World War 1 1914-18

It is difficult to know how many Navan men fought in WW1, as 60% of the WW1 military records were destroyed in the London Blitz during WW2.  We know that around 130 men from Navan and its surrounding areas were killed in the Great War, out of an estimated 1000 who joined up.  Based on the military records which survive, the average age of those who died was 27.6.

The sons of the local gentry were well represented and served in the officer corps.  The Meath Chronicle lamented the loss of 2 members of the Meath Hunt.  The first was Lt. Nigel Legge Burke (aged 24) of the Coldstream Guards, killed on Oct 14th 1914 near Ypres.  His mother was a Lambert from Beauparc.  The second was Lt. Kenneth Matheson (aged 28), from Tara Hall, who also died near Ypres on 1st Nov. 1914. 1

Capt. Arthur Preston, (29), Royal Dublin Fusiliers, from Swainstown Kilmessan was killed at Suvla Bay on Aug 15th 1915.  He was mentioned in dispatches.  Shortly before he was killed he had written cheerful letters home to his wife and father, declaring himself to be “full of buck and life.” 2

Capt. R.C. Metge, son of R.H. Metge (M.P. for Meath 1880-1882) serving with the Leinster Regiment, was invalided home in 1916, dying at his home Athlumney House in Kilcarn in Oct. 1919. 3

The majority of those who enlisted were the ordinary working men of the town.  Of the 110 military records relating to Navan which survive, 45% of the men describe themselves as labourers and a further 16% as farm labourers.  Other trades mentioned include horse shoer/groom/ painter/carpenter/carter/butcher/fitter/sweep/slater/messenger/ bootmaker/tailor/ clerk.   There was 1 electrician, 2 musicians and 1 student.

35% of the men came from the poorest parts of the town Barrack Lane , Sandymount and the little lanes off Trimgate and Watergate St. 28% gave no address so it is likely that the percentage  of men coming from the poorest parts of the town is higher than the 35% mentioned.

Poverty may well have given some impetus for young men to enlist.  Some joined in groups, called “Pal’s Regiments”.   For example, we know that at least 22 members of Navan UDC joined the Leinsters, and the Post Office Rifles included 11 men from the Post Office Service of Meath.  It would not appear that the Volunteers in the Navan area heeded Redmond’s call in any great numbers.  13 are recorded from Navan (it is likely that the number was greater than this, but records haven’t survived, and being a member of the National Volunteers was not recorded on the Enlistment forms) and 50% of the Johnstown and Kilmessan Volunteer corps joined up. 4

(left) Pte Michael Masterson from St. Finian’s Tce.  He worked as a labourer  in  Navan UDC before  joining the Leinster Regiment.  He served in France from Oct. 1914, and died of wounds 12th May 1915.

(right) Pte. Patrick Cregan Infirmary Hill. His family maintain he lied about his age in order to join the army, and the 1911 Census would bear this out.  He served in the Leinsters.  He died, officially aged 19, on the hospital ship Grantully Castle , during the ill fated Gallipoli Campaign. (on 27 Oct 1915.) His memorial is in Salonika, and his name is inscribed on the Drogheda War Memorial.  Eight other Navan men died during the Gallipoli Campaign.

 

Older men (over 30) enlisting were often placed in the Army Service Corps, whose job was to organise supplies to the Front Line.

One of these was

Dvr. Mattie McGoona, (pictured left),

a saddler from Poolboy St. He enlisted aged 42, and he survived the war.  He told his grandson Michael that during the Battle of the Somme he was stationed 2 miles east of the fighting.

 

Pte. Michael Cahill (above right) was a  stoker by trade, and lived in New Lane with his wife Mary.  He was in the Royal Meath Militia before the war, later joining the Leinsters.  He served in France and was wounded in 1915, and sent home to recuperate.  Rejoining the army in Oct. 1915, he served the rest of the war with the 6th Bn Leinsters in Palestine.  His grandson Michael McGoona remembers hearing him talking of swimming in the Suez Canal.  He survived the war, and later worked in the Scottish coalfields, and returning to Navan, in Claytons Woollen Mill, and later in the Gasworks in Mill lane.

The Rev. Nicholas Cooney, curate in Navan, served as Chaplain to the forces, but by 1918 he was giving a speech at an anti-conscription rally in Market Sq. where the Irish Times and the Evening Mail, papers favouring Irish conscription were burned amidst considerable cheering from the force of 200 Volunteers present. 5

Fr Ed Cullen, a Vincentian, from Liscarton, also served as Army Chaplain.  A letter from him recounting his experiences has survived. (see: Navan and its People and the Great War, published in Navan – Its People and Its Past, Vol 2, Journal of the N&DHS ).

At least three young women volunteered to serve as nurses during the war.   Hannah O’ Rourke is recorded by Horneck as working in the Red Cross at Evereux.  The Meath Chronicle in Feb. 1917 reported that Nurse Madeline O’Reilly a nurse in the Fever Hospital, had applied for leave of absence to serve at the front.  The Navan Board of Guardians acceeded to her request, calling her  “one of the ablest nurses in Meath.”

 

Raby Lowry, pictured left, was instrumental in organising

Christmas concerts in the Palace in Navan in 1914  and 1915,

to raise money for “comforts” to send out to the Leinsters.

In 1916, she is serving as a nurse in France.

She was a cousin of 2nd Lt. Joseph Lowry who was killed

at Baupaume in 1918. (see below)

 

 

 

 

Nurse Raby Lowry is pictured on the left of the photo above. Photo courtesy of the Spicer Family.

Navan men fought in virtually every theatre of war.

The majority found themselves posted to the Western Front in the area around Ypres and on the Somme.

They fought in all the great battles, including Mons, Marne, Loos, Somme, Ypres, and Passchendaele .

Illustrated left is Corp. Michael Colclough from the Kells Rd. who served with the Irish Guards before dying on 29th Oct 1915, of wounds received during the Battle of Loos.  He was a member of the National Volunteers before enlisting.  A letter from him survives, published originally in the Meath Chronicle (2 Oct 1915) and in Navan – Its People and its Past, Vol 2.

Two Navan men died on the horrifiic

first day of the

Battle of the Somme 1 July 1916.

They were Corp. Joseph Gorman from

Brews Hill, who was a L/Corp in the Irish Rifles, and Pte. James Flanagan (age 21) from Academy St.

 

The day before he died James wrote his will in the back of his soldier’s notebook.  It is reproduced (right) thanks to the National Archives of Ireland.

 

Pte. Jack Brien spent 4 years in the trenches and survived the war.

He enlisted aged 151/2 in Market Sq. where a stand had been erected and a band was playing.  Without ID, but being a tall young man, with a willingness to go, the recruiting sergeant took him on – “you’ll stop a bullet.”  As he was a groom, he originally served in the Southern Irish Horse Regiment, which as the war went on and losses mounted, was amalgamated into the Leinsters, then the Connacht Rangers and finally the Dublin Fusiliers.  He spent the 4 years of the war in the Somme area.  Jack survived the war, but was gassed, (a bullet had cut through the breathing tube of his gas mask – they told him in the field hospital that his life was saved because he hadn’t eaten for 2 days, –  food in the stomach aggravates the gas, usually fatally).  Despite having only having the capacity of one lung, Jack became a champion cyclist in later years. 6

One Navan man was awarded the DCM. He was Sgt. Christopher Rogers a fitter from O’Growney Tce. who served in the Royal Field Artillery.   A shell splinter hit him on the back of the head near Ypres, on 27th March 1916, and he died 45 minutes later without regaining consciousness.  He was aged 33.  He had served in every bombardment from Mons to his death, and had lucky escapes.  He  was twice mentioned in dispatches.  His C.O. in a letter to his widow, stated “I have known Sgt. Rogers since I joined the Battery, and have nothing but the highest praise for him, both as a good NCO and a skilled workman, and I know that this is the opinion of all officiers in the Battery.”  During the battle of the Aisne, he volunteered and succeeded in repairing two guns which had been put of action, while under heavy shelling. 7

Two Navan men lost their lives during the only naval battle of the war, the Battle of Jutland, which took place between the 31st May -1st June 1916.   One was Lawrence Hamilton (39), a stoker on HMS Black Prince, and  son of John and Ellen Hamilton Dean Hill Navan.  The ship was pounded by shells form all sides and at close range, and sank rapidly in 15 minutes with the loss of all hands (over 800 men).

John Alfred Keappock aged 26, (pictured left),

was the son of Joseph and Catherine Keappock Claremont House, Navan.

He was an engineer on the HMS Shark, which was torpedoed on the 31st May during the height of the battle. The ship went down with its flag flying and only 6 of its crew surviving.

He was described as  being “…of a manly and chivalrous character, …he was a prime favourite among his comrades.”

KEAPPOCK, John Alfred. Royal Navy, H.M.S. “Shark”, Engine Room Artificer 4^th Class. M/4997. Son of Joseph and Catherine Keappock, Claremount, Navan. Father’s occupation: Merchant. Drowned off Jutland following a battle in the North Sea, 31 May 1916. Age: 26.

Memorial: 15, Portsmouth Naval Memorial.

Navan Bluejacket Missing

On Monday last Mr. Joseph Keappock U.D.C. Navan, received notification that his second eldest son, John, who was a second hand artificer on board the “Shark,” was missing. Since then the list of survivors from this vessel has been published, but his name does not appear in it. Although official notification of his death has not been received it is feared that his chances of having been saved are remote. When about 23 he joined H.M.S. “Harrier” on which he remained about six months and was then transferred to the “Shark” on which he spent the last two years.”

Meath Chronicle 10 June 1916.

Navan Man Lost in North Sea Fight

Last week Mr. John Keappock, employed as engineer on the H.M.S. Shark, sunk in the North Sea battle, was reported as missing. We regret to say that the worst fears of his friends have been realised. His father, Mr. Joseph Keappock, U.D.C., has received a communication from the Admirality intimating their belief that the gallant young fellow had been numbered among the victims of what has been described as the greatest sea fight in the world’s history. Mr. Keappock was considered exceptionally clever at his work and had every prospect of a distinguished career in the navy. Of a manly and chivalrous character, he was a prime favourite amongst his comrades. The fact that he was engaged to be married adds a pathetic feature to the sadness of his untimely death which is mourned by many friends.”

Meath Chronicle 17 June 1916.

 

 

James Cahill, (pictured right) was a