20.07.2016
1916 and the Somme in Powerscourt Churchyard
Powerscourt Churchyard came into use for burials in the 1860s. It was used, not only by local parishioners, but also by neighbouring parishes. At the time, Christ Church Bray, Kilbride Church, and the Methodist and Presbyterian churches in Bray had no burial grounds. Many families from these parishes now rest in Enniskerry.
Researching the records of this period, it is striking how many suffered the heartbreak of losing sons and daughter in the slaughter of the Great War, and the consequences of the Easter Rising. Of those associated with 1916, the four stories below represent different aspects of the tragedy.
Douglas Slade Maunsell, 2nd Lt. Royal Munster Fusiliers. Killed in action 6th September, 1916 Douglas came from a service family with a military pedigree dating back to the 11th century in Ireland. His father, living in Galtrim Road, Bray, was Major Arthur Munro Maunsell, who had also served with the Munsters. His son followed him into the same battalion.
Douglas served in France from 1914, but was invalided home in September 1915 for five months, on light duties in Cork. During the rebellion at Easter 1916, he was recalled to Dublin, unexpectedly to face an enemy in his own country. Returning to France on 1st September, he was killed at Guillemont on the Somme, four hours after rejoining his Battalion. He was 31. He is commemorated on the Thiepval memorial in France, the war memorials in ChristChurch Bray, Bray town War memorial, and the family headstone in Powerscourt Churchyard.
Thomas Evelyn Boyd, Private,10th Battalion Royal Dublin Fusiliers. The 10th was a brand new Battalion, and its recruits were still in training in their Dublin barracks when they were called out to fight the rebels on Easter Monday. They were deployed to relieve and secure Dublin Castle, among other objectives. Four months later, August 1916, they embarked for France, having lost several officers and men on the streets of their own city. Thomas and his Lewis Gun Crew then went missing at Beaumont Hamel. They were later found to be prisoners of the Germans. He spent the rest of the war a POW in Limberg, and unfortunately died on 28th February, 1918, aged just 20. He is remembered on the War Memorial of Bray Town and of Aravon School.
His father, Walter Boyd, Solicitor, lived in Ravenna, Bray, and is buried in Powerscourt Churchyard.
Richard Edward Deane–Oliver. Royal Engineers. Killed in action on the Somme, September 7th, 1916, in his 26th Year. Richard was baptised in Powerscourt Church in 1890. His grandfather was Edward Falkoner Litton,QC., who at the time lived at Valclusa, Enniskerry.
He was educated at “Mr Bookey’s School” (Aravon), Shrewsbury and TCD, where he graduated with a degree in Engineering. He gave up a responsible job on the Manchester Ship canal to take a commission in the Royal Engineers and was killed instantaneously by a sniper while engaged in constructing a new line of trenches. He is remembered on the Christ Church Bray, and Aravon memorials, and on the family grave in Powerscourt Churchyard.
Losing Richard was only the beginning of the family’s troubles. His father, Charles Deane?Oliver, of Rockmills House, Co.Cork, was Chief Engineer of the Department of Agriculture , and the Congested Districts and Fisheries Board. He was responsible for a great many of the harbours in the south and west of Ireland, and for opening up Arklow harbour in 1915. In 1919, the year he retired, Rockmills House was attacked by masked men who shot Charles in both thighs.
Then, in the spring of 1921, the IRA burnt the house down and the family, having lost everything except their lives, were forced to flee to England to live with relatives. They did return, however, to live productive lives in the new Republic.
Farquhar John McLennan, 2nd Lt. Gordon Highlanders, killed in action at Guillemont, on day 49 of the Battle of the Somme, 18th August, 1916. He was 24. He was the son of John Mc Lennan of Killough House Bray. His name is recorded on the Powerscourt War Memorial, inside the church.
Robert McDowell, private, 16th Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles., from Dollingstown, Northern Ireland. Robert was a gardener on the Beechpark estate before he enlisted in 1915. The Lurgan Mail tells the story…“ He survived the Somme, Messines, Passchendaele, and witnessed the armistice of November 1919. On return home, he enlisted in the newly formed Ulster Special Constabulary.” Suffering from ill health, he and his brother were offered work on his old employer’s estate in Co. Wicklow, and he relocated to Winegates, between Bray and Greystones. There… ”on the 22nd June, 1922, he was taken from the house in the middle of the night by masked men, and murdered, as an off duty special constable.”
Though he was not a local man, his name was nevertheless recorded on the War Memorial in Kilbride Church as a casualty. His name is also recorded on the memorial in Dollingstown, and on the Ulster Constabulary memorial in Staffordshire. “Dedicated to the memory of the Ulster Constabulary officers who lost their lives in the line of duty.”
In Enniskerry, the graves of those families who lost relatives to the first world war are identified with poppy markers. There are 22 casualties recorded between Powerscourt and Kilbride parishes. Not all fought on the Somme. When the names of those who fought and survived are added, there are 76 on a Roll of Honour. Many more are yet to be discovered.
[If your parish has a story to tell about connections to the Battle of the Somme, the First World War or 1916 please email it to dco@dublin.anglican.org]