Those on board the RMS Leinster.

Leinster People

In June 2002 Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council launched a plaque and a photograph in County Hall, Marine Road, Dun Laoghaire (Kingstown) to commemorate the RMS Leinster, sunk at the end of WWI. Due to pressure of time the keynote speech by Philip Lecane was not fully delivered. Here it is:

“The sinking of the Leinster resulted in the greatest ever loss of life in the Irish Sea. It was a tragedy that struck at the maritime towns of Dun Laoghaire and Holyhead. One of the reasons why those who died on the *Leinster *were forgotten for so long was because, outside of their families, very little was known about those who were on the ship. And it’s very hard to remember 501 faceless people.

I have spent the last three years researching them and I’d like to tell you a little about a few of them.

The City of Dublin Steam Packet Company operated a service between Dun Laoghaire and Holyhead. They had four ships on the route. Named *Connaught, Leinster, Munster *and *Ulster, *they were known as the provinces. The service continued during the First World War. At the time Ireland was still part of the United Kingdom and we were officially at war with Germany. Many Irish were serving in the British armed forces.

On 10 October 1918 *Leinster *left Dun Laoghaire, bound for Holyhead. About 16 miles out the ship was torpedo and sunk by the German submarine UB-123. 501 of the 771 people on board were lost.

The ships crew were drawn from the towns of Holyhead and Dun Laoghaire. The connection between the two towns was symbolised in the person of ship’s Captain William Birch. Born in Dublin, he settled in Holyhead, where he lived with his family in a house called “The Sycamores.” The house is still there. And it’s still, called “The Sycamores.” Captain Birch was lost in the sinking. His body was never recovered. *

Leinster’s *Purser Hugh Rowlands had been a teacher at the Park School, Holyhead before following the call of the sea. He had been with the City of Dublin Steam Packet Company for 21 years when he lost his life on the Leinster. A branch of the Rowlands family had moved to Dun Laoghaire. Ironically, Hugh Rowland’s cousin, John Rowlands was on duty as Pier Master in Dun Laoghaire Harbour when the new news arrived of the Leinster’s sinking. Leinster had a crew of 77. Thirty-six of them lost their lives.

The ship carried mail between Dun Laoghaire and Holyhead. (The R.M.S. in the ship’s name stood for Royal Mail Steamer). The ship had an onboard post office staffed by members of Dublin’s Post Office. There were 22 sorters on duty that day.

Postal Sorter Adam Smyth from Tivoli Terrace, Dun Laoghaire was married to Elizabeth. They had nine children. Adam’s son Daniel, who was 18, was a cabin boy on the Ulster. The out bound *Leinster *passed the inbound near the Kish Bank. Shortly afterwards, *Leinster *was sunk. The sinking was seen from the Ulster, but the ship could not turn back for survivors for fear that she too would be sunk. Later, young Daniel Smyth stood on the quayside anxiously looking on as survivors from the Leinster were landed, in the hope that his father was among them. He was not. Two hours later Daniel had to set sail as the Ulster left for Holyhead. Twenty-one of the 22 postal sorters on the Leinster were lost. Their deaths left over 100 children without fathers.

The ship had 180 civilian passengers on board. Tom Foley was brother-in-law to the tenor John McCormack. He and his wife Charlotte were travelling to England to visit Charlotte’s brother, Christopher, who had been wounded on the Western Front. Tom and Charlotte were lost. They left 10 children behind. John McCormack and his wife Lily adopted the youngest child, 15 month old Rory. They made provision for the rearing of the other nine children.

Fanny Saunders from York Road, Dun Laoghaire, was on her way to see her daughter Janet, who was dying in Liverpool. Twenty-three years earlier Fanny’s husband Frank had been lost on Christmas Eve 1895, when the crew of Dun Laoghaire Lifeboat lost their lives attempting to save the crew of a sinking ship. Fanny lost her life in the same sea that had taken her husband. Their daughter Janet died in hospital two days later. One hundred and fifteen of the 180 civilian passengers on the ship were lost.

The majority of passengers on the ship were in the military. Apart from France, most of the major allied powers were represented. They came from Britain, (this include Ireland, Wales, Scotland and England), United States. Canada, Australia and New Zealand. There were soldiers, sailors, airmen and nurses.

Josephine Carr was 19. From Cork, she was a member of the newly formed Women’s Royal Naval Service, known as the Wrens. Josephine died on the Leinster, the first ever *Wren *to die on active service.

Third battalion of the Royal Welch Fusiliers were based in Limerick. Lieutenant William Singleton had been a teacher at The Park School, Holyhead before the war. He was one of the founders of the local Boy Scout Movement and a prominent member of the local orchestral society. While serving with the 20th Battalion of the Royal Welch Fusiliers, he was severely wounded on the Western Front. He was then transferred to the 3rd Battalion in Limerick. He was probably going home on leave when he was killed. There were 22 Royal Welsh Fusiliers on the Leinster. Sixteen of them were killed Three hundred and twenty six of the 489 of the military on board were killed.

Thankfully, there were survivors, of the 771 on board the Leinster*,*** 270 survived - just over 36%.

Among those who survived was Michael Joyce M.P. for Limerick. A seaman in his younger days, he had survived four shipwrecks before also surviving the Leinster sinking.

Even though he could not swim, Chief Stoker John Donohoe gave his life jacket to cabin boy Tom Connolly. Thankfully both survived.

With us tonight are John Donohoe’s grandson Billy Byrne and his great-grandson William Byrne. William has been to the forefront of promoting awareness of the Leinster sinking.

Stoker William Maher from Desmond Avenue, Dun Laoghaire was awarded a medal by the Royal Human Society for saving the lives of soldier Sergeant Duffin and mother and daughter Dorothy and Louisa Toppin. Steward John Flood spent a few hours in the water before being rescued. He went home and changed his clothes. He then went to the City of Dublin Steam Packet Offices in Eden Quay, where he reported for work!

The *Helga *was in Dun Laoghaire harbour when news came of the Leinster sinking, the ship put to sea. Two years earlier, in 1916, the Helga had shelled the centre of Dublin during the 1916 Rising. Now she was to take part in another important incident in Irish History. Helga picked up some of the Leinster survivors and headed back to Dun Laoghaire. In later years the story was told that as Steward Jim Longmore gave blankets to women survivors who were in various states of undress, he said to each; “Don’t mind me ma’m, I’m a married man myself”!

A Cathaoirleach, Holyhead friends, ladies and gentlemen, Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council are to be commended for commemorating the Leinster sinking.

In closing may I quote from the words of President Mary McAleese, when she remembered Ireland’s First World War dead at Messines, Belgium on 11 November 1998. “In this generation we redeem their memory, acknowledging their service and the pain of those who loved them.""

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