

(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. 

 

The IFI material comes via the film clips Lewis sent on to Pathe; the clips in Mise Eire, Saoirse, Irish Destiny and On Golden Wings come from the original films retained by Lewis and there are some differences.

A trip to Dublin to look at Lewis's records in the archives didn't produce much information sadly :

Previous blog post re  (John) Gordon Lewis