Dear Readers, this article, written by Tony Grant, continues on his blog, London Calling. Tony recalls events that actually happened to his great grant uncle, William McGinn.
Arras British Cemetery
Tony Grant touches his great uncle's name
Lutyens monument
Aveluy Wood
Wimbledon camp where William trained
William McGinn disembarked in Rouen, 1918
The last postcard my great uncle wrote from France. This is the port of Rouen a great embarkation point for Brtiish troops on their way to the Western Front.
William McGinn at nineteen
WORLD WAR I, AN OVERVIEW OF THE POLITICAL, THE HOME FRONT AND THE MILITARY.
World War I is coming to our screens through the medium of Downton Abbey. The series has reached the Summer of 1914, a time of shifting tectonic plates in the power of nations and Empires, very much like the time we live in now, brought on by the great financial crisis we are all living through. This present series is a reminder to us all.
My own family have been very much part of the terrible traumas of the past two world wars. Close members of my family have died in action in both wars. In 1914, at the start of the First World War, my maternal great grandmother and grandfather, Susie and William McGinn moved from County Limerick, in the South of Ireland, to Newcastle upon Tyne in the north of England. The move was to enable my great grandfather to get work in the shipyard, Swan Hunters, on the Tyne. They lived in a three story house,a pigeon loft installed in the roof, at 12 Airey Terrace Walker, close to the River Tyne and Swan Hunter’s yard.
Their son, also called William, was a very bright lad and passed his civil service exams to get him a prized job with the civil service. At the age of 18 he returned to Ireland to work in the post office in Dublin as a clerk. It was the moment the IRA was preparing for the Easter Uprising against British rule in Ireland. Although my great uncle was a true Irishman, born in Ireland, but because he had emigrated to England and his parents were living in England, he and his family were regarded as traitors and he was threatened with the message, “Your next McGinn,” meaning the IRA would kill him. He wrote home and my Great-grandmother sent him the money to return to Newcastle.
To read the rest of the story, click on this link to London Calling.
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Jane Austen's World 
A beautiful and
moving story about
a young man who
was just beginning
to live…..and a
connection that
really brings WWI
to life. Thank you
for William’s story.
Suzanne
Such a lovely and really beautiful memorial. I have just watched the film “The War Dog” that depicts the World War I. I am so glad to have read this important and valuable post. Thank you.
Thank you and thank you again. It is such a realization of a young mans bravery in a war that was the bloodiest in history.
Such a heartbreaking story! He was so young and handsome. And his final message to his mother is so sad. Thank you Vic and Tony for sharing.
Thank you so much for sharing. Truly a poignant reminder of the horrors of war.
Hi all, I am trying to recall my life at nineteen, when my future was so exciting and when my ambitions to be an artist, writer, and good wife and mother lay in front of me. While I had done many exciting things – write, paint, and study – my life was still unfulfilled at the time.In the intervening years I was able to do so much more. We can only imagine what William McGinn’s contribution to society would have been had he lived. This beautiful young man must have had so many dreams. I find it sad and horrible that he died in the last year of WW1 at such a young and tender age.
Thank you, Tony, for your beautiful tribute. Vic
What a powerful and moving story. Thank you Tony for sharing it with us.
READER: Beware – Downton Abbey PLOT SPOILER: Victoria Coren writes: ‘ . . How proud I feel today, reading that America is in a Downton Abbey frenzy. To us, Downton is old news. It’s so 2011. We’re over it. How satisfying that those late-coming Americans are still waiting to find out what happens in the story, while we know: there’s a war, Bates and Anna look gloomy, the war’s over, Bates and Anna look gloomy, Matthew’s crippled for life, Bates and Anna look gloomy, Matthew’s sprung miraculously out of the chair and is representing Britain in the Olympic triple jump, Bates and Anna look gloomy . . ‘
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/jan/22/victoria-coren-downton-abbey-nostalgia
Chris, I read her article. Thank you for sending it on. I was particularly struck by this phrase: “Downton was, of course, popular here too. But we watched it giggling. We knew it was a nonsensical confection of invented past. We knew its tale of happy, cap-doffing plebs, slimy middle classes and angelic toffs – and its Great War from which one could pop home for dinner and nobody died…”
There’s a perception in the UK that all US citizens haven’t a clue about history. It is true that many of our schools don’t dwell on the topic, especially history outside of the US, and that one has to choose it as a subject in college in order to delve deeper into an era.
Clarifying the historical background or social customs that are no longer followed is exactly why I started this blog. While at times I have the particulars wrong, especially in language and expression, because I don’t live in the UK, I am able to lay some of the ground work for viewers of PBS specials or readers of Jane Austen’s novels.
To address Victoria Coren’s article: Not all of us in the US are all about burger joints. In fact Ms. Coren should do some research. We are as bedazzled with the new Sherlock as she is. We have access to the Internet, which keeps us up to date on British shows, culture, fashion, and art. BBC America brings us Dr. Who and the new Absolutely Fabulous. We even travel to the UK and experience the culture first hand.
Miss Coren should understand that, like her, we Americans view Downton Abbey as an expensive soap opera, one with fabulous costumes and incredibly lush settings. Even to our “unschooled” eyes some of the plot developments are over the top and unrealistic.
Re: ‘ . . Even to our “unschooled” eyes some of the plot developments are over the top and unrealistic.’
It would be very interesting to to know which of the ‘over the top’ ones were in fact based on fact and which were not. E.g. the tale of the Turkish diplomat who dies in lady’s bedroom so that his corpse has to be dragged along the corridor to his room by the ladies of the house seems obviously OTT fiction but Fellowes says he was told it as a true story by a friend:
“I did enjoy the death of Pamuk because it was true,” he said. “That story came from a friend of ours. He had a great house and he was looking through a great aunt’s diary in which he found an account of a visiting diplomat who died.
“In the house there was a passageway only to be used by single women to go to their rooms. One of them had smuggled this diplomat into her room and he died in the middle of doing it! She was absolutely at her wits’ end – this was about 1890. She knocked on the next door and the blameless matron in there realise at once that if this story came out it would touch them all and there would be a great scandal.
“To avoid it they woke up all the other single women in the passageway and this group of dowagers and debutantes lifted the corpse and carried it to his own bed. Our friend looked up the diary of his great grandfather at the same period and in it he found a note simply saying ‘We had a tragedy – nice Mr so and so was found dead in his bed.’ Those ladies got away with it! When I heard that story I thought ‘One day this will come in handy…..!'”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/downton-abbey/8819485/Downton-Abbeys-Turkish-diplomat-sex-scandal-is-not-fiction.html
True – or just Fellowes pulling our legs?
Just read Victoria Coren’s article. Anybody reading it will immediately see it is an exaggeration, a tongue in cheek, supporting of stereo types.. At least when I criticised Americans for their commercialisation of Jane at the Fort Worth conference I referenced Arthur Miller and Andy Warhol, ha! Ha!
Getting back to something more serious. I feel very appreciative of everybody’s comments about my post.. Thank you!!!!!!!!
Tony, thank you for your clarification. I read her article and could sense the tongue in cheek, but then I read some of the 71 comments and there was a great deal of American bashing going on. The trend makes me sad.
Reading the comments in the Guardian can be dispiriting unless you are on the same wavelength as its web readers, who are young, leftish and come from all round the globe including of course a lot of Americans.
One might wonder why any of them were bothering with Downton at all. They should leave it to those of use who enjoy it for what it is – entertainment.
Thank you for sharing the story of your great-uncle. He was so young and so brave to go and fight. My great-grandfather fought in WWI and I know he survived but his wife died while he was at war or shortly after his return (of bovine tuberculosis possibly like Jane!). I can only imagine how he must have felt at that time. He died when I was a baby and I don’t remember him at all.