Clare and the Great War

by Joe Power

  All the national schools throughout the district within a wide radius of the town have been closed and reports from some country localities state that there have been some deaths from the scourge. We see it has considerably abated in Dublin.

  By 23 November ‘the scourge was still raging through the county, and though the worst effects seem to have passed in the town, still there have been several deaths from it, its principal resultant being pneumonia, chiefly of the septic type. On Thursday afternoon Constable Burke, a young man of splendid physical physique, a native, we believe, of County Mayo, succumbed to it at the County Infirmary. Constable Crowley, Corofin and Constable Burke, Quilty have also died from influenza, also Mr James Lillis, an enthusiastic and well-liked follower of the Mill Street Hounds. All the patients in the hospital are, we believe, doing well. Mr Denis O’Grady, Upper O’Connell St., a compositor at the Clare Journal, died after contracting a heavy cold, which developed into pneumonia.

  On 30 November the paper reported:

  The epidemic still continues to claim its victims through the town and district and the hospital is still overcrowded with patients, the energies of doctors and nurses being taxed to their utmost by the constant demands upon them. There were over 200 cases in the institution on Wednesday and on the whole they are making steady progress. Among the victims this week is Mr O’Dea, of Barefield, for years foreman to Mrs McMahon, the Square and O’Connell St., Ennis … There are a number of cases in the county Infirmary and all are doing well … There were 37 cases in Clare Castle on Wednesday. There was one death in the village.

  The Ennis Dramatic Club put on a special performance of The Colleen Bawn at the Town Hall on Tuesday 3 December:

  The performance is in aid of the poor of Ennis, who are at present suffering under one of the worst visitations which has befallen us for many years. In ordinary times the pain and misery of the present scourge of influenza would be severe, but in the abnormal conditions of the present day, its effects are accentuated by the difficulty of obtaining adequate food and fuel and naturally, the poor are among the worst sufferers. The gaunt spectre of death has, alas, too often been amongst us in recent days, and where his scythe has not fallen, there have been left the ravages of disease in various forms. The victims appeal for help in their distress is one that will not fall on deaf ears, and we are sure that the charitable of the district will nobly respond.

  In addition to this, the local branch of St Vincent de Paul held flag days on Saturday and Sunday, 7 and 8 December to help the suffering poor of Ennis.

  A special meeting of the Ennis Urban Council took place at the Town Hall to take measures to relieve the distress in the town. At the meeting it was revealed that Bishop Fogarty had donated a sum of £30 to relieve the distress and that the local clergy were coordinating relief efforts through the Society of St Vincent de Paul. Earlier in the year, the Clare Journal of 2 February noted that Bishop Fogarty was willed £1,000 by the late Mr Matt O’Dea of Ennis, who also gave £100 to the poor of Ennis, per the St Vincent de Paul Society. Mr O’Dea was a brother of the Bishop of Galway. Other significant donations to the relief fund, which were publicly acknowledged and amounted to about £74, included a sum of £10 from Mr Thomas A. O’Gorman, Cahercalla, while Mr James O’Regan of Sixmilebridge promised to send two wagons of fire blocks before Christmas.

  On 7 December the epidemic was reported to be on the wane, as there were no fresh cases reported compared with past weeks. ‘Among the deaths were those of Mr Patrick McGann of Market Street, Ennis and Constable Gilligan of Connolly.’

  The newspaper, however, reported that influenza had appeared in West Clare and in Kilkee its effects were accentuated by the ‘merciless boycott’ to which the turf sellers of the district had subjected it, since the Town Commissioners had the ‘temerity’ to fix a controlled price for that fuel. One peculiarly painful case was referred to at a meeting of the Town Commissioners – the tragic death of a young boy who was suffering from pneumonia. It was reported that the nurse attending the young boy was unable to get any hot water to apply a poultice, due to the absence of turf.

  The death of this young man in Kilkee provoked a man named M. Whyte of Ennis Road, Miltown Malbay to write a very angry letter to the newspaper, denouncing the turf cutters of Kilkee for their role in the death of the young man:

  Could such an act of selfishness and niggardliness be perpetrated by any Hun or savages as to leave their own kith and kin destitute of a fire during these hard and cruel war days. The turf cutters of Kilkee should blush with shame to call themselves Sinn Féiners …The turf belonging to the turf cutters should be taken from them and placed in a circle in some Fair Green. A fire should be made and all the jaunters thrown into the centre of the fire. This indeed, would be punishment poor enough when taken into consideration the recent death and of the insurmountable hardship they have placed their fellow brethren in.

  The newspaper of 21 December reported that the influenza was on the wane, ‘It is pleasant to be able to state that the Spanish influenza, malarial fever, or whatever it was, is now on the wane in Kilrush and Kilkee and the district generally. There are no further cases now for some time, nor, after all, were there so many deaths either in West Clare. Of course, there have been some sad cases.’

  Overall, County Clare got off lightly, by comparison with other parts of Ireland and some parts of County Clare escaped the deadly effects of the flu altogether. For instance, there were no reported deaths from flu in the villages of Ballyvaughan and Kildysart.

  However, there were more deaths early in the New Year. One of the unfortunate cases was that of Lt Francis James Slattery of the Royal Engineers, from Fergus View, Darragh, who contracted the virus in London, while returning home after being in a prisoner of war camp for about nine months. His death occurred on 9 January 1919. His incarceration may have contributed to his death as he may have been in a weakened state after his prison experience.41

  Prisoners and Belgian Refugees

  Although hostilities ceased on 11 November, there was still much war-related business to be conducted, such as the care of and repatriation of prisoners of war and the winding up of various charitable committees. The Prisoners’ of War Aid Fund Committee were quite active throughout the year up to the end of the war and long after it. They identified all the Clare men who were prisoners of war on the Western Front and endeavoured to look after their needs, sending them clothes, such as socks, mufflers and other garments, as well as monthly food parcels, including cigarettes.

  The cost of providing these services to the prisoners amounted to almost £90 a month and the government did not give financial assistance. The various committees relied mainly on contributions from a relatively small group of people, principally of the Protestant community, judging by the list of names of the subscribers. They also organised fundraising events such as bazaars, jumble sales, church collections and golf competitions. The Clare Needlework Guild was one of many charities that also worked assiduously throughout the war years to help the cause.

  Serving soldiers were not forgotten either; as early in March, Mrs Studdert of Bindon Street, Ennis, issued an appeal for shamrock for the Irish regiments. The shamrock had to be despatched by Sunday 3 March to arrive in time for St Patrick’s Day.

  It seems that Lady Inchiquin of Dromoland Castle was the overall co-ordinator of war relief charities in the county. She and many other ladies gave generously of their time and money to war relief. In August Lord Inchiquin of Dromoland, who was county director for the Red Cross, published a list of the total monies subscribed to the various war charities since the outbreak of the war. He wrote, ‘The list will not compare well with what other counties in Ireland have done, but considering how very few people subscribe in this county, it shows how great has been their individual generosity, and I am sure grateful thanks are due to the “few”, who have done so much.’

  Table 4

  Total money subscribed to all war charities since the beginnin
g of the war

  Clare Needlework Guild…………………

  £548 11s 4d

  Sailors’ and Soldiers’ Association…………

  £1,086 12s 6d

  Irish War Hospital Supply………………………

  £736 0s 0d

  Prisoners of War Fund……………

  £1,459 13s 3d

  Belgian Refugees, Ennis and Clare Castle…………

  £920 0s 0d

  Belgian Refugees Newmarket-on-Fergus…………

  £1,475 1s 0d

  Irish Counties War Hospital………………

  £221 10s 0d

  Queen’s Work for Women………………

  £200 0s 0d

  Total…… £6,646 8s 1d

  There seems to have been some substance to Lord Inchiquin’s remarks about the ‘few who have contributed so much’, as a table of Red Cross Contributions in Ireland for the years 1917-18 showed that the amount collected in County Clare was £285 in 1917 and £439 in 1918, a total of £724. This was by far the lowest county subscription in all of Ireland during these years.42

  Christmas parcels were sent to all Clare prisoners of war in November. The parcels contained the following: 2lb Irish stew; 1½lb cooked dinner; 1lb bacon; 1lb oxtail soup; ½lb of onions; 1lb dripping; 1lb plum pudding; 1lb strawberry jam; 1lb Parkin cake; 1lb milk; 1lb sugar; ½lb of tea; 150 cigarettes or tobacco; chocolate; Christmas card and a sprig of holly from Ireland.

  One ex-prisoner, Sgt Maj. Browne from Ennis, who had spent three-and-a-half years in German prisons, sent a letter to the County Clare Prisoners of War Aid Committee thanking them for their assistance over the years. Sgt Maj. Browne, who was released before the war ended because of his poor health, thanked them on behalf of all those prisoners, ‘who were still in the hands of the vile Huns’. He thanked them profusely for their help, ‘which had sustained the prisoners and enabled them to laugh at their captors. Were it not for that support, many of them would be sleeping the long sleep in German soil … Trusting that the people of Clare will respond to the call for funds … the charitable funds were a great comfort to their brave sons, whose sufferings are unimaginable …’43

  In October of the following year (1919), at the final meeting of the Prisoners of War Aid Committee, held in the Court House, Ennis, Sir Michael O’Loghlen of Drumconora, HML, reported that the County Clare Prisoners of War Aid Committee had assisted a total of 110 Clare men who had been prisoners of war. Three of these men had died in Kut, another one died in a separate Turkish prison, one died of neglect in German captivity, one was missing and two prisoners died on their way home from captivity.

  Ethel O’Brien, Lady Inchiquin.

  (Courtesy of the Hon. Grania R. O’Brien)

  Sir Michael O’Loghlen also stated that 5,897 parcels of food, as well as seventeen parcels of clothing, 156 pairs of socks, seven mufflers, two footballs and 102 parcels of tobacco were sent to the prisoners in Germany. However, they stopped sending all non-food parcels as the Germans confiscated them. More than £2,301 0s 3d had been collected between November 1915 and December 1918.

  On their return home, each of the ninety-four prisoners was given £1 and further cash advances were given to twenty of them while they waited for army severance pay. Mrs Studdert, honorary secretary of the committee, proposed that the County Clare Prisoners of War Aid Committee be wound up and that the balance of £322 17s 10d in their account should be given to the Sailors’ and Soldiers’ Families Association in County Clare. This proposal was unanimously agreed.44

  Saturday Record, 18 May 1918

  Meanwhile, conditions in the Turkish prisons were particularly bad as they were poorly fed and mistreated by the prison guards. One Australian sailor, John Harrison Wheat, who was an able seaman in the Royal Australian Navy (Ran 7861) was captured and incarcerated in Bor Nigde Prison (where Sgt Fred Perry was held) for some time. He describes the conditions as being horrific, ‘the climate was very hot and the food was so bad that we wouldn’t give it to the dogs in Australia!’45

  The British Army in the Turkish city of Kut in Meso-potamia (modern Iraq), had been under siege from 7 December 1915 until 28 April 1916, before it surrendered to the Turks. Conditions were very harsh during the 147-day siege; it was bitterly cold, with low rations of food and limited medical supplies. Besides this, many of the besieged were suffering from malaria, dysentery and malnutrition even before the surrender. After the surrender of the British Army at Kut, the most embarrassing British humiliation after the military disaster at Gallipoli, some 11,890 Allied prisoners were taken on a long march to the town of Bor Nigde in central Turkey on 6 May. More than 67 per cent of the 2,592 British troops – that is about 1,750 men – who surrendered at Kut died at the hands of the Turks, either on the long march to the prison camps, or in the prisons such as at Bor Nigde. Three of the men who died following the surrender at Kut were from County Clare.46

  Conditions in Turkish prisons seem to have been very harsh indeed. Sgt Fred Perry of Tulla had joined the army on 29 November 1914. He served at Gallipoli and was captured by the Turks and was a prisoner for a couple of years. According to his family, he weighed only 4 stone when he was released in 1918! In his diary he refers, among other things, to cricket matches with other prisoners. He shared the prison with other nationalities such as Indians, Russians, Romanians, British and French prisoners. He wrote several letters to his family from the prison camp at Bor Nidge.

  A Letter from Somewhere in Turkey

  In one letter, written on 7 February 1918, Perry describes the weather as being very cold, with snow every day. In his letter he requested the County Clare Prisoners of War Aid Committee to send him some food parcels, including tea, sugar and bacon, but unfortunately, the Clare Prisoners of War Aid Committee were only able to send relief to prisoners being held in Germany. In another letter to his mother, dated 8 September 1918, he wrote a sentimental letter about home and family matters, as the Turkish authorities would not have allowed him to be critical of his conditions of detention:

  My dearest mother

  I hope you and all at home are quite well and enjoying life. I have not had a letter from you for over a month. I very often think of you all at home these days, as I have plenty of time for reflection and my mind takes me back to times when I was very small … I wish you all a very happy Xmas … Although I am miles away from the children, yet they are ever with me in my thoughts, and are as it were, a part of my life and soul. You are now in the fall of the year and busy with the harvest. I hope you have a heavy one and that everything is thriving. The weather here is glorious and has been so since last March. The people here have finished threshing and are busy with the vineyard collecting grapes and making wine for the winter. We get very good potatoes here, much drier than in Ireland, as they do not get as much rain, with love to all, keep smiling and write. Au revoir,

  Your affectionate son, Fred.47

  Soldiers and Sailors Club

  Within a short time of the war ending a branch of the Discharged and Disabled Soldiers’ Federation was formed in Ennis and the first meeting, held on Wednesday 18 December 1918, highlighted their concerns and hopes for the future. The secretary, M.L. Hegarty, stated that the town of Ennis, with a population of 5,000 had given 1,100 of its men voluntarily since the outbreak of the war. They hoped that a Land for Soldiers Act would become law and urged the Irish MP to support it, ‘as the labouring men of the county had played a major part in the war and a good many had paid the big sacrifice.’ They demanded proper houses to live in, ‘not death traps, which so many poor fellows have to face when they turn homewards broken up men’.

  ‘What was it all for’ they asked, and ‘will labour have to wait again?’ ‘No’, they stated. ‘We have waited a long time and patience has its limit and that limit is reached, we don’t want that weary wait and see again’. The secretary also pointed out that the Irish MPs showed very little interest in their welfare. ‘Only one man … Major Willie
Redmond MP, was always anxious to do a good turn … He was a soldier and was endowed with all that goes to make one … He also paid the big sacrifice and now we miss his helping hand to steer us clear to our destination … God rest his soul’.

  ‘Any requests for assistance had now to be made to English Members’. (Note, the Sinn Féin MPs were pursuing a policy of abstention at this time, while only six Home Rule MPs were elected in 1918.) ‘Now is the time we want to get over our difficulties, which are many. In the New Year we will want the help of all whole-hearted to gain our object which is Justice’.

  Early in the New Year they formed a committee to establish a club in the town. The Soldiers and Sailors Club occupied the house in Church Street formerly used as a recruiting office for the British Army. Mrs G. de Willis set up a fundraising committee to pay the rent and carry out repairs. She organised a song recital and lecture on the songs of Robert Burns at 1 Bindon Street, Ennis, to be arranged by Revd Capt. J. Reid Christie, chaplain to the Scottish Horse. Singers included Mrs F.N. Studdert and Pte Gault of the Scottish Horse. An appeal was also made for gifts for the club such as a billiard table, gramophone, books and magazines.48

  The County Clare Belgian Relief Committee also wound up its affairs in May of the following year. Mr George McElroy, RM, honorary secretary of the Ennis committee, thanked all their supporters for contributing money totalling more than £1,000. He said that two of the refugees had died in Ireland, while all of the rest had returned to their ‘ruined and pillaged homes in Belgium, with fervent expressions of undying gratitude to all who in Clare stood by them during the long dark years, 1915-1919’.49