LITMIR.BIZ

Скачать книгу

a badly damaged left arm, which made him a slow starter in races. Had he been blessed with the full use of this arm in springing off, and had he the full advantage of American training methods, he would have no superior in his time.

      In August 1917 Paddy Roche, Ireland’s Olympian, was buried in the Baghdad North Gate War Cemetery, which is maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Just over 4,000 casualties of the Great War are commemorated in the cemetery, and there are nearly 3,000 unidentified burials. They include men who died from bullets and shells and from heatstroke and cholera as they battled in the dust to wrest Baghdad from the Ottoman Empire.

      Coincidentally, Paddy Roche is not the only Irish athlete to be buried there. Close to his headstone is the grave of William Hedley Craig, who appears in war records as Hedley William Craig, He was a sportsman and a soldier who was killed four months before Paddy Roche died. Craig, like Roche, was a talented athlete who represented Ireland in track events. He was the son of the late Thomas Craig, who lived at Novara House in Bray in County Wicklow, and the late Eliza Craig, who resided in Kenmare, in Orwell Park in County Dublin.Born in Bray on 10 January 1890, his early schooling was at Aravon and St Stephen’s Green schools, and then on to Trinity College in Dublin.

      It was at university that Craig excelled at athletics, and he became a leading member of the Dublin University Harriers. His specialism was the 880-yards event. His college performances began to get him noticed and in 1910 , 1911 and 1912 he was placed 2nd in the 880 yard Irish Championships and 3rd in the mile in 1911.

      In 1911 he was selected to represent Ireland in the annual match against Scotland in Dublin and he came a respectable 3rd in the 880 yards event. Scotland won the match by 7 wins to Ireland’s 4.

      In June 1912 he was selected to run for Dublin University in the inter-varsity championships in Cork.Eight events took place at the newly acquired football grounds of University College Cork at The Mardyke, whose facilities were much admired. The championships should have taken place two days earlier, but constant rain and thunderstorms made the athletic track unusable.

      Trinity faced opposition from University College Cork, University College Dublin, and Queen’s University Belfast. The weather was mixed, and began brightly, but by the afternoon the students were subjected to a series of downpours. The band of the Yorkshire Light Infantry entertained the crowd, and their presence caused controversy. Afterwards, some officials from Cork GAA criticised the university for subsidising ‘anti-national games’, and the presence of a military band was also questioned. It was suggested by some GAA officials that ‘there were civilian bands in Cork at least quite as good’.

      Away from athletics and his studies, Craig served as the Ireland Secretary for the Boy Scouts Association, and as Superintendent of the Fishamble Street Mission in Dublin. A man of strong faith, it is believed that he was about to undertake a divinity course just before the war broke out, so he may have been considering a future in the Church. He wasted little time in volunteering, and in September 1914 joined the Royal Engineers as a corporal. When he enlisted he asked to be considered for a role with the Signals Division, and in October 1914, he joined the Signals GHQ.

      In January 1916 he got a temporary commission as a 2^nd lieutenant in the Royal Engineers. His war service then took him to Basra, where he arrived in June 1916. Six months later he transferred to the Royal Flying Corps. On 8 April 1917 he qualified as a flying officer, but his time in the skies would only last a matter of days. He was reported missing ten days later, and was then reported killed in action.

      The precise nature of how he died is unclear, as no details are contained on his army file in the archives in London. However, the documents do reveal that at his burial German and Turkish officers were in attendance, which suggests that he was killed behind enemy lines. The archives also reveal that his grave was marked by a propeller blade. The ceremony was described as ‘most impressive’.

      Craig’s relatives back in Ireland were informed of his death, and his possessions and outstanding army pay were forwarded on to them.

      The former Trinity College student was 27 years of age when he died. Today, he lies in a cemetery in Iraq in a place that bears the names of long-forgotten regiments who fought to free the city from the grip of Turkish forces.

      Nine months before Craig died, thousands of Irishmen battled the Turkish army in a different theatre of war. In August 1915 in the waters of the Aegean, the hospital ship HMS Gloucester Castle was packed with men who were wounded, dead or dying. It was the final resting place of many young Irishmen before they were buried at sea.

      On 16 August 1915, two bodies lay amongst the dozens being cared for by nursing staff. Their war was over. They were brothers in peacetime and comrades in battle. The story of the siblings from County Wicklow is one of the saddest accounts to emerge from the Gallipoli campaign.

      Three young men from the same family left Dublin to go to fight the Turkish forces, and only one returned. The two brothers who did not come back died in the same place on the same day.

      George Grant Duggan and his brother John Rowswell Duggan lost their lives on a summer’s day on the Turkish coastline. Their youngest sibling, George Chester Duggan, who also witnessed the carnage, survived the conflict, and returned home to the safety of Ireland. Their family story is a tale of military service, death and heartbreak.

      It begins with George Grant Duggan, a talented international athlete who enjoyed long-distance running and cross-country competitions. His love of athletics came to the fore as he studied for a Bachelor of Arts degree at Trinity College in Dublin. Born in 1886, he was the son of George and Emilie Duggan, from Ferney near Greystones in County Wicklow. George senior was the manager of the Provincial Bank in Dublin. He sent his son George Grant to be educated at the high school in Dublin and then he entered Dublin University. It appears that life at Trinity College for the young student was rarely dull, and George Grant Duggan filled his time with athletics and studying.

      When he was not in the lecture room or in the library he could be found running across laneways and around the playing fields at College Park. He developed a passion for cross-country competitions, organised college races and took a lead role in the management of the Dublin University Athletic Union. His success in race meetings at Trinity led to wider recognition. On 26 March 1908 he represented Ireland the International Cross Country Championship at the Stade de Matin, Colombes near Paris.

      Eleven athletes from Ireland made the trip, competing against their French hosts, England, Scotland and Wales. George Grant Duggan took part in the 16km cross-country event and ran it in fifty-seven minutes, and was placed forty-ninth. The race was won by an Englishman, Arthur Robertson, who finished the course in just over fifty minutes.

      In 1908 he graduated from Trinity College and began working with the Irish Lights Commissioners, and at this time he was also a member of the university’s Officer Training Corps (OTC). Duggan was one of the original members of the OTC. He was made a corporal in 1910, and immersed himself in the activities of the Training Corps, which he clearly enjoyed. Such was his attitude that he and a number of other cadets were selected to attend the Coronation of King Edward VII. George Grant Duggan may have got his love of the military life from his grandfather, Colonel Charles Coote Grant, who was in the Bedfordshire Regiment. His passion for military adventure was shared by his brother John Rowswell Duggan, who was eight years younger than George, and also became a member of the OTC. John, like George, had a great love of the outdoor life, and was a keen marksman, often winning trophies for his rifle shooting.

      After he graduated, George Duggan’s personal life changed when he married Dorothy Isabella Tuthill in a ceremony at Christ Church in Dublin in August 1910. They had two children and, keeping up the family tradition, they named their first son, who was born in 1911, George. A year later their second son, Dermot, was born.

      That same year George Duggan received a commission as an officer with the Training Corps, and in February 1913 he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant. Whilst the military exercises took up much of his evening and weekend work, he also devoted much of his time to the Boy Scouts. He was a Scoutmaster of the 6^th County Dublin Troop, and served on committees for the County Dublin Association and the Sea Scouts.

      By

Скачать книгу