Category Archives: Ireland

Able Seaman, accident, Boatswain, Boy, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, Ireland, Kent, Leading Seaman, Ordinary Seaman, Petty Officer, photography, Royal Navy, story, suicide, war

Boatswain James Kirby

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Boatswain James Kirby

James Kirby’s life is one of intrigue and speculation. Born in Laytown, Ireland on 30th August 1867, the earliest documents relating to him are his Royal Naval Service Records.

He enlisted on 1st March 1883, while just fifteen years old, and was assigned the rank of Boy 2nd Class. Over the next couple of years, he served on two ships – HMS Lion and HMS Briton – and was promoted to Boy 1st Class.

On 30th August 1885, James came of age, and was formally enrolled in the Royal Navy. He enlisted for ten years’ service, and his records show that he stood 5ft 3ins (1.60m) tall, had brown hair, blue eyes and a fresh complexion. He was also noted as having a tattoo of an anchor on the back of his left hand.

Over the next ten years, Ordinary Seaman Kirby served on nine different vessels, and was obviously committed to his work. He rose through the ranks, making Able Seaman in January 1886, Leading Seaman (1889), Petty Officer (also 1889) and Chief Petty Officer (1895).

When his initial contract ended, he voluntarily continued with the Royal Navy, although his service record ends on 14th June 1896, at the point that he was promoted to Acting Boatswain.

A second service record picks up James’ details from 5th December 1902. Still serving as a Boatswain, he was assigned to the cruiser HMS Lancaster. His health, by this point, was beginning to suffer, and, it seems, his life was beginning to unravel.

In August 1904, he was injured in an accident involving a “hook rope” and “slightly amoral judgement”. Over the next couple of years his behaviour became increasingly erratic.

In December 1910, he was admitted to Shotley Hospital near Durham, suffering from acute mania and gonorrhoea, and was not be be fit for duty for a few weeks.

Just before Christmas that year, Boatswain Kirby was again admitted to hospital, this time in Chatham, Kent, remaining there for a number of months. He was deemed unfit for further service in March 1911, and was medically discharged with neurasthenia.

However, when war broke three years later, James volunteered his services once more, and was again employed by the Royal Navy. Tragically, this was a decision that would prove to be fatal.

The extraordinary death of a naval boatswain names James Kirby, aged 47, was the subject of an inquest at the Royal Naval Hospital, Chatham… Deceased, whose home was at Dublin, had retired, but had volunteered for service and was anxious to go to sea. On Friday evening [28th August 1914] he was watching a game of billiards in the warrant officers’ mess at the Royal Naval Barracks, Chatham, and appeared perfectly rational and sober. Suddenly he was observed to disappear through an open window beneath which he had been sitting. He went down, as one witness stated “with a smile on his face,” and called out “Good-bye.” A crash of glass below indicated that he struck the dining room window as he fell.

Kent Messenger & Gravesend Telegraph: Saturday 5th September 1914

The article gave further information about the injury James sustained previously: “It transpired that deceased fell out of a window at the Hospital eight years ago through walking in his sleep. He was then suffering from neurasthenia and had delusions.“

The inquest concluded that Boatswain James Kirby had committed suicide during temporary insanity. He was laid to rest in the Woodlands Cemetery, Gillingham, not far from the dockyard at which he was based.

James Kirby’s grave is maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission on behalf of the Royal Navy Admiralty. However, as the naval authorities did not confirm Boatswain Kirby was a war casualty – possibly because of the nature of his death – he was never formally commemorated with a Commonwealth War Grave. However, I have included his story as it remains as pertinent as those of his contemporaries.

Cameronians (Scottish Rifles), Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, Ireland, Kent, London, Major, Middlesex, New Zealand, photography, story, war

Major George Hannan

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Major George Hannan

George Madder Hannan was born in Dublin in 1861, the son of banker Benjamin Hannan. There is little concrete information about his early life, but what can be pieced together produces the story of a well-travelled man.

On 22nd January 1896, George was initiated into the Lodge of Otago, a freemason’s collective in Dunedin, New Zealand. He is listed as being a Master Mariner.

George’s marriage certificate records that he wed Mary Carlisle on 27th October 1898. The wedding took place at St Jude’s Church in Kensington, London, and the groom was listed as a Gentleman. Mary was the daughter of a paper manufacturer, and had been born in Lancashire.

The next document for George is the 1911 census. This notes that he ad Mary were still living in Kensington, along with their only child – daughter Grace, who had been born in 1900 – and two servants. This time he is listed as being an army major, a special reserve officer.

Moving forward a few years, the next record for George is the notice of his funeral, in October 1915:

We regret to announce the death of Major Madder-Hannan, which occurred at May Bank on Wednesday morning. Major Madder-Hannan, who had only resided in the village [of Bearsted, Kent] for the past few months, held his commission in the 9th Service Battalion Cameronians. He had been an invalid since taking up his residence here.

Kent Messenger & Gravesend Telegraph: Saturday 16th October 1915

Sadly, no documentation remains about George’s time with the Cameronians. He passed away, presumably through illness, on 13th October 1915, at the age of 54 years of age.

Unusually, given the main family home was in Kensington, George Madder Hannan was buried in the village where he died. He was laid to rest in Holy Cross Churchyard, Bearsted.

Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Great War, history, illness, Ireland, Kent, Lance Corporal, photography, Private, story, The Lancers, war

Lance Corporal Frederick Twist

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Lance Corporal Frederick Twist

Frederick William Twist was born in around 1884, the older of two children to William and Clara Twist. William had been born in Faversham, Kent, and was a labourer in the cement works there.

Frederick did not follow his father’s trade, however, and, on leaving school, he found work in the printing office of the Faversham News, before moving on to Filmer Bros., a local nursery and bulb grower. He was a keen member of the Salvation Army, and played in the local Corps’ band. After more than a decade at Filmer Bros., Frederick took up new employment with Salvation Army Insurance, and worked out of the Whitstable office.

In the spring of 1909, Frederick married Helen Bedster, a bargeman’s daughter from Faversham. At the time of their wedding, she was working as a servant for a brewer manager in the town. The couple settled down in a terraced house in the centre of the town, and went on to have two children.

When war broke out, Frederick was called upon to play his part, but his time in military service was to be a troubled one. A contemporary newspaper expanded on this:

The toll of war continues through nearly a year has elapsed since the war practically ceased… [following] the death of Lance Corporal Frederick William Twist, 16th Lancers, a Faversham man, who passed away at the Military Hospital Woolwich, after a great deal of suffering.

Lance Corporal Twist enlisted under the Derby Scheme and being called up in May 1916, he joined the 16th Lancers and was sent to Ireland. At the end of that year he was drafted to France but in the following May he was invalided home with trench fever.

On his discharge from hospital in Devonshire he returned to Ireland. Then in March of last year there came the great offensive on the Western Front and for the second time deceased was drafted to France. He was not, however, at all fit, and the result was that he was obliged to fall out.

After a further spell in hospital and convalescent camp at the base he was employed on light duty – stores keeping and clerical work – to which he stuck with dogged spirit until in June last he again broke down and was once more in hospital.

Later he was transferred to the Royal Herbert Hospital, Woolwich, where he died on October 7th – a fine example of a British soldier who had struggled, even against weakness and suffering, to do his duty to the very last.

Faversham News: Saturday 18th October 1919

Lance Corporal Frederick William Twist was 35 years of age when he passed. He was laid to rest in the Borough Cemetery of his home town, Faversham.

accident, Captain, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, India, Ireland, Kent, Lieutenant, photography, Prince of Wales Leinster Regiment, story, war

Captain Roden Chatterton

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Captain Roden Chatterton

Roden Latham Chatterton was born on 13th July 1895, in Budin, Bengal, India. He was the only child to George and Ella Chatterton. George was a Lieutenant Colonel in the army, and had married Ella in India, where he was based.

The family had returned to England by the time of the 1911 census, but then moved permanently to Ireland. When war broke out, Roden joined up, enlisting in the 1st Battalion of the Leinster Regiment with the rank of Lieutenant. Full details of Roden’s military service are not available, but he arrived in France in January 1915 and, stayed there for the best part of two years.

In December 1917, the now Captain Chatterton transferred to the Royal Flying Corps. Based in Kent, he learnt to fly, and was close to gaining his wings, when an accident befell him in March 1918.

About 5:30pm on March 27th, [Captain Chatterton] was about 1.500 feet up, was trying to land near an aerodrome, and the wind was very rough. He shut off the engine and tried a left hand turn when the machine stalled and came down in a spin nose down and crashed to the ground. Several [people] went to his assistance. He was in great pain and made no remarks. He had been strapped in, but the belt had broken. The wind was from the south south-west. He came own into the wind and was trying to turn head into it when the machine got into a spin. It was not an ideal day for flying. Another machine… was flying with the deceased, and that landed all right. There was no collision in the air. When [he] turned he had not got the nose down far enough to keep up the engine speed and, in the witness’ opinion it was through an error of judgment on his part that the machine crashed. Had there been more space he would have got out of the spin. There was nothing wrong with the machine, but it was a type that was very difficult to handle in rough weather.

Whitstable Times and Herne Bay Herald: Saturday 6th April 1918

Captain Chatterton was taken to the Lees Court Military Hospital south of Faversham for treatment, but died of his injuries on 29th March 1918. He was 22 years of age.

Roden Latham Chatterton was laid to rest in a quiet corner of the Borough Cemetery in Faversham.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, Ireland, Kent, killed in action, Ordinary Seaman, photography, Royal Navy, story, war

Ordinary Seaman William Nolan

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Ordinary Seaman William Nolan

William John Nolan was born in County Kildare, Ireland, on the 8th October 1892, one of ten children to agricultural labourer Thomas Nolan and his wife, Anna.

There is little documentation connected to his early life, but when he left school, William found work as a porter, and is was this that he was doing up until war broke out in 1914.

William was conscripted on 1st March 1915, joining the Royal Navy as an Ordinary Seaman. His service records show that he stood 5ft 5.5ins (1.66m) tall, had brown hair, brown eyes and a fresh complexion. He was also noted as having tattoos on his forearms, and a scar on his right one.

Ordinary Seaman Nolan was sent to HMS Pembroke, the Naval Dockyard in Chatham, Kent, for training. Within a month, he was given his first posting, on board the armoured cruiser HMS Lancaster. He spent fifteen weeks aboard and, over the next two years, he served on four more ships, returning to his base in Chatham after each voyage.

William came back to HMS Pembroke in July 1917: the base was particularly busy and cramped that summer, so much so that additional temporary accommodation was set up in the barracks’ Drill Hall. This is where Ordinary Seaman Nolan was billeted.

On the night of the 3rd September 1917, Chatham was bombarded by a German air raid, and the Drill Hall received a direct hit. Tragically, Ordinary Seamen Nolan was amongst those killed. He was just 24 years old.

William John Nolan’s body was laid to rest in the Woodlands Cemetery in Gillingham, alongside the other victims of the Chatham Air Raid.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, Ireland, Kent, killed in action, photography, Royal Naval Reserve, Seaman, story, war

Seaman James Anderson

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Seaman James Anderson

James Anderson was born on 9th April 1892 in Galway, Ireland. He was one of eleven children to labourer Thomas Anderson and his wife, Mary. Thomas was a labourer and fisherman, and it was into the sea-faring life that James entered into when he finished school. The 1901 census notes that the family were Roman Catholic, and that, while not all of them were able to read and/or write, those that could – James included – could do so in both English and Irish.

James was set on using his knowledge of boats to build a career for himself and, on 9th December 1911, he enrolled in the Royal Naval Reserve. His service records show that he was 5ft 3.5ins (1.61m) tall, had a fresh complexion and blue eyes.

Over the next few years, Seaman Anderson served on a number of different vessels, plying the seas around Ireland, to and from Liverpool. He was on board the Cressy when war was declared, and within a couple of weeks, he had been stationed at HMS Pembroke, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Chatham, Kent.

There is little information about James’ life during the war, although, as he appears to have been permanently based at HMS Pembroke, it is likely that his skills were being put to training new recruits, rather than serving at sea.

As the war progressed, Chatham Dockyard became busier. In the summer of 1917, the base became so overcrowded that temporary accommodation was set up in the barracks’ Drill Hall: this is where Seaman Anderson found himself billeted.

On the 3rd September 1917, the first night air raid carried out by the German Air Force bombarded the town, and scored a direct hit on the Drill Hall; Seaman Anderson was among those killed that night. He was just 25 years of age.

James Anderson was laid to rest, along with the other victims of the Chatham Air Raid, in the Woodlands Cemetery, Gillingham.

accident, Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Essex, Great War, history, injury, Ireland, photography, Private, Somerset, story, war, Worcestershire Regiment

Private Alfred Beake

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Private Alfred Beake

Alfred Beake was born in December 1898 and was one of nine children to Alfred and Charlotte Beake. Alfred Sr was a baker from Westonzoyland in Somerset, but it was in Chard that he and Charlotte had set up home and raised their family.

There is little documented about Alfred’s life. He played his part in the First World War, and had joined the Worcestershire Regiment by November 1918. His troop – the 5th (Reserve) Battalion – was a territorial force, and he would have split his time between Harwich, Essex, and Plymouth, Devon.

Private Beake survived the war and, by the spring of 1919 had been moved to Dublin. It was here on 18th May that he met with colleagues Private Simpson and Swindlehurst in the centre of the city. The trio caught a tram to the coastal town of Howth for a day out, where tragedy struck.

The Dublin Evening Telegraph reported on what happened next:

Private Sydney Simpson, Royal Engineers, stated… when they got to Howth, they walked along the Cliff Walk for about a mile, when they saw some seagulls down the cliff. [Beake and Swindlehurst] went out of witness’s sight for a while, when he heard a shout from Swindlehurst for help. On hurrying back, he saw Swindlehurst looking towards the sea, and he said the deceased had slipped down. The cliff was so steep that, although they tried to get down, they could not do so. Witness sent for help. None of the party had taken any drink.

Private Swindlehurst… said that he and deceased climbed down the grassy slope to get some seagulls’ eggs, but that the deceased suddenly slipped down. There was no horseplay going on at the time when the accident took place.

Captain Wynne, Royal Army Medical Corps, who made a post mortem examination, described the terrible injuries which the deceased had sustained. Death must have been instantaneous.

Dublin Evening Telegraph: Wednesday 21st May 1919

Private Beake had suffered a fractured skull from the fall. He was just 20 years of age.

Alfred Beake’s body was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the family plot in Chard Cemetery.

Alfred’s oldest brother, Walter George Beake, had also served in the First World War.

Private Beake fought with the 7th Battalion of the Somerset Light Infantry, and was involved in some of the key skirmishes of the Somme. But it was at Ypres that he was buried alive during an attack, and the resulting shell shock left him totally incapacitated.

Walter was discharged from the army on medical grounds in September 1916. He returned home to try and piece his life together again. He never married, and passed away in December 1978, at the age of 87 years old.

Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders, Captain, Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Great War, history, Hong Kong, Ireland, Lieutenant, London, Major, Norfolk, Northern Ireland, photography, Scotland, South Africa, Sri Lanka, story, unknown, Wales, war

Major Stafford Douglas

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Major Stafford Douglas

Stafford Edmund Douglas was born on 4th January 1863, the second of four children to Stephen and Mary Douglas. Stafford came from a military family, his father having been a Captain in the Royal Navy. This led to a lot of travelling and, having been born in Donaghadee, County Down, he then moved to South Wales.

By the 1880s, when Stephen and Mary had set up home in Portsmouth, Stafford had started to carve out a career for himself, and was a Lieutenant in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, based at Edinburgh Castle.

Over the coming years, Lieutenant Douglas, who stood 5ft 8.5ins (1.74m) tall and also spoke French, travelled the world, serving in South Africa, Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and Hong Kong. By 1894 he had made Captain, and he finally retired in 1903, after nineteen years’ service.

On 29th April that year, at the age of 40, Stafford married Mary Louisa Harris. She was the daughter of an army colonel, and the couple wed in St George’s Church, Hanover Square, London. The couple set up home in Exeter, Devon, and went on to have two children – Violet and Stafford Jr.

At this point, Stafford’s trail goes cold. When war broke out in 1914, he was called back into duty, working as a Railway Transport Officer in Norwich. He continued in this role until 1919, before being stood down and returning home.

Stafford Edmund Douglas passed away on 15th February 1920, at the age of 57 years old, although no cause of death is immediately apparent. He was laid to rest in the Milton Road Cemetery in Weston-super-Mare, presumably where his family were, by this time, residing.

Commonwealth War Graves, Corporal, Great War, Hampshire, history, illness, injury, Ireland, Lance Corporal, Lance Serjeant, photography, Private, Royal Welsh Fusiliers, Sergeant, Somerset, story, war, Wiltshire Regiment

Corporal Cyril Allen

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Corporal Cyril Allen

Cyril Starr Allen was born on 15th June 1891 in the village of Baughurst, near Tadley in Hampshire. He was the second youngest of five children to Charles and Martha Allen. Charles was a rate collector, and the family moved around the county during Cyril’s early years.

By the time Cyril left school, Charles had become an assistant bursar in Wootton, near Basingstoke. Cyril, meanwhile, had found similar administrative employment and was working as a clerk for a local land agent.

At the start of 1911, Cyril enlisted in the British Army. He joined the 4th Battalion of the Wiltshire Regiment as a Private and was soon based on Salisbury Plain. His service records confirm that he was 19 years and 7 months old, and stood at 5ft 5ins (1.65m) tall. Private Allen served for his initial term of four years, before being remobilised.

In November 1915, Cyril married Mabel Young. She was a printer’s daughter from Wiltshire, and the couple married in Salisbury, before settling down in Frome, Somerset. They went on to have a child, a daughter they called Kathleen.

Remobilised in the autumn of 1915 Private Allen received a series of promotions – to Lance Corporal, Corporal, Lance Sergeant and Sergeant, and, by June 1917, he found himself at the Front.

On 22nd April 1918, Cyril was injured, sustaining gunshot wounds to his shoulder and left arm. He was invalided back to England for treatment, and was hospitalised in the north of the country. He was then transferred to the Royal Welch Fusiliers with the rank of Corporal and sent to Ireland to continue his recovery and work light duties.

While in Ireland, Corporal Allen contracted influenza and was admitted to the Buttevant Hospital in County Cork. Sadly, in his weakened state, it was something he was to succumb to, and he passed away, with Mabel at his bedside, on 15th November 1918. He was just 27 years of age.

Cyril Starr Allen’s body was brought back to England; he was laid to rest in the graveyard of Christ Church in Frome, Somerset.

Corporal Cyril Allen (from ancestry.co.uk)

After the loss of her husband, Mabel went on to live her life. In 1923, she married James Burr, a draughtsman from Frome; they went on to have a child – a brother for Kathleen – called James.

Cyril’s two brothers, Winthrop and Charles, also fought in the First World War.

(from ancestry.co.uk)

Winthrop had emigrated to North America in 1911, but returned to Europe as part of the Canadian Expeditionary Force when war broke out.

Lance Corporal Charles Allen served with the 15th Battalion of the Hampshire Regiment. He fought on the Western Front and was killed near Kemmel Hill in Belgium on 4th September 1918. He was just 21 years old. Charles is commemorated at the Tyne Cot Memorial in Zonnebeke, Belgium.

Commonwealth War Graves, Greaser, Great War, history, illness, Ireland, Kent, photography, Royal Naval Reserve, Stoker, story, Wales, war

Greaser Humphrey Donoghue

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Greaser Humphrey Donoghue

Humphrey Donoghue was born in Kerry, Southern Ireland, on 13th December 1859. He was the oldest of two siblings, boys to John and Mary Donoghue. John was a labourer who, by the time Humphrey’s younger brother was born, had moved the family to the village of Llantarnam in South Wales, presumably for work.

Humphrey seemed to be looking for adventure, and the trip across the Irish Sea may have been the spur for that. By the time of the 1891 census, he was recorded as being a Stoker on board HMS Tretis. This was a screw corvette ship which, on the day of the census, was plying the waters of the Pacific.

Sadly, full records of Humphrey’s life at sea are no longer available, so it’s not possible to track his progress over the following years. It would seem that he Stoker Donoghue persisted with his naval career, continuing through what would have been his initial twelve years’ service. Whether he had any breaks in that service is unknown, but he was certainly still serving – or had been called back into duty – by the time of the Great War. His gravestone confirms that was serving as a Greaser – maintaining the engines – on HMS Achtaeon.

The next available document for Humphrey is the record of his death. He passed away on 26th February 1917, at the Royal Naval Hospital in Chatham, Kent, having been admitted there with pneumonia. He was 57 years old.

Humphrey Donoghue was laid to rest in the Woodlands Cemetery in Gillingham, Kent, close to the Naval Dockyard where he may have been based.