(John) Gordon Lewis

One chap who keeps cropping up in my research is (John) Gordon Lewis, a press photographer/cameraman.

From Antrim, he enlisted in the British Army on the 14th September 1914, becoming number 18094, Private, Royal Irish Rifles. 101 days later, 23rd December 1914, he was discharged as not likely to make an efficient soldier.

He moved to Dublin and joined a film company run by Norman Whitten. Whitten had filmed the funeral of the victims of the Bachelor's Walk Massacre in 1914 and the funeral of Donovan O'Rossa in 1915. Lewis appears to have done well and later captured much on film whilst also appearing in shots himself :

Richard Mulcahy

Cathal Brugha

Lewis caught the death of Sean Treacy on camera, a work that is often confused with scenes from a fictional film from 1926 called Irish Destiny.

Whitten and Lewis worked on an early Irish film post war re The Days of St Patrick.

Whitten was to return to England while Lewis became a cameraman for British Pathe news.

The work of both these men can be seen in Mise Eire and Saoirse.

Escaping German Prisoners of War

4 German PoWs appear to have made an attempt to escape from Fron Goch while three German officers tried to escape from nearby Dyffren Aled in 1915.

Fron Goch
Private Julius Reinhard Koch
Cpl Heinrich Brinkmann, aged 24
Private Hans Schoenherr, aged 21
Private Wilhelm Arenkens, aged 23

left Fron Goch area on the 13th April 1916 heading for Liverpool. They hoped to get on a neutral ship and make their way back to Germany.


Dyffren Aled
Two of the German officers appear handcuffed in this photo :

http://www.gtj.org.uk/en/large/item/GTJ18053/

Hermann Tholens, Heinrich von Hennig and Wolff-Dietrich Baron von Helldorff had a scheme to meet with a U-Boat just off the Welsh coast near Llandudno which nearly succeeded.

Tholens described part of the escape in the 1930s.

The Fron Goch Policeman

In researching the Germans and Irish prisoners at Fron Goch, I came across a photo of Police Constable Oliver Cromwell Davies on duty at Fron Goch.

https://www.peoplescollection.wales/items/27626

An interesting photo as he appears to be armed and wearing an army ammunition bandolier but obviously the forenames struck a chord given the actions of Oliver Cromwell in Ireland.

A look up on Ancestry.co.uk shows him in the 1911 census as born approx 1892 in Blaenau Ffestiniog in Merionethshire, aged 19, a Police Constable lodging in Barmouth in Merionethshire.

He gave his address as Glyndwr, Frongoch, Bala when he enlisted in the Royal Garrison Artillery on 18th November 1915, number 68104. Age 23years and 5 months. His army service record shows that he was 6ft 1in tall. Sent to Dover for training. His first promotion came on the 30th May 1916 as acting Bombardier, then Bombardier (25/10/1916), Corporal (5/5/1917), acting Sgt (17/11/1917) and then Sgt (14/1/1918). He was discharged to the Class Z army reserve 13th February 1919.  He was in the UK until 29th July 1916 and then joined the BEF in France. travelling from Avonmouth to Boulogne to join 124 Siege Battery. Appears to have been wounded 10th August 1918 but no details as to what the wound was.

He was awarded the Belgian Croix de Guerre and the Meritorious Service Medal as well as the British War Medal and Victory Medal.

He appears to have returned to the Police after WW1 and appears as an Inspector in archives at the National Archives.

German PoWs at Fron Goch

Lyn Ebenezer's book lists 7 German PoWs as having died at Fron-Goch.

Hugo Paul Schroter is mentioned in the following webpage as having died in April 1915. The other soldier alluded to is likely to be Hubert Langenberg who died in Q1 1916 (1st March 1916)

http://www26.us.archive.org/stream/thebettergermany24810gut/24810-0.txt

The other German soldiers are :

Paul Vellener/Velleuer died Q3 1918. Born 13th December 1893, died 27th July 1918.
Rudolph Waschkowitz died Q4 1918. Born 26th July 1882, died 7th December 1918.
Alfred Schirmer died Q4 1918. Born 7th November 1895, died 28th November 1918.
Werner Ernst Foerster died Q4 1918. Born 19th August 1898, died 24th November 1918.
Adolph Stauch died Q3 1919. Born 18th November 1895, died 4th August 1919.

They are buried in adjacent graves at Cannock Chase in Staffordshire. Hugo Schroter is in Row 4, Block 12, grave 131, Langenberg in grave 132, Foerster in 133, Velleuer in 134, Schirmer in 135, Waschkowitz in 136 and Schirmer in 137.

From a thread on the Great War Forum :

March 4th, 1916, Hubert Langenburg was buried at the village church. The newspaper report states that the 23 year old's coffin was accompanied by 30 fellow prisoners under escort and buried "with full military honours" in the parish cemetery.


From Ancestry

Name:	Hugo Schröter
Birth Date:	12 Jun 1891
Birth Place:	Dachwich Bezirksamt Erfurt Sachsen(Saxony)
Combat Arm:	Infanterie
Type of Unit:	Infanterie-Regimenter
Unit:	4. bayer. Infanterie-Regiment
Volume:	702. Kriegstammrolle: 2. Kompanie, Bd. 1

RIC, Black and Tans, Auxiliaries

The best site and forum around for information regarding the Royal Irish Constabulary (including the Black and Tans and the Auxiliaries) is run by Peter "McRIC" :

http://www.royalirishconstabulary.com/

http://irishconstabulary.com/

The Royal Irish Constabulary was an armed police force that operated through most of Ireland. The Dublin Metropolitan Police (DMP) operated in Dublin (though the RIC had a depot in Phoenix Park) and were unarmed generally. G Division of the DMP were plain clothed and were an intelligence operation.

The Black and Tans were elements of the standard RIC that were recruited from outside Ireland to make up for the loss of regular RIC members through resignations, wounding and killed. They were generally ex-servicemen who had fought in the Great War. They were not recruited from British jails; this is a myth. Many were in fact Irish Catholics. They were integrated with the standard RIC but did not receive the same training or discipline.

The Auxiliary Division Royal Irish Constabulary (ADRIC - or Auxiliaries) were a separate unit within the RIC that operated in companies around Ireland. Generally these were ex-officers and many were highly decorated.

It was (and still is) common to call Black and Tans as Auxiliaries and vice versa. Generally, Auxiliaries operated as independent groups. Black and Tans operated by and large with ordinary RIC. Either way, they operated very differently to the RIC and in many instances, operated outside of the law that they were supposed to uphold.

http://www.cairogang.com/

At the end of the War of Independence, many Auxiliaries went to Palestine to continue their brand of police work. Many RIC were assisted to emigrate to other parts of the British Empire.

Book on the subject include :

Tudor Toughs

RIC List

Black and Tans by Leeson

Black and Tans by Bennett

Clive Wilson Warman

Clive Wilson Warman was born in the USA, 30th May 1892. He grew up to be a civil engineer but at the outbreak of World War One he appears to have signed up for the Canadian infantry (going on biographical information here as no records found to confirm this yet). After being wounded in France, he's transferred to a motor transport unit and spends time in Dublin. Again, biographical information suggests that he was there at the time of the Easter Rising. No information about what he did there but he would have been involved in the suppression in some form. Possibly the only American on the British side to take part?

He went back to England where he qualified as a pilot and joined the Royal Flying Corps. After a time as an instructor he was posted to France once more. Flying SPAD aircraft he appears to have claimed 12 enemy craft shot down and to have been awarded the DSO and Military Cross as well as a Mention in Dispatches.

After the war he remained in the Air Force (some books claim he was in the Canadian Air Force while his gravestone and CWGC entry shows Royal Air Force).

In May 1919 he died as a result of his aircraft crashing into the sewage farm in Edmonton, North London. One book states that he crashed in Edmonton, Canada but his death is registered in Edmonton, Middlesex, UK and he is buried in the UK.

Clive Warman is supposed to have enlisted with Princess Patricia's Regiment.No information about him on their excellent website. He does get a mention in a letter from Canadian flyer Norwood MacLeod to his father back in Canada.

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

http://www.wwiaviation.com/aces/ace_Warman.html

http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/usa/warman.php

http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1918/1918%20-%200424.html

SPAD VII Aces of WW1

American Aces of WW1

2nd Lt 1st April 1917

26th September 1917

26th September 1917 2nd entry

8th January 1918

8th January 1918 2nd entry

Findagrave.com

Aerodromes in Ireland in WW1 and just after

I've had a bit of a delve into records relating to aerodromes/airfields in Ireland during WW1 and after on the Great War Forum, Boards.ie etc and this is a jotting to pull together various threads.

The following website has a basic list of airfields in Ireland and lists some that are of interest :

http://www.homepages.mcb.net/bones/UK_Airfield_Catalogue/Airfields_Ireland.htm

The TDS note for some of the old RAF stations stands for Training Depot Station.

19 TDS Curragh
22 TDS Gormanston
23 TDS Baldonnel
24 TDS Collinstown
25 TDS Tallaght

RAF Tallaght was used as a demob centre after the war. 2nd Lt William Kretmar (Kretzshmar) died at RAF Tallaght in 1919 with 141 Squadron. Members of the WRAF were stationed at Tallaght.

RAF Baldonnel closed down in 1922. Flying Officer Perry was killed there in February 1922 taking off to fly to England. Have yet to identify the airman who died with him.

RAF Oranmore. A hangar was used for the Pavilion Ballroom in 1924.

Major Chads was killed when an aircraft in which he was a passenger crashed. The pilot was from the RAF unit at Castlebar.

Arthur Vere Bettington appears to have had command at RAF Baldonnel at some point.

2 Squadron (Fermoy and Oranmore 1920-22)

4 Squadron (Aldergrove and Baldonnel)

100 Squadron ( Baldonnel )

106 Squadron (Fermoy 1919)

Alcock and Brown flight June 1919

IRA Ambush of RAF Personnel

Former RAF man James Gleave. A number of ex-RAF personnel appear to have joined the Auxiliary Division, Royal Irish Constabulary, several killed at an ambush at Macroom.

2nd Lt T F Morris, 25 TDS at RAF Tallaght

2nd Lt Douglas Watts, 23 TDS at RAF Baldonnel

2nd Lt's Norris and Camm, 22 TDS died in at RAF Gormanstown. CWGC for Norris and Camm. There is a photo of Percy Camm on the Burnley website.

Lt Norman Mellor, 25 TDS at RAF Tallaght, died on the RMS Leinster

AM3 Murphy

William Sholto Douglas, RFC

Air Commodore Bonham-Carter

Air Commodore Pryor


Malahide Castle was a RNAS airship sub-station and some of the anchor points are still visible. Part of the roll was anti-submarine work with units based in Wales.

An ebay listing suggested that Captain David Campbell MC was involved in the later development of Baldonnel for the Irish Free State. Have purchased a copy of Campbell's book "Forward the Rifles. The War Diary of an Irish Soldier 1914-1918"

RFC Airmen buried in the Curragh, 1916 - James Amos and Benjamin Fitton. RAF airman buried in the Curragh in 1919 - George Carter

An American born RFC/RAF man listed as being in Dublin at the time of the Easter Rising :

WARMAN, 2nd Lieutenant Clive Wilson

Irish Volunteers - Sweeney

while the better halfs' family has a number of rebels and fenians on the family tree, mine are near non-existent. Most seemed to be focused on earning a living (and in some cases drinking it away).

The Sweeney's, related by marriage, are the only ones that have shown up so far as having an interest in Irish independence.

George, Michael and Patrick were the children of Hugh and Bridget Sweeney. Bridget by all accounts was a fierce supporter of the independence movement. though Hugh and Bridget are listed in the 1901 census as English speakers, the children are all listed as Irish speakers, even 3month old Michael.

George Sweeney was a member of the Irish Volunteers but followed the Redmond route into the British Army. He was killed in 1917 aged 19.

His brother Michael was also a member of the Irish Volunteers but too young to enlist in the army. Not too young to be a member of the South Dublin Union garrison during the Easter Rising though. He went on to fight during the War of Independence, was wounded, later imprisoned in Mountjoy but killed after the Truce and just before the Civil War erupted. Shot by members of the new National Army whilst escaping from a lorry at the corner of Grafton St and Nassau St. It was reported that his funeral at Glasnevin  (I always thought he was buried in Mount Jerome) was attended by over 3000 and his death was raised in the Dail by Harry Boland. 

Their younger brother Patrick was involved in running messages during the War of Independence.

Mrs Sweeney was involved in smuggling arms for the IRA after the Civil War, using the shop at no 5 Harold's Cross as a delivery and distribution point. 

Private John Miranda, Connaught Ranger

Reading around WW1, the Easter Rising, Tan War, Irish Civil War, there are a number of people that become "persons of interest" to use the police term. John Miranda is one such person for me; a Connaught Ranger mutineer still in India, left behind when the bodies of Sears, Smyth and Daly were repatriated to Ireland.

Private John Miranda died in Dagshai military prison following his arrest for taking part in the Connaught Rangers mutiny. He, like a number of the mutineers, was English rather than Irish. Born in Liverpool/Bootle, his parents/step mothers address at the time of his death was 11 Shelley Street, Bootle. His gravestone/memorial carries the  army number 7144229 which he would have been issued as a result of the British army renumbering exercise of 1920. During the Great War he was 5734 and then 35038, Connaught Rangers. His service record is most likely still with the Ministry of Defence.

In the 1901 census, John and his older brother Joseph Peter Miranda (born 21st August 1897) are living with his mother Elizabeth, her father Andrew Wiggins (his country of birth is given as Sweden with British in brackets) and her nephew, another Andrew Wiggins. No sign of the father, Jose Miranda.

Elizabeth Wiggins was born in Liverpool and married Jose Miranda in 1895. She died in 1904 (the death registered as Elizabeth Meranda). Jose Miranda married Elizabeth McCardle, a widow, in 1905.

In the 1911 census, John and Joseph are living away from home at a school institution.

Elizabeth Miranda nee McArdle is living at 11 Shelley St, Bootle and lists her place of birth as Ireland. Age 49 she is in the property with unmarried daughters Elizabeth and Annie McArdle (25 and 18 respectively) at the address. Elizabeth states married for 5 years with no children. No sign of Jose Miranda.

Joseph Miranda appears to have joined the 1st Battalion, Scots Guards after the Great War, as number 19412. His enlistment date is 6th June 1919 and he lists Mrs E Miranda at 11 Shelly St, Bootle as his next of kin. He was charged with stealing by civil authorities and discharged from the Army in August 1920. During the Great War he had served briefly with the Royal Navy Reserve, no Z/687, and then as 520158 Royal Garrison Artillery and 518345 Labour Corps. He listed his occupation as seaman.

He appears as a Deck Boy in the crew list of the SS Addah in 1915. The entry shows this was his first voyage.  His record can be found by searching on https://1915crewlists.rmg.co.uk/

The father, Jose Miranda appears to have died in Liverpool in 1931, aged 66. His records have proved elusive.

The well travelled cooper

Having identified my Gt Gt Grandfather as one Hugh Niland, a Dublin cooper who worked at Guinness, I found I was having no luck finding out anything about him.

A few years back, I then somehow stumbled upon a Hugh Niland mentioned in an online record at the British Library with regards India. Sent off for a copy of the document and duly found that this was my Hugh, He'd enlisted in 1854 into the 2nd Bombay Regiment of European Infantry, part of the Honourable East India Company (HEIC), and gone across to India. The Indian Mutiny took place while he was there but he didn't seem to be involved in this. Ditto the Anglo-Persian war took place and some Bombay troops were sent to this but not Hugh. With the transfer of the HEIC regiments to the British Army, Hugh appears to have decided to leave and is discharged in November 1859 and makes his way back to Dublin.

Back in Dublin he marries Ellen Hawkins and has a child. Then disappears again.

Late in 2011 I had a look at the familysearch.org records and there's a new record for a Hugh Niland, a cooper from Ireland enlisting in the US Navy. A website called fold3.com then appears to have a record for the widow of a Hugh Niland. Upon signing up for the free trial it turns out that this is my Hugh Niland once again and the fold3 document is his widows application for a pension following his death in Dublin in 1895. He appears to have taken a chance to emigrate to Canada (this tallies with an entry in the Coopers Guild records at UCD), gone across to New York and enlisted in the US Navy for one year. He then re-enlisted for another year and serves on a ship off the coast of Florida intercepting British ships trying to break the Union blockade of the southern states.

Having travelled from Ireland to India, back to Ireland, over to Canada and the USA before going back to Ireland, Hugh is buried in Glasnevin Cemetery in an unmarked grave. There is a possibility that he is entitled to a US Veterans gravestone.

On his death certificate, Hugh is initially recorded as Hyland. His date of death is originally given as December 1894 and then corrected to December 1895.The incorrect recording of surnames seems to be a regular issue with this family. Ditto incorrect dates.

Hugh was baptised in the Pro-Cathedral (a church linked to the Coopers Guild) in January 1836 and is recorded as Hugh of Joseph and Bridget Niland.

Of the children of Hugh and Ellen, John (1864-1913), Hugh (1869-1913) and Joseph (1872 - 1917) all became coopers.Only Joseph undertook any form of military service (killed in 1917 while serving with 179 Tunnelling Company, Royal Engineers).

Edit 5th March 2019
I am indebted to Damian Shiels for an excellent article re the Niland family, adding information re the Niland family and their time in the workhouse in Dublin :

https://irishamericancivilwar.com/2019/03/03/the-nilands-uncovering-a-19th-century-working-class-dublin-family-story-in-the-american-pension-files/

Knocklong 1919

Although my better half is C of I, she has quite a bit of republican family history.

The maternal Gt Grandfather, Martin Joseph Pender, is listed in The Paper Wall as a proof reader at the Irish Independent and as having republican sympathies. I've contacted the author of this book, Ian Kenneally, to see if it's possible to find out some more information about Martin Pender's career. Of Martin's children, Charles became a compositor at the Irish Independent while Aidan became editor of the Irish Independent and the Evening Herald.

The paternal grandfather, John Joe O'Brien  from Galbally in Co Limerick, was in this thick of things early on and participated in the rescue of Sean Hogan at Knocklong in May 1919. John Joe's brother Ned also took part, being wounded in the action and eventually making his way to the USA where he worked with Harry Boland. Jeremiah Ring, one of the policemen at Knocklong, later became a friend of and regular visitor to John Joe.

Ned and John Joe's younger brother William Patrick (aka Willie Pa) was arrested after the Easter Rising as a member of the Cobh, Co Cork Volunteers. He was sent to Wakefield and then onto Frongoch. Willie Pa died shortly after his release in November 1916.

Willie Pa and a number of his colleagues from Cork appear in the following blog :

http://diarmuidlynch.weebly.com/irish-volunteers-officer-training-january-1916.html#

One of the RIC men accused of mistreating Willie Pa at the time of his arrest was Sgt James Kingston. John Joe believed that he shot and killed Sgt Kingston at the fight at Annacarty in which Sean Wall was killed.

Of the men detained by the authorities after Knocklong, Edmund Foley and Patrick Maher were tried, found guilty and suffered death by hanging in Mountjoy Prison on the 7th June 1921. Immediately after their execution, the last man to be executed by the British in Ireland, Black and Tan Constable William Mitchell, was hung for his part in a robbery/murder in Co Wicklow.

Thomas Toomey's book "The War of Independence in Limerick 1912-1921" carries a good chapter about the Knocklong Rescue and touches on some of the exploits of John Joe and Ned O'Brien.

Both John Joe and Ned wrote Witness Statements for the Bureau of Military History.

(Links change : last update 16th April 2020)

John Joe O'Brien

Ned O'Brien

We were able to visit the grave of Willie Pa, Ned and John Joe during the Knocklong Centenary Commemoration.

Stan O'Brien was one of the wreath layers at the Knocklong Commemoration.

Stan was able to complete a book about John Joe, Ned, Willie Pa, their family and friends. 

A selection of photos still at the old O'Brien house in Galbally :