Patrick Stanley was posted to France to re-join the 2nd Battalion of the Manchester Regiment on 13th November 1916. He would have been just one of a number of ordinary soldiers sent as replacements for the casualties incurred. As such his arrival was not noteworthy in any way. It is extremely doubtful if there were…
All posts tagged Great War
Poetry Please – Part 2
At school I studied poetry as part of the English Literature course. Having to analyse, criticise and deconstruct poems can drain the joy from reading them. Despite this handicap, there is one poem that sticks in my mind from that time. I read avidly, and have done so from an early age. My local library…
Poetry Please – Part 1
“Do not go gentle into that good night” Dylan Thomas “I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and sky” John Masefield Robert Frost, Elizabeth Browning, Lewis Carroll, WB Yeats, John McCrae, the list of memorable poets and their works is a lengthy one. Poetry has the power to move, to…
The small print
In October 1902, Patrick signed Army Form B217 for a short service enlistment. It was for a total of 12 years, part on active service and the rest on reserve. Question 1 asks for the recruit’s name. (Starting with the difficult ones!) Question 2 provided the key information about Patrick’s place of birth. Question 18…
2nd Eastern General Hospital
In September 1913, the staff and pupils of Brighton, Hove and Sussex Grammar School took possession of new, purpose built premises on Dyke Road. In August 1914 they were forced to return to their old home. The building had been requisitioned. It became 2nd Eastern General Hospital. The building still exists. It is now a…
And so to France
Patrick reported to the Manchester Regiment’s Headquarters (at Ashton-under-Lyne) on 5th August 1914. Britain had declared war on Germany the day before. He was posted to join the 2nd Battalion in France on 30th August. When the war started the 2nd Battalion was based at the Curragh Camp in Ireland. They arrived in France on…
Sixty days in 1914
Patrick joined the Army on 2nd October 1902. At that time Britain kept a relatively small regular army. The armies of other major European powers were much larger. Britain’s army was entirely made up of volunteers and numbered a quarter of a million. (France, Russia and Germany had well over 1 million each.) Half of…
Private John Stanley
Private John Stanley (born 1898) was killed two months from the end of the Great War. The location of the memorial and the date indicate that he was killed in the attack of the Drocourt-Queant line, and the follow up actions. The Drocourt-Queant (or DQ) line was part of the Hindenburg line. The Germans had…
More about Mary’s brother John
The first born child of the Stanley/Ormsby marriage was John (born 1866 in Roscommon). The 1891 census has him born in 1867. At that time, he was single and lodging with his married (half) sister Catherine (or Kate) Senior. So what happened to him subsequently? In 1901 he is still working as a Mason’s Labourer.…