Hubert James Lawson was born on 6th November 1897 at Main Street in Larne to William Lawson, Company Secretary for the Shamrock Shipping Company, and Isabella Lawson (nee Norritt). The family lived at Bonavista Terrace in 1901, at Old Glenarm Road in 1911, and later at “Elsinore” on Chaine Memorial Road. Hubert was educated at Larne Grammar School and enlisted with the Royal Irish Fusiliers on 24th February 1916 (Regimental Number 24010).

Private Lawson served on the Western Front with 9th Battalion and was discharged as “No longer physically fit for war service” due to illness on 27th June 1917, with Silver War Badge Number 198321. The medal card, medal rolls, and pension cards record his name as Herbert James Lawson, but one document includes an annotation that Hubert is the correct name. He was boarding at 11 Fountainville Avenue, the home of Miss E Livingstone, when he was awarded a 20% Disability Pension in respect of a collapsed lung at the rate of eight shillings per week.

Hubert graduated from Queen’s University as a Bachelor of Medicine and a Bachelor of Science in July 1924. He was a surgeon when he sailed from Shanghai onboard SS Yangtse, arriving at New York on 1st March 1927, before continuing his journey to the United Kingdom. He married Marjorie Brockbank at Ulverston in Lancashire, the marriage being registered in Quarter 1 1928. The UK and Ireland Medical Register of 1930 records that Hubert was working for the Malayan Medical Service and they were living in Penang Province when their first son was born. Hubert was Medical Officer at Seremban before being appointed as Chief Medical Officer for Kelantan.

During the Japanese advance, Hubert arranged for Marjorie and their three sons – John (14), Billy (12), and Dennis (9) – to be evacuated to Australia. Hubert remained at his post at the Teloh Anson Hospital in Perak and was interned by the Japanese after the Fall of Singapore in February 1942. On 29th October 1944, he was allowed to send a message card from Singapore to his family in Sydney. The message included the following line, “Trust will not be long before we are all united”.

Dr. Hubert James Lawson died of a stomach tumour at the Sime Road Civilian Internment Camp on 2nd December 1944, aged 47, and is buried in Choa Chu Kang Cemetery in Singapore.

The camp occupied a 470-acre site and had been the Combined Operations Headquarters of the British Army and Air Force from December 1941 until the Fall of Singapore. Hubert left effects of £1137 fourteen shillings and nine pence (approximately £43,487 in current terms) to Marjorie, who had returned to Northern Ireland with their sons to live at “Elsinore” in Larne.

Dr Lawson is commemorated on the UK Civilian Roll of Honour for the Second World War and his name was recently added to the war memorial plaque at Larne Grammar School. He is also commemorated on a side-panel at the Lawson family plot in Larne’s Greenland Cemetery.

William Norritt Stewart Lawson, the second son of Hubert and Marjorie, served in the Korean War as a Lance-Corporal with 55th Independent Squadron Royal Engineers, part of the 1st Commonwealth Division. In addition to being awarded the United Nations Korea Medal, he was awarded the British Empire Medal (Military Division) in “recognition of services in Korea during the period 1 August 1954 to 31 January 1955”.

After leaving the army, William pursued a career as a marine engineer in the Merchant Navy and was an engineer officer on SS Ramore Head when he was presented with the British Empire Medal at Thiepval Barracks on Friday 17th August 1956 by Lieutenant-General Sir Brian Kimmins, GOC Northern Ireland District.

William and Isabella Lawson lived at “Elsinore” until their deaths. Isabella died on 18th March 1944, aged 72, and William Lawson died on 2nd April 1947, aged 81. They are buried in the Greenland Cemetery in Larne. Marjorie Lawson died in Belfast on 5th October 1954, aged 50, but her place of burial is not known. William Christie Lawson, Hubert’s older brother, was the Managing Director of the Shamrock Shipping Company in 1947.

Nigel Henderson, History Hub Ulster Researcher

—————————–

Acknowledgements:

Photograph in Malayan Medical Service uniform provided by John Hoy

Lawson family plot photograph Jenny Brennan

Cemetery commemoration image is from the Singapore Tombstones Epigraphic Materials website 

Newspaper photograph of William Norritt Stewart Lawson from Belfast News-Letter (18th August 1956)

The post The Biography of Dr. Hubert James Lawson from Larne appeared first on History Hub Ulster.

Three more USAAF air raids followed, two occurring on 2 March and 17 April aimed at the city’s railroad marshalling yard and one small raid on 17 April aimed at industrial areas. Post-war discussion of whether or not the attacks were justified has led to the bombing becoming a moral controversy of the war.

A 1953 United States Air Force report defended the operation as the justified bombing of a military and industrial target, which was a major rail transport and communication centre, housing 110 factories and 50,000 workers in support of the German war effort. Several researchers have claimed that not all of the communications infrastructure, such as the bridges, were targeted, nor were the extensive industrial areas outside the city centre.

Critics of the bombing argue that Dresden was a cultural landmark of little or no military significance, and that the attacks were indiscriminate area bombing and not proportionate to the commensurate military gains

Large variations in the claimed death toll have fuelled the controversy.
In March 1945, the German government ordered its press to publish a falsified casualty figure of 200,000 for the Dresden raids, and death toll estimates as high as 500,000 have been given. Although Dresden authorities at the time estimated no more than 25,000 victims, a figure which subsequent investigations as recently as 2010 support.

The post On This Day 80 Years Ago: The Bombing of Dresden appeared first on History Hub Ulster.

The tablet commemorating fatalities and those who served from the firm was unveiled on 2nd June 1948 by Captain John Hugo Russell CBE, 3rd Baron Ampthill. John Russell, who had served with the Royal Navy in both world wars, was the Production Director at the Gallaher factory and is the first name in the “Served” section. Although there is a civilian air raid fatality commemorated on the memorial tablet, there should perhaps be two fatalities commemorated. Benjamin Kennedy of 33 Earl Street, adjacent to the Gallaher factory, was recorded as being a tobacco worker when he died at York Street on 16th April 1941, aged 19, and was buried in Carnmoney Main Cemetery on 20th April 1941.

The ten fatalities are listed by service:

Royal Navy (2), Army (4), Royal Air Force (3), Air Raid Fatality (1).

The names of the 335 employees who served and survived are also recorded by service:

Royal Navy (36), Army (145), Royal Air Force (45), Royal Marines (3), Merchant Navy (7), Women’s Royal Naval Service (14), Auxiliary Territorial Service (7), Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (44), Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service (1), Voluntary Aid Detachment (2), Women’s Voluntary Service (2), Nursing (20), National Fire Service (6).

Signalman Wallace Boyd McCappin (P/UD/X 1362, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, HMS Esk)

Whilst laying mines off the Dutch coast, HMS Esk struck a German mine, and a subsequent explosion amidships caused the ship to break in two. Signalman McCappin was 22 years old and is commemorated on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial. He is also commemorated on a family memorial in Carnmoney Cemetery. He was born on 3rd January 1918 at Upper Mervue Street to Robert McCappin, a riveter, and Jane McCappin (nee McClean).

Petty Officer Alexander McIlwaine (D/M 35507, Royal Navy, HMS Caroline)

Alexander McIlwaine died at 26 Jellicoe Avenue on 25th June 1946, aged 54, and is buried in Carnmoney Cemetery East. He was living in one of fifty houses built by the Irish Sailors and Soldiers Land Trust at Jellicoe Avenue for veterans of the Great War. Alexander McIlwaine was born on 15th June 1892 at Dunfane near Kirkinriola to Robert McIlwaine, a baker, and Jane McIlwaine (nee Anderson). He was a flax bundler when he enlisted with the Royal Navy (Number J.5236) as a “Boy” on 4th August 1909 and was established as an Ordinary Seaman (Number M.35507) on 15th June 1910.

He attained the rank of Regulating Petty Officer and served on HMS Bellerophon at the Battle of Jutland. The last ship on which he served was King George V and he was invalided from the service due to pulmonary tuberculosis on 2nd September 1925, having served for over 15 years. His service in the Great War is recognised on the memorial tablet for First Ballymena Presbyterian Church. Alexander married Elizabeth Dundas on 12th February 1925 at First Ballymena Presbyterian Church. He returned to naval service on 20th April 1940, serving on HMS Caroline until 6th January 1943. 

Alexander McIlwaine died at his Jellicoe Avenue home on 25th June 1946, aged 54. He was a member of the Postmen Ex-Servicemen’s Association, the Three Brothers Masonic Lodge 775 and Royal Arch Chapter 755 in Ballymena. Alexander left effects totalling £810 (approximately £27,900 in current terms) to his widow, Elizabeth. Elizabeth McIlwaine was living at Jellicoe Avenue when she died at Belfast City Hospital on 17th April 1962, aged 63. Alexander and Elizabeth McIlwaine are buried in Carnmoney Cemetery East. Also buried in the plot is their son, Ernest, who was living at Jellicoe Avenue when he died on 11th September 1970.

Gunner Leonard Edgar (1475599, 23 Battery, 8 Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery)

Leonard Edgar was Killed in Action on 23rd May 1940, aged 24, and is buried in Wimereux Communal Cemetery in France. His death was confirmed in September 1942, and he is commemorated on a family memorial in Belfast City Cemetery.

Leonard Edgar was born on 24th March 1916 at 58 Brookmount Street to Leonard Edgar, a joiner, and Sarah Ann Edgar (nee McIlroy). He married Norah Goward on 25th August 1937 at St Matthew’s Church of Ireland, Woodvale, and they were living at 71 Brookmount Street in 1939. He was survived by Norah and their two-year-old daughter, Leonora.

Serjeant Thomas Bullock (3593582, 94 Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery)

Thomas Bullock died on 8th April 1945, aged 38, and is buried in Sage War Cemetery in Germany. Thomas Bullock was born on 28th May 1906 at Teutonic Street to William Bullock and Charlotte Bullock (nee Mahon). Thomas Bullock married Edna May Beattie on 22nd August 1936 at Great Victoria Street Presbyterian Church.  Edna and their infant son were living at 32 Britannic Street when Thomas died.

Gunner Albert Kinnon (1459544, 8th (Belfast) Heavy Artillery Regiment, Royal Artillery

Albert Kinnon was Killed in Action on 8th February 1944, aged 37, during the Battle of Admin Box. He is buried in Taukkyan War Cemetery in Myanmar/Burma and is commemorated on a family memorial in Carnmoney Cemetery East. Albert Kinnon was born on 14th September 1906 at Shannon Street to Thomas Kinnon and Georgina Kinnon (nee Brown) and the family lived at 81 Unity Street in 1911. Albert married Agnes Gould on 9th July 1928 at St Michael’s Church of Ireland, Craven Street, and they lived at 77 York Park, Belfast.

Captain James Charles Skelly (265920, 82 Assault Squadron, Royal Engineers)

James Charles Skelly was Killed in Action on 1st November 1944, aged 25, when his tracked landing vehicle was hit whilst coming ashore at Westkappele during the Battle of the Scheldt. He is commemorated on the Groesbeek Memorial in The Netherlands. James Charles Skelly was born on 1st March 1919 at 119 Limestone Road to Samuel Skelly, a window cleaner, and Louisa Skelly (nee Whyte), who were living at 154 Limestone Road when their son died.

Flight Sergeant Thomas Colquhoun Edmonds Berkeley (754377, 85 Squadron, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve)

Thomas Berkeley Died on 14th June 1941, aged 24, when his Boston Havoc aircraft failed to return from an operational flight, and he is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial in England. He is also commemorated on is commemorated locally on Cookstown War Memorial and on the Roll of Honour for Molesworth Street Presbyterian Church.

Thomas Colqhoun Edmonds Berkeley was born on 2nd October 1916 to James Lowry Berkeley and Eleanor Berkeley (nee Paden) of Poplar Hill, Tullyhogue, Tyrone. One of his brothers, Lowry Berkeley, a manager at the Gallaher factory, was in the Ulster Home Guard whilst two sisters, Miss Eleanor Veronica Berkeley and Miss Gladys Berkeley, served with the Women’s Royal Naval Service.

Sergeant Herbert Reginald Megarry (745111, No. 6 Service Flying Training School, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve)

Herbert Reginald Megarry was undergoing pilot training when he died in a flying accident in Oxfordshire on 18th May 1940, aged 20, and is buried in Bangor Cemetery. His Harvard aircraft spun to the ground after the engine stalled following a steep turn. He is also commemorated on the Bangor and District War Memorial and at St. Comgall’s Church of Ireland in Bangor.

Herbert Reginald Megarry was born on 4th May 1920 at Ravenhill Avenue to James Herbert Megarry, a warehouseman, and Harriett Megarry (nee Bailie). Herbert worked in the Engineering Department at the Gallagher factory before joining the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve.

Sergeant George Albert McGarvey (969452, 455 (Royal Australian Air Force) Squadron, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve)

George Albert McGarvey died on 7th November 1941, aged 20, and is buried in Heverlee War Cemetery in Belgium. Sergeant McGarvey was the Wireless Operator and Air Gunner on a Hampden aircraft from RAF Swinderby failed to return from an armed reconnaissance flight towards Cologne. The three other members of the crew also died. George Albert McGarvey was born on 16th December 1920 in Dublin to George Edward McGarvey and Ellen McGarvey (nee Cossar). His father had served with the Royal Engineers and was a Second Lieutenant in the Royal Irish Rifles at Victoria Barracks when he married Ellen Cossar on 18th April 1918 at the United Free Church of Scotland in Lower Abbey Street, Dublin.

William John Lancaster

William John Lancaster was a son of William Raynard Lancaster and Eliza Jane Lancaster (nee Duncan) who had married in Belfast in 1909. William Reynard Lancaster served with the Royal Sussex Regiment from November 1893 to July 1909. He served in India for eleven years, being awarded the India Medal 1895, with Punjab Frontier and Tirah 1897-98 clasps. William was a boilermaker when Eliza Jane gave birth to a daughter, Margaret Sophia Mary, at Little Corporation Street in June 1912.

William John Lancaster was a tobacco worker when he married Margaret Gordon (Nellie) Dornan, a smoother, on 22nd December 1934 at Ulsterville Presbyterian Church. They were living at 27 Lisburn Avenue when William was injured at the Gallaher tobacco factory and died at the Mater Infirmorum Hospital on 5th May 1941. He was 30 years old and was buried in Belfast City Cemetery on 7th May 1941, but there is no memorial at the plot. The description on the tablet implies that he died in the factory. William left effects of £120 7s. 6d. to his widow Maggie Gordon Lancaster. His parents were living at 17 Greenmount Street in 1939, and they were living at 67 Downview Bungalows when they died. William Reynard Lancaster died on 26th February 1951, aged 74, and Eliza Jane Lancaster died on 14th February 1960, aged 85.

Acknowledgements

The photograph of the Gallaher Limited War Memorial Tablet is from a history of the firm called “Smoke Signals” (available to access at the Linen Hall Library).

The photographs of the CWGC headstones in overseas graveyards are from www.findagrave.com

The photograph of Thomas Berkeley is from the Cookstown War Dead website (www.cookstownwardead.co.uk)

The photograph of Albert Kinnon is from www.findagrave.com

Research by Nigel Henderson.

The post Gallaher and Company Second World War Memorial appeared first on History Hub Ulster.

Following the 75th Anniversary of the 1941 German air raids on Northern Ireland, Belfast City Council erected a number of memorial plaques at various locations in the city. The phrasing of the inscriptions on all but three of the plaques refers to “lives lost here” but it is unclear whether it refers literally to fatalities at the location/street, the number of people who lived in the location/street who died, the number of people from the area near the location who died, or a mixture of the circumstances.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) website includes a Civilian War Dead section which lists the place of death and the place of residence for fatalities, the information having been collated from the Civil Defence Authority fatality lists and other sources. The anomalies between the figures specified on the Belfast City Council plaques and the CWGC Civilian War Dead List (henceforth CWGC List) will be examined in this article.

1 Temporary Mortuaries

The first plaque was erected at St George’s Market, which was used as a temporary mortuary following the air raids and was the centralised location for the identification of bodies. On 21st April and 9th May, funeral corteges left St George’s Market, with unidentified and identified but unclaimed bodies being interred in publicly-owned plots in Belfast City Cemetery and Milltown Cemetery.

Plaques were also erected to mark the use of the Peter’s Hill Baths and the Falls Road Baths as temporary mortuaries, but no arrangements were made to erect a similar plaque at the temporary mortuary at Erskine’s Felt Works in Whitehouse.

2 Campbell College

Campbell College was taken over by the military authorities as the 24th (London) General Hospital shortly after the start of the Second World War and was hit on the night of 4th/5th May 1941. The Blitz Victims List compiled by the Northern Ireland War Memorial records that 24 people died at the hospital, including one civilian fatality. Of the 23 army personnel killed, nine are buried in Northern Ireland and the remainder were repatriated to Great Britain for interment. The civilian was Mary Jane Close (58) who was injured at her home in Westbourne Street and died at the hospital and is buried in Dundonald Cemetery.

3 Pottinger – Ravenscroft Avenue

The CWGC List records Ravenscroft Avenue as the death location for only five people, including four members of the Frizzell family from Number 39 and Thomas Crone Bingham, a sixteen-year-old ARP volunteer from Isoline Street. However, a further sixteen people died in the Ravenscroft Avenue area. Fifteen lives were lost at Avondale Street, including six members of the McCullough family at Number 8. Another sixteen-year-old ARP volunteer, William James Mays from Lichfield Avenue, died at Rosebery Street. Consequently, the German bombing of the Ravencroft Avenue area resulted in the deaths of 21 people but only five died at Ravenscroft Avenue. Ravenscroft Public Elementary School was destroyed, and 47 houses were either destroyed or left uninhabitable. 

4 Mountpottinger – Thorndyke Street

On the night of 15th/16th April, a 250kg bomb exploded near the air raid shelter, causing the walls to buckle and the concrete roof fell on the people inside. The CWGC List records that seventeen people died in Thorndyke Street, nine at the air raid shelter. Thirteen of the fatalities were residents of the street, including six members of the Wherry family from Number 16. Four of the Thorndyke Street fatalities resided elsewhere – ARP Warden Joseph Bell (45) of Lord Street, ARP Messenger Phares Hill Welsh (16) of Paxton Road, William Stewart (55) of Lord Street, and William Murray (30) of Cherryville Street. Another resident of Thorndyke Street, Sarah Hughes (62), died at the Royal Victoria Hospital and Andrew McAdams (75) died in nearby Dufferin Street. The bomb that exploded at Thorndyke Street resulted in the deaths of nineteen people.

5 Sandy Row – Blythe Street

The only Blitz Plaque in South Belfast is attached to an outer wall of St Aidan’s Church of Ireland and records that thirteen lives were lost at Blythe Street, which matches the details on the CWGC List. Fourteen people who lived in Blythe Street died as a result of the air raid, including a father and daughter who were injured at Blythe Street, died at the Belfast Union Infirmary, and are buried in Ballynure Cemetery – Rebecca Craig (7) died on 16th April and Robert Craig (36) died two days later. Nine people died at 95 Blythe Street, the home of William and Jane McKee, who lost a son, two married daughters, and five grandchildren. David McKee (26) was an Engineer in the Merchant Navy and Sarah Jane (Sadie) Thompson (21) from 313 Donegall Road, was visiting the family when she died. 

6 Yorkgate – Sussex Street and Vere Street

Although the York Street Flax Spinning Mill took a direct hit, no fatalities are recorded as dying at the mill. However, the falling masonry from the mill and other bombs brought death and destruction to the close-packed streets of housing between the mill and Gallaher’s tobacco factory at Earl Street. In 1939, there were 260 residential properties in the area but there were only 128 houses after 1941. In addition, York Street Presbyterian Church on the corner of Earl Street and York Street Non-Subscribing Presbyterian Church were destroyed. The CWGC List records that thirty-four people died in either Sussex Street or Vere Street, with twenty-nine being residents and the other five being from Pilot Street, New Lodge Road, Chatham Street, Artillery Street, or Orchard Street. Mary McSourley (12) of 74 Vere Street died at the Mater Hospital and the Civil Defence Authority’s 9th List (dated 21st April 1941) records Kathleen Malone of 31 Sussex Street as a fatality but she is not recorded on the CWGC list or on the NIWM Blitz Victims List. Lance Corporal John Thomas Park and Corporal David Cooper Simpson from 507th Field Company, Royal Engineers, died at the junction of Henry Street and North Queen Street during the May air raids. The death toll for the area was 38 and not 40 as recorded on the plaque.

7 Tiger’s Bay – Hogarth Street

Unlike other locations where the Belfast City Council plaques specify exact numbers, the plaque at Hogarth Street records “up to 80 lives lost here”. The CWGC List records that 69 civilians died at Hogarth Street and nine died at Edlingham Street, including eight people from other streets. A memorial at Hogarth Street, since removed after being vandalised, recorded the names of 117 fatalities from the Tiger’s Bay area. The CWGC List records that 71 residents of Hogarth Street and Edlingham Street died, with six-year-old Jean Spratt dying of injuries at Belfast City Hospital. Six members of the Wilson family died at 56 Edlingham Street and five people living at 65 Hogarth Street died, including two women from Glasgow. Hugh Baxter McNeill had died on 3rd March 1941, aged 49, and his widow Annie Lorna McNeill (nee Dornan) died on the night of 15th/16th April at the age of 46, along with her children, Hetty (23) and Hugh Baxter McNeill (19). Also at the house were her mother and sister – Harriett Dornan (69) and Cissy (30) – whose home address was in Glasgow. It is possible that William John Dornan sent his family back to Belfast as it was deemed to be safer than Glasgow. 

8 New Lodge – Sheridan Street

Two plaques relating to lives lost at two streets which no longer exist were placed at Sheridan Street. The CWGC List records that eleven civilians died at Burke Street, with the twelfth fatality being Stoker 1st Class Henry Brown (51) who was serving on HMS Caroline and died at 18 Burke Street with his mother, his wife, and his daughter – Mary Jane (89), Georgina (50), and Georgina (18). Thomas Mason (33), who was injured at his home in Burke Street and died at the Mater Hospital, is not included on the plaque. The CWGC List records that 18 people who lived in Annadale Street died at their homes, including Ernest William Riecken (65), the only German-born fatality of the air raids, and his wife, Mary Louisa (66) from Number 6.

9 New Lodge – Victoria Barracks

The only Blitz plaque that relates exclusively to military fatalities was placed on the gable wall of the terrace of houses called Victoria Barracks on Carlisle Parade. These houses were built in the 1930s as married quarters for the Victoria Barracks and the first house in the terrace was destroyed during the air raid on the night of 15th/16th April and was never replaced. The NIWM Blitz Victims list records that five men from 9th Battalion East Surrey Regiment died at Victoria Barracks. Lieutenant-Colonel Richard Douglas Sutcliffe (50), Second Lieutenant Edward William Cobble (40), and Corporal John William Oliver Mason (29) died on 16th April. Private Denis Patrick James Cuffe (20), and Private Albert Joseph Skinner (20) died on 5th May.  Second Lieutenant Cobble, who died whilst being transferred to Musgrave Park Hospital, is the only one of the five fatalities to be buried in Belfast, the bodies of the other four men being repatriated to Great Britain for burial. 

10 Donegall Street – St Patrick’s Church

This is the only Belfast City Council Blitz plaque that had been placed inside a church in Belfast and records “130 lives lost here”.  This is not true as there were no fatalities recorded for Donegall Street and St Patrick’s Church was not one of the churches to be badly damaged or destroyed in the air raids. The specified fatality figure could refer to the number of parishioners of the church who died. Alternatively, it could refer to the number of fatalities from the parish area who died, which would include people who were not Roman Catholics.

11 Carrick Hill – Unity Street and Trinity Street

Two Blitz plaques have been erected on the outer wall of the Carrick Hill Community Centre, which was built on the site of the former Trinity Street Reformed (Covenanting) Presbyterian Church. There were no military fatalities recorded for the Carrick Hill area.

The Unity Street area was devastated when a parachute mine struck the spire of Holy Trinity Church of Ireland, which was located on Unity Street and faced down Trinity Street. The CWGC List records that 34 people died at Unity Street, with another person dying at Wall Street, which was immediately behind the church. The CWGC List records that 28 residents of the street died, with John McAnespie (19) dying of injuries at the Mater Hospital. As many of the houses on Unity Street and Wall Street were subsequently demolished and Holy Trinity Church was not rebuilt, the council built the Stanhope Street Playground on bomb site in 1954.

The fatality figure recorded for “Trinity Street Church” does not stand up to scrutiny as the only person recorded as dying at Trinity Street was Kathleen Duff (16) from Hanover Street who was a Typist at ARP Post 396 and was killed by falling masonry. Six other volunteers at ARP Post 396 died at Unity Street. The only resident of Trinity Street recorded as a fatality was Katherine Muldoon (32) from Number 20 who died in Unity Street and is buried in the graveyard at St Joseph’s Church, Hannahstown.

In an oral account, an ARP Warden refers to the spire of “Trinity Street Church” being hit by a parachute mine but Trinity Street Reformed Presbyterian Church did not have a spire – it was Holy Trinity Church of Ireland that was hit. In effect, the “Trinity Street Church” fatality figure relates to people who died in Unity Street and demonstrates the danger of relying on oral accounts without cross-checking against historic documents and sources.

12 The Bone – Ballynure Street

The CWGC List and the NIWM List both record that 29 people died at Ballynure Street, with 26 of the fatalities being residents of the street, and there is no record of any military fatalities. Eleven people died at 4 Ballynure Street, including three members of the Thompson family from 3 Lee Street. Jeremiah and Lavinia Clarke (both 51) and six children ranging in age from 10 to 26 died along with their married daughter, Unice Thompson (19), their son-in-law, John Thompson (21), and their granddaughter, Joan Thompson (2). Only four of the eleven fatalities were identified, with the deaths of the others being presumed at a Coroner’s Enquiry on 14th June 1941. John Thompson is buried in Belfast City Cemetery and Lavinia Clarke is buried in Carnmoney Cemetery. William Clarke (15) and Cecil Clarke (12) were buried in marked coffins in the Blitz Ground at Belfast City Cemetery on 21st April 1941. Robert Clarke (26) was involved in war work at the Short & Harland aircraft factory. In total, 34 people living in the “Bally” streets in this part of Belfast died during the air raids.

13 Woodvale – Ohio Street and Heather Street

Two identical plaques were erected one at the Welcome Evangelical Church on Heather Street and one at the junction of Ohio Street and Disraeli Street. The CWGC List records that 40 people died at Heather Street, with 37 of the fatalities being residents and the two being from nearby Disraeli Street and Montreal Street. ARP Warden James Henry Robinson (29) from Donaldson Crescent off Twaddell Avenue. The CWGC List records that 25 people died at Ohio, with 22 of the fatalities being residents of the street – two of the fatalities lived in nearby Columbia Street and one lived in Glencairn Crescent off the Ballygomartin Road. The CWGC List records that 72 people died at Heather Street, Ohio Street, and the streets with which they intersect, and that 73 residents of the same area died, three of the latter dying of injuries at hospital.

14 Shankill – Percy Street

The Blitz Plaque erected for Percy Street is another which records an approximate fatalities figure. The CWGC List records that 37 people died at Percy Street, ten of whom were not residents of the street. The CWGC List records that 29 residents of Percy Street died in the air raids, with Frederick Owens (41) dying of injuries at the Royal Victoria Hospital. One resident of Percy Street died in the first German air raid on the night of 7th/8th April. Archibald McDonald (22) from 80 Percy Street was a volunteer with the Auxiliary Fire Service and he died fighting the fire at the McCue Dick Timber Yard on Duncrue Street and is buried in Dundonald Cemetery. Four people injured at Percy Street died at the Royal Victoria Hospital, including Thomas Harvey (38) of 12 Tyne Street who died on 8th May 1941 and was buried in Belfast City Cemetery two days later. Ten people died at the Percy Street Air Raid Shelter, including two Able Seaman of the Royal Navy. George James Henry Saunders (21) from Brighton in Sussex was a crewman on HMS Skate which was moored in Belfast Harbour and is buried in a military plot at Belfast City Cemetery. Samuel Corry (26) of Joseph Street in Belfast was on home leave from HMS Quebec and died with his wife, Martha Mary (27) and their ten-month old daughter, Elizabeth. They are buried in a family plot in Belfast City Cemetery.

Conclusion

The fatality figures recorded on the BCC Blitz Plaques rarely tie in with the fatalities recorded by CWGC and NIWM but, as no names are available relating the BCC plaques, it is not possible to reconcile the figures. When I was in contact with BCC about the plaques may years ago, I was told that the council had just been given the figures. The person whose role covered the erection of the plaques moved to a new role and contact with Belfast City Council lapsed. Several plaques (e.g. Antrim Road and Greencastle) were not, as far as I am aware, ever erected. “With hindsight, it would have been better if the plaque figures had represented a combination of fatalities at each location and fatalities who lived at each location. It would also have been better if all the plaques had used “up to nn lives lost” rather than specifying an exact figure.  A Freedom of Information Request has been lodged with Belfast City Council seeking details of how the figures quoted on the plaques were determined.

Author: Nigel Henderson, Researcher, History Hub Ulster

The post Belfast Blitz Plaques appeared first on History Hub Ulster.

John Shaw (46), an Electrical Foreman at the Belfast Electricity Department and a Divisional Superintendent in the St. John Ambulance Brigade, was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire for his devotion to duty at the Belfast Electric Power Station at Laganbank.

Three members of staff at the Ulster Hospital on Templemore Avenue were commended for their actions on the same night – they were Matron Eleanor Elizabeth Aicken (37), Radiographer Isobel Margaret Dickson (34), and Honorary Surgeon Robert John McConnell (57).

Three George Medals and two British Empire Medals were awarded to members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary. Constables Alexander McCusker (44) and William Brett (52) from the Leopold Street Barracks were awarded the former for rescue work Ottawa Street and Ohio Street.

On the same night, the York Street Flax Spinning Factory received a direct hit, with the debris and blast destroying 42 houses in Sussex Street and Vere Street. Constables Robert Moore (43) and Alfred King (36) from York Street Barracks were awarded the GM and the BEM respectively for rescue work, specifically at the home of the McSorley family at 74 Vere Street.

A unit of the Auxiliary Fire Service was travelling along Royal Avenue when their vehicle was damaged by an exploding bomb, one man being killed and another dying of his injuries. The remainder of the crew carried the pump to the designated location and commenced to fight the fires, remaining on duty well into the following day. Patrol Officer John Walsh (36), a tram driver, Leading Fireman Robert Clyde Rainey (40), a radio trader, and Fireman James Jameson Lee (28), a salesman, were commended for their devotion to duty.

The British Empire Medal was awarded to seven members of the Belfast Civil Defence Services. 

During an air raid in May, Auxiliary Nurse Denise Forster (21) was on duty at the Ambulance Depot on the Holywood Road when it was demolished by a high explosive bomb.  After extricating herself from the wreckage, Denise set about rescuing others from the rubble. She later volunteered to go with an ambulance into a district which was being heavily bombed. Nurse Forster continued to work in the greatest danger throughout the night and only ceased her activities some hours after the raid was over.

Three teenage boys who were Messengers with the Civil Defence were recommended for the George Medal for devotion to duty in April 1941. 

Messenger Alexander Cecil Hill (17), an office assistant from Convention Street, received the BEM. Although severely shaken by an explosion nearby, Alexander directed traffic at a main road whilst bombs were falling nearby. Later, whilst delivering an urgent message to the Report Centre, he was blown off his bicycle by explosions twice but each time he remounted and delivered the message.

When telephone communications were dislocated during the early stages of the air raid, Messenger George William Otway Woodward (18) of Glenburn Park carried messages of vital importance between stations. When his bicycle was put out of action, he continued to keep the lines of communication open by delivering messages on foot. He received a commendation.

BEMs were awarded to Bomb Identification Officer William John Ford (51) and Messenger William Ernest Bennett (15) of Wandsworth Gardens for rescue work at Cliftonville Road where bombs had destroyed a number of houses and fractured a gas main. Ford and Bennett burrowed six yards through rubble to bring an elderly man to safety and then they rescued two stranded women from a house that was in danger of collapse. Bombs were falling as they worked and both suffered from the effects of inhaling coal gas. William Bennet later joined the National Fire Service.

Messengers Bennett and Woodward were pupils and Belfast Royal Academy and William John Ford was the caretaker for the Model School on Cliftonville Road.

These people were from different backgrounds and their ages ranged from 15 to 52, but the common factor was their willingness to put the well-being of others before their own safety. They deserve wider recognition.

Nigel Henderson, History Hub Ulster Researcher.

The post Heroes of the Belfast Blitz appeared first on History Hub Ulster.

Setting the scene

Northern Bank, Head Office, Victoria Street, Belfast

If you transfer your gaze momentarily to the left of the main door of the old Northern Bank, Head Office in Victoria Street you will see nearest the corner a tall window. This, double glazed and pretty sturdy, was the window to the world of the wartime Foreign Department of the Bank. A second window looked out, as it still does, onto Ulster Street and the building of G. Heyn & Sons Ltd. In the third wall stood a fireplace where a bright, richly burning fire greeted you each morning and the remaining wall was in fact an oak partition separating the room from the Bank’s main waiting room. Apart from the Manager’s large and imposing desk and those for the typists, a high solid desk stretched round two of the windowed walls. The staff either sat on high stools at this desk or more often than not stood and leaned! The high desk was essential to carry and spread the huge ledgers recording the transactions. The old-style telephones with separate earpieces were still in use. I well remember too that one of the cupboards held bundles and bundles of Reichsmark Notes dating from the collapse of the mark in the twenties. This was 1943 – fifty years ago.

Extract from a wartime fire prevention document completed
for Northern Bank, 110 Victoria Street branch.

Fire-watching at Head Office

Belfast had been the subject of its main air attack in 1941 and while our Head Office, like the Belfast, Ulster and National Banks, was very much in the target area being so near the shipyard it escaped any major damage. The other banks were similarly fortunate. A solitary incendiary bomb had left a hole in the floor of the Stationery Store and I remember having to step over this hole to get at our supplies. Fire-watching was at once a chore and a source of much needed extra remuneration as far as ‘juniors’ were concerned, so those of us in digs did as many nights as possible. Pay was at the rate of 3/= (three shillings) per night, in modern terms 15p but in real value more like £5 to-day [1993]. If you were lucky enough to be asked to do an extra night for a Director or Chief Cashier or other senior member of staff you could earn as much as 7/6d for the night. This as you may well imagine was regarded as a plum! When I tell you that our annual starting salary was £100 per annum plus a 16% War Bonus out of which in my case £78 went on digs you will see that the fire-watching shillings were valuable indeed. Many’s a nice-looking girl would not have been asked out without them. You cycled from your digs to the office, arrived for fire-watching about 10 pm, slept the night in the main waiting room or Foreign Department where the beds were assembled and cycled back for breakfast making sure that you would be back in good time for your day’s work. If you were going to arrive late for fire-watching you made a prior arrangement with a fellow watcher to let you in at the side door. Quite often the pulley bell on the great front door would clang out in the darkness to announce a late comer and I can remember on occasions seeing the face of the Albert showing midnight as I made my way down to the side door. We had an almost permanent firewatcher in Mick the porter. You would find him doing his football pools when you arrived in for duty. Almost completely deaf, he was nevertheless bright of eye, beaming smile and a loyal servant of the Bank. His favourite comment when you handed him a letter or parcel for delivery was “Thank you kind Sir, your kindness exceeds your personal beauty by far; your face I may forget but your kindness never.”

Dealing with the U.S. Forces

Northern Bank was first to operate a Foreign Department and was appointed by the Government as its Agent to deal with the U.S. Forces and authorised to deal with all foreign currency notes and coin on behalf of the Bank of England. This resulted not only in all the other Banks clearing their purchases of U.S. Dollar Bills, etc. to us on a weekly basis but also meant that we were in the front line for dealing with the U.S. Forces Finance Officers. Such sights as our Head Office Cash Office packed with U.S. Navy Personnel when a U.S. Cruiser or Destroyer docked in Belfast and the boys needed cash for the weekend were not infrequent. At such times we all became cashiers for an hour or so! On Pay Days when U.S. Finance Officers were drawing sterling cash for their Forces pay the steps on either side to the Main Door at Head Office would be lined by troops with rifles at the ready, all the way indeed from their bullion van in the street below to the very counter inside. There was an unofficial arrangement that the Bank would try to oblige Officers and Men of the Forces who were here for a longer spell and wanted cheques cashed.

Sailors queuing at the Belfast Banking Company, Bangor branch

It was, and probably still is, a very serious offence for U.S. service personnel to issue a dud cheque so the risk was not perhaps regarded as a major one. Nevertheless, we and the other Banks did have occasional trouble with unpaid cheques. I can recall cheques written out on ordinary sheets of paper shaped like a cheque being returned by our Agents not with “Refer to Drawer” or “Insufficient Funds” but with the ultimate answer “No such Bank”.

Glimpses of the Daily Routine

To outline the daily routine in the Foreign Department would be a bore but a couple of features I recall may be of interest. We received dozens of cables each day from the States asking us to make payments to individual U.S. Army personnel at Camps all over Northern Ireland and these were domiciled at our local Branches or with another Bank if we hadn’t a Branch in the nearest town. As many as 150-200 “Advices to Beneficiary” were despatched daily to these personnel. How’s that for a postage book! [Editor: every outgoing letter had to be detailed in a hand written ledger]. Not only that but happily the Linen Industry kept its flag flying right through the war. Linen was still in great demand in the U.S.A., Mexico, the Latin American countries, Cuba and the Caribbean Islands and in all the countries of South America. We might have had a dozen Registered Airmail letters a day containing Shipping Documents for Havana, Rio de Janeiro, etc. Despite the risks of war, I cannot recall us losing an original set of Shipping Documents, though duplicate documents were always sent on by surface mail (even more hazardous).

The Bank as a Family

Nostalgia has a habit of painting one’s memories in a rosy glow but I’m sure I’m not mistaken in saying that Banks of those days, not alone ours, were very much large families. And as in all families there were the lighter moments! I could tell you of duets in the Letter Department in the morning interrupted by our Bank Secretary, Hugh Murphy, a man of imposing stature but gentle in manner, asking with a broad smile when the Opera was beginning. Incidentally it was Mr. Murphy’s dictum that if you walked round the Office with a bundle of papers under your arm no one would ever ask you to do anything. To conclude, our small staff of eight or nine in the Foreign Department was kept at full stretch during this time but there was very much a family feel about all we did and to someone like myself (and, if I may include him, John Tunstead) coming from Dublin to Belfast and not knowing a soul it was good to find oneself among so many friends and so soon.

The post Belfast Blitz 80 – Wartime in the Foreign Department appeared first on History Hub Ulster.

Whilst the vast proportion of the civilian deaths attributable to the Second World War in Northern Ireland occurred during the German Air Raids on Belfast, Newtownards and Londonderry in April/May 1941, there are other deaths recorded on the Civilian War Dead section of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) database, which lists 906 civilian fatalities.

The first fatality on the CWGC list is Special Constable William Mould (Local Defence Volunteer, forerunner of the Ulster Home Guard) of Dunmurry who died at 4:30am on 8th September 1940 when he was struck by a vehicle with no lights when walking home whilst on duty. The car was driven by Lieutenant Ernest John Bloom, Corps of Royal Signals and reports on the inquest were carried by the Lisburn Standard and Lisburn Herald (on 13th and 14th September respectively). William Moulds had served with the Canadian Infantry during the Great War and is commemorated on the War Memorial in Derriaghy Church of Ireland. To date I have been unable to locate the burial location.

Several people, mainly teenaged boys, died when they picked up explosive devices but there were also tragedies involving the sea and gas leaks … and a few deaths involving British and American military personnel.

Thomas Barr Murray of Magheramorne in County Antrim was out playing with some friends in a disused quarry on his eleventh birthday on 17th April 1946. The quarry had been used by a rifle range during the war and Tommy picked up an object, which turned out to be a No 68 Anti-Tank Grenade, and he was hitting in with a stone when it exploded, killing him instantly and badly wounding his best friend, John McBroom. The Larne Times (25th March 1946) reported on the inquest and Tommy was laid to rest in St John’s Church of Ireland Graveyard in Glynn.

Tragedy struck Cookstown on Sunday 14th February 1943. Whilst playing in Killymoon Demesne, some local lads discovered an anti-tank grenade which they took to two soldiers, who declared that it was safe. Daniel Donnelly (13) grabbed the grenade from John Woods and ran off with his friend, John Creggan (11), and the grenade exploded a short while later. The two boys were transported to the County Hospital in Omagh, but Daniel died en-route at Mountfield and John died of his injuries in hospital. On Tuesday 16th February, a Solemn Requiem was said by the local parish priest Father Teggart CC and the boys were buried in the Derryloran Chapel Hill Roman Catholic Graveyard in Cookstown. Whilst Daniel’s name is recorded on the CWGC Civilian War Dead list, John’s name is not … one of several anomalies that I have detected. The inquest was reported in the Mid Ulster Mail on 20th February 1943.

The inquest into the circumstances of the death on 14th November 1945 of Thomas Molloy (16) of Terla, Tassagh, at the military range on Corran Mountain took place on 23rd November and was reported in the Armagh Guardian on 30th November 1945. According to Mrs Jane Cassells of Corran, the lad was driving a herd of cattle towards the Clady. Mr Murphy, the owner of the field, expressed the view that the cattle might have detonated an explosive device. The story of a distressing tragedy was unfurled at an Inquest in Limavady under Dr John Acheson, Deputy Coroner. Albert Rodden (28), a driver with the Northern Ireland Road Transport Board was killed by a short burst of machine gun fire on the evening of 17th April 1942 on the Dungiven-Limavady Road. 

Rodden, accompanied by Frederick McMichael, was returning the bus to the depot in Ballyclare. In giving evidence, Frederick McMichael said that Albert had allowed several vehicles to pass the bus in Main Street, Dungiven before pulling out behind them – there was a further, but different car, behind the bus and the driver of the car sounded the horn and tried to overtake. At Farloe Lane, there was a wide place and Albert pulled in to let the car pass and, as the other car came along at a fast rate, McMichael heard a shot and the bus crashed into a wall. Driver De Felice said that when he tried to pass the bus, the car struck the kerb and his passenger, Sergeant Clipsham swayed with the sudden jerk and appeared to be dumbfounded as if he did not know what had happened. In giving evidence, Sergeant Clipsham reported that he was standing in the car and fell against the machine gun, which started to fire. The funeral at Ballykelly Presbyterian Church was a major affair, including representatives from the “B” Constabulary and the Ulster Home Guard, which would imply that he was providing part-time war service, yet his name is not recorded in the Books of Remembrance for civilian fatalities in the Second World War. The inquest was reported in the Derry Standard and the Derry Journal on 20th April 1942 and in the Londonderry Sentinel on 21st April 1942.

Joseph Herbert Withers (11) died at the Armagh County Infirmary on 22nd October 1941 following an explosion on Aughnagurgan Mountain – an elderly man, Nathaniel Weir was injured and taken to hospital. William Russell, farmer of Aughnagurgan, said he saw Weir working in a corn field and there was a child carrying corn when he saw a plume of smoke and heard an explosion. Joseph Withers, who was still conscious, said that he got the bomb on the mountain and it exploded when he threw it down. Archibald Withers, the lad’s father was working in a nearby field and heard the explosion. The inquest was reported in the Ulster Gazette & Armagh Standard on 31st October 1941.

Robert John Dodds, a 40-year-old farmer from Dysert and a member of the “B” Specials Constabulary since 1921, found a bomb or grenade whilst ploughing a field on Tuesday 26th January 1943 and showed it to his brother, Aaron Dodds. At 8:20 on Wednesday evening, Robert John Dodd left the family home to walk to the “B” Specials Drill Hall – he had the bomb in his coat pocket as he would have to take it to Mr Noble, the Instructor. When he was 50 yards from the house, the bomb exploded and Robert John Dodd was taked to Daisy Hill Hospital in Newry, where he later died. The inquest was reported in the Newry Reporter on 30th January 1943.

Frederick Strutt (31), a civilian worker from Dublin was working on the runway lighting at Ballyhalbert Airfield on 4th November 1942 and died when a Beaufort aircraft piloted by Sergeant G.B. Swift of 153 Squadron Royal Air Force ran off the runway and struck him – Frederick Strutt is buried in Deansgrange Cemetery at Drumcondra in Dublin. Seven days later, Sergeant Swift (Aus 406552) and his Crewman Sgt D.J. Blanchard were transferred to 29 Squadron. (Additional information from Andy Greenfield, www.ww2ni.com). The inquest was reported in the Newtownards Chronicle on 14th November 1942.

At the outbreak of war, the pilot launch Miss Betty was requisitioned by the Admiralty from Jim Davidson of Donaghadee and was crewed by civilians under naval direction. On Saturday 8 May 1943, Miss Betty left Bangor in moderate weather conditions at 8.55 am to respond to a call from a ship entering Belfast Lough. At 11.40 am, Miss Betty was returning to Bangor harbour, contending with a strong north-easterly gale and heavy breaking seas, when disaster struck 60 to 70 yards from the safety. The boat had successfully negotiated several strong waves before being overwhelmed by a broadside hit on the port side. Miss Betty capsized, turned over in the water and remained upside down. Four North Down men drowned in the incident. Harry Aiken (21), William George Nelson (28, and a crew member of the Donaghadee Lifeboat) and William White (29) from Donaghadee are commemorated on the Donaghadee War Memorial and buried in the Donaghadee Church of Ireland graveyard. The body of William Sloan Anderson (28) from Bangor was washed ashore at Portpatrick in Scotland 38 days after the disaster and he is buried in the Bangor Cemetery and is commemorated on the Bangor War Memorial and on the War Memorial in the Wesley Centenary Methodist Church in Bangor. Although these men lost their lives whilst working under the direction of the Admiralty, they are not recorded as civilian war fatalities on the CWGC database. (additional material provided by Barry Niblock)

Messrs Redmond, Sons & Company, a manufacturer of packing cases, employed a night-watchman and fire-watchers at its premises on the corner of Connaught Street and Milner Street in the Village district of South Belfast. When William Elliott arrived at the works at 7:30am on the morning of 2nd December 1942, he found the night-watchman, Alexander Watson of Coolderry Street, lying on the floor in front of a gas fire and later found the four fire-watchers in their beds – two men, William Dowling of Donegall Avenue and James Campbell of Norfolk Drive, were already dead and the other two men were taken to the near-by Royal Victoria Hospital. George Leslie of Olympic Drive died in hospital but Henry Kavanagh (18) of Ross Street survived. The gas fire and the radiator in the sleeping quarters had been installed only ten days previously and, whilst William Elliott reported that he had noticed a strong smell of gas, a Corporation expert examined the radiator and reported that it was in perfect order and that there was no sign of an escape of gas. James Campbell (18) was buried in Milltown Roman Catholic Cemetery, William John Dowling (49) was buried in Dundonald Cemetery, George Leslie (37) was buried in Belfast City Cemetery and Alexander Watson (63) was buried in Lurgan Cemetery.

The post Tragic Second World War Accidents in Northern Ireland appeared first on History Hub Ulster.