Canadian soldiers in Ennis 1918

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Lucille
Posts: 144
Joined: Wed Jan 19, 2011 6:59 pm

Canadian soldiers in Ennis 1918

Post by Lucille » Mon Jul 02, 2018 3:02 pm

Hi all

This is a long shot - I am trying to find out why two Canadian servicemen travelled to Ennis for two days in October 1918.

As part of the upcoming centenary commemoration in the National Maritime Museum in Dun Laoghaire of the sinking of the mailboat RMS Leinster by German torpedo in the Irish Sea on the 10th of October 1918, I am involved in preparing brief biographies of the 800+ passengers who were on board.

Some of the stories snag me and I spend too much time on them! One such is the trip to Ennis mentioned in the diary of James William Pearson and his friend William Robert Burns. Having researched both men I can find no links to Clare or Ennis. Pearson was born in Australia to English parents who then moved to Canada. He survived the sinking and lived in the US. Burns was born in New Brunswick, Canada to parents also born in NB, but his grandparents were Irish. They were both on leave from France and had been in London and Belfast - what brought them to Ennis? - Lovely place though it is! They returned to Dublin and were taking the boat back to England when it was sunk. Burns did not survive and is buried in the military cemetery in Grangegorman in Dublin.

A booklet will be published on the Clare-born or connected victims, and ceremonies will take place at the Clare Peace Park in Ennis in October.

Thanks

Lucille Ellis

Jimbo
Posts: 591
Joined: Mon Aug 26, 2013 9:43 am

Re: Canadian soldiers in Ennis 1918

Post by Jimbo » Mon Jul 02, 2018 9:38 pm

Hi Lucille, yes I doubt very much William R Burns and James W Pearson were visiting Ennis for the tourist sites. When soldiers are on military leave in any war, their actions are often motivated by women. Based upon this theory, I searched "WW1 Individual Profiles of Claremen and Women" on the Clare Library website using the term "nurse":

http://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclar ... _war_7.pdf

The first hit led directly to the two sisters Delia Davoren and Nora Davoren of Claureen House, Ennis who both died on the RMS Leinster on October 18th as they were returning to England from holidays in Ennis.

Of course, their story would be a focus of your project that you are already aware of. Their biographies (and newspaper articles) are very short on details of their service during WWI - only stating that they were nurses in Northamptonshire. Based upon the Pearson diary, would the two soldiers and Davoren nurses been on the same train from Ennis to Dublin? Are the WWI records for nurses as detailed as for the soldiers that might show one of the Davoren sisters was a nurse in France?

William R. Burns suffered a barbed wire injury on his left leg on 4 May 1918 and looks like he was in hospital at "Rouelle" (or maybe "Nouelle"?) in France from 9 May to 19 May 1918. (according to Canadian WWI records on Fold3 website). W.R. Burns also had a prior leave to England for two weeks in Aug/Sep 1917.

"James Pearson" is a surprisingly common name for Canadian WWI soldiers.

murf
Posts: 365
Joined: Fri Mar 20, 2009 12:58 am
Location: Qld Australia

Re: Canadian soldiers in Ennis 1918

Post by murf » Mon Jul 02, 2018 11:36 pm

Two more comprehensive articles are in
Irish Examiner, Thursday, October 17, 1918; Page: 3
Irish Examiner, Tuesday, October 22, 1918; Page: 3
The latter has photos of the sisters Davoren.

Lucille
Posts: 144
Joined: Wed Jan 19, 2011 6:59 pm

Re: Canadian soldiers in Ennis 1918

Post by Lucille » Tue Jul 03, 2018 8:16 pm

Thanks Jimbo and Murf for your interest.

Would you believe that I never thought of women!!! I have researched the Davoren sisters quite thoroughly and neither worked in military hospitals, but they could have met in a social setting.

I had been working on two theories - one, that they were visiting relations of one or other of their families, but I haven't found any Clare connections, or two, that they were visiting the family of a friend or colleague, either from Canada, or a fellow soldier. My big hope is that someone connected to Ennis will remember a family story of two Canadian soldiers coming to visit in 1918.

I'll keep hoping!

Thanks

Lucille

Lucille
Posts: 144
Joined: Wed Jan 19, 2011 6:59 pm

Re: Canadian soldiers in Ennis 1918

Post by Lucille » Tue Sep 04, 2018 9:37 am

An update on this query and a happy outcome!

More information has come to light in the form of a diary written by one of the soldiers, Joe Pearson. They went to Ennis to visit his godfather, Thomas Brennan. The latter had been in Australia at the same time as the Pearsons. Brennan had returned to Ireland and the Pearsons had gone to Canada, but they had obviously kept some contact.

The suggestion that a woman was the reason for the visit was also partly true - the second soldier, Pat Burns, was going on to London to see his girlfriend.

So that mystery has been solved.

Lucille

Jimbo
Posts: 591
Joined: Mon Aug 26, 2013 9:43 am

Re: Canadian soldiers in Ennis 1918

Post by Jimbo » Sat Nov 03, 2018 8:44 am

Hi Lucille,

I discovered this blog article by Harriet Wheelock today "Medical Men and Sinking of RMS Leinster" from the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland heritage website:

http://rcpilibrary.blogspot.com/2018/10 ... nster.html

The anniversary of the sinking was October 10th, so too late for your research but I thought you'd enjoy. Despite the fact that they only wrote about the medical men and not the two sisters Nurse Delia Davoren and Nurse Nora Davoren of Ennis:
Nine days after the tragedy The Lancet reported that ‘at least three medical men were on board and have not since been traced, and several nurses have also disappeared’. Unfortunately, the names of the nurses are not given, but the three medical men are named; Captain Digby Burns, Dr R E Lee and Sir W Henry Thompson

Lucille
Posts: 144
Joined: Wed Jan 19, 2011 6:59 pm

Re: Canadian soldiers in Ennis 1918

Post by Lucille » Mon Nov 05, 2018 10:19 pm

Many thanks Jimbo for drawing my attention to that article. I had missed it entirely.

There were in fact many more medics on board that day including 18 Royal Army Medical corps, two of whom Harriett Wheelock references. As for the nurses a touch of #MeToo was required - there were five Clare nurses drowned as well as other Irish and Australian.

A final touch to my original posting about the Canadian soldiers visiting Ennis - a ggreat grandaughter of one of the soldiers travelled to Ireland last month and was present at the remembrance ceremonies and events that were held in Dun Laoghaire to commemorate the sinking of the ship in 1918. I don't think she made it to Ennis though!

Lucille

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