Irish Archives

johnny_doyle

I've just been doing some research on Cadet G F MacKay, captured early on in the Easter Rising and released right at the end.

In doing this research I've been in contact with the National Museum, UCD archives and the Military History Society of Ireland. Have to say what an incredibly helpful bunch of people. Really impressed with the help given by the people at each of these organisations.

johnny_doyle

I should clarify that the rank Cadet has nothing to do with "Cadet" as used later by the Auxiliary Divison of the RIC.

MacKay had been with the Inns of Court Officer Training Corps in the UK (Private, number 6692) before heading back to Ireland (he was born in Co Cork) to train with No 7 Officer Training Battalion, attached to the Leinster Regiment.

327 WW1 casualties are listed on the CWGC database with the rank of Cadet. MacKay appears to have been very lucky not to have joined them.

I have a query in to the archivists at Ampleforth College (a Catholic boarding school in Yorkshire attended by MacKay and his brother) to see if they have a copy of a write up that MacKay did for their journal. Having had such a brilliant response from the Irish archivists, I'm hopeful that Ampleforth will prove equally as helpful.

MacKay doesn't get a mention by name in the Irish Times 1916 Rebellion Handbook account of the surrender at Boland's Mill below but is referenced in a number of other books touching on the Easter Rising (the one that sparked my research being off my usual reading list - "Irish Railways since 1916" by Michael Baker) :

THE SURRENDER.

Dr. Myles Keogh, who, in company with Mr.
L. G. Redmond Howard and others, acted so
bravely in rescuing the wounded, tells of the
actual incident of the surrender of De Valera
near Ringsend. Dr. Keogh had just returned
at half-past twelve from Glasnevin Cemetery,
where he conveyed under the Red Cross flag
the remains of a civilian who had been fatally
wounded at Mount street Bridge. Dr. Keogh
had dismounted from the hearse and entered
the hall of Sir Patrick Dun's Hospital, when
two men came out of the Poor Law Dispensary
opposite, in which the Sinn Feiners were
installed. One was a military cadet who
had been captured by the Sinn
Feiners, the other was the Sinn Fein leader
De Valera. "Hullo!'' cried De Valera.
"Who are you?" replied Dr. Myles Keogh.
The response was, " I am De Valera," from
one, and from the ether it was; "I am a
prisoner for the last five days. They want to
surrender." De Valera asked permission to use
the hospital telephone, in order to communi-
cate with the military authorities. Dr.
Keogh sent for Sir Arthur Ball, M.D., who
informed De Valera that the telephone com-
munication had been cut off, and suggested
that he should proceed to the nearest mili-
tary position, at the head of Grattan street,
off Lower Mount street.

Not totally sure how accurate the above account is.

After the surrender, MacKay was arrested and taken with the Volunteers to the RDS and held for a short while as a prisoner once again.

In a short article in Irish Sword, it's suggested that MacKay was killed in 1917 but there appears to have been a mix up with a similarly named officer.

MacKay died in Brighton, England in 1968, have served in the RFC, RAF, Gold Coast Defence Force and then finally the British Army during WW2.

enfield

For what its worth, here are the Mackay's in my files.
Cheers.
Tom.
A marriage has been arranged, and will take place early in Febraury, between Captain C J Mackay, M.C, Leinster Regiment and Flight Commander, Royal Flying Corps, eldest son of John Mackay, Kingstown, and Violet, second daughter of J J Fryne, J.P, 5 Upper Leeson Street, Dublin.

Another soldier for the Roll of Honour of local men who joined the British Army includes that of George MacKay Smith. Born in Ballyburley, Edenderry, King’s County he was commissioned Second Lieutenant into the Cheshire Regiment on 7 May 1915. He embarked for France & Flanders on 26 Nov 1915 and was advanced to
Lieutenant on 16 Feb 1917. Smith was wounded in action on 24 Apr 1918 and retired in 1920.

A marriage has been arranged, and will take place early in Febraury, between Captain C J Mackay, M.C, Leinster Regiment and Flight Commander, Royal Flying Corps, eldest son of John Mackay, Kingstown, and Violet, second daughter of J J Fryne, J.P, 5 Upper Leeson Street, Dublin.

Second Lieutenant C L Mackay.
News has been received at Moyallon, County Down, of the death of Second Lieutenant Claude Lysaght Mackay, nephew of Mr and Mrs Wakefield Richardson. He was the second son of the lare Edward Vansittart Mackay (Indian Police) and of Nina Mackay, of 10 College Road, Clifton, Gloucestershire. He was wounded on May 28th, and died in hospital at Boulogne on June 7th. He wa educated at Clifton College, where he was a member of the cricket eleven. He won the Challenge Cup in the athletic sports. After leaving school he played for his county. He also won the Publin School Heavy Weight Boxing Competition at Aldershot in 1913. On leaving Clifton (having won the leaving Exhibition) he went to Cambridge, winning a Classical Exhibition in the Corpus Christi College, where he again distinguished himself in athletics. He was gazetted to the 5th Worcestershire Regiment (Special Reserve) on August 15th, and joined the British Expeditionary Force on January 1st, 1915, and was given a commission in the Regulars on February 14th, 1915. He was 20 years of age.

enfield

And McKays;
McKAY, DAVID. Rank: Colour Sergeant. Regiment or Service: Royal Marine Light Infantry. Unit; H.M.S. "Colleen." Date of Death:03/02/1919. Service No: PLY/8518. Supplementary information; Croix de Guerre (France). Grave or Memorial Reference: C. 17. 42. Cemetery: Cobh Old Church Cemetery, County Cork.

McKAY, JAMES. Rank: Sapper. Regiment or Service: Royal Engineers. Unit; None given. Date of Death:07/04/1920. Service No:26985. Grave or Memorial Reference: North of the Church. Cemetery: Ballynakilla Churchyard, County Cork.

McKAY, WILLIAM FRANCIS. Rank: Private. Regiment or Service: Gordon Highlanders. Unit; 4th Battalion. Date of Death:03/05/1917. Age at Death,29.
Service No:201744. Enlisted in Aberdeen. Died of wounds at home. Supplementary information; Son of Mrs Margaret McKay, of 21 Great Western Road, Aberdeen, and the late Colour Sergeant McKay (2nd Battalion, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders).Born at Cork. Grave or Memorial Reference: Screen Wall. S. 158. Cemetery: Aberdeen (Allenvale) Cemetery, Scotland.

McKAY, MICHAEL. Rank: Pte. Regiment or Service: East Lancashire Regiment.
Unit; 6th Battalion. Date of Death:18/04/1916. Service No:20464.
Born in Killarney, County Kerry. Enlisted in Tralee while living in Tralee, County Kerry. Killed in Action in Mesopotamia. Grave or Memorial Reference: He has no known grave but is listed on Panel 19 on the Basra Memorial in Iraq


McKAY, WILLIAM. Rank: Corporal. Regiment or Service: Connaught Rangers. Unit: 5th Battalion. Age at death: 36. Date of Death: 11/10/1918. Service No: 4/2941. Born in Grainge, County Roscommon. Enlisted in Boyle while living in Boyle. Died of wounds. Supplementary information: Son of Henry and Mary McKay, of Drum, Boyle, Co. Roscommon. Grave or Memorial Reference: A. 3. Cemetery: Serain Communal Cemetery Extension in France.

Irish Independent; Soldier’s Tragic End. At an inquest at Queenstown on Colour Sergeant McKay, a Scotsman, Royal marines, the jury found he died of a wound self-inflicted, but there was nothing to show whether it was accidental or not. The deceased was the sole survivor of one of the vessels at the battle of Jutland, and had several decorations, including the Croix de Guerre.

Lieutenant James Greer McKay, Australian Machine Gun Co., killed on August 19th, was born in Cookstown, where his father had been on business before going to Leeds.

A Colonel’s Charmed Life.
Clonel McKay, son of the late Rev. W Boyd McKay, Ballynure, County Antrim, has had a charmed existence with an Australian Infantry Brigade. He was in one of the first barges that touched Turkish territority, and his cap was thrice knocked off by bullets when going back to the beach for other units after the forward trenches had been captured. On other occasions a bullet passed through his sleeve and another broke the stick in his hand. When instructions came to advance, he stood up and went on as if grasshoppers were flying past him instead of bullets. A week later a periscope carried by him was hit twice and then whisked out of his hand, but he escaped. That night a bullet put him out of action, but he is back at the front again.

johnny_doyle

cheers Tom. Don't know where you get the time to gather and sift all the data you have.

C J MacKay is the brother of Cadet MacKay. Charles Joseph MacKay was slightly older and joined the Leinster Regt before WW1. Transferred to the RFC and from late Dec 1917 to the Armistice was the Commanding Officer of 59 Squadron.

Died in 1930 with the rank of Wing Commander in the Royal Air Force and a string of awards to his name (Military Cross, Distinguished Flying Cross, Croix de Guerre).

johnny_doyle

The Dr Myles Keogh mentioned in the surrender text above speaking with De Valera and Cadet MacKay was a Dental Surgeon who helped with the wounded at Mount St. He was a Justice of the Peace and witnessed Kevin Barry's statement in Mountjoy Prison and campaigned for clemency for Barry. Keogh was later a TD.

The L G Redmond Howard mentioned in the surrender is Louis George Redmond-Howard, nephew/biographer of John Redmond and author of "Six Days of the Irish Republic" amongst other books.

enfield

Good man Johnny, keep up the good work. If I told you how I collect and sift my data you would then know, and I would have to kill you, and the forum would have lost a great researcher. So, Mum's the word!!
Kind regards.
Tom.

johnny_doyle

in looking at Cadet MacKay's service I've been delving into his Officer Training Battalion, stationed at Moore Park, Fermoy.

I'm not certain but think that it was members of MacKay's unit that were involved in the capture of Thomas Kent and the shooting of his brothers in the aftermath of the Easter Rising.

This is partly based on the BMH statement of RIC Constable Frank King and partly based on the image of the arresting party where the 3 carrying rifles and bandoliers appear to be in officer uniforms rather than the uniforms of the ordinary soldier.

One character that passed through the unit was South African 2nd Lt A K Chesterton MC, later to become an associate of Oswald Mosley and the British Union of Fascists.

johnny_doyle

one of the archivists at Ampleforth College has forwarded the article written by Cadet MacKay for the Ampleforth Journal.

A surprise was that his brother was in Dublin at the time of the Easter Rising recovering from a wound and was also taken prisoner but by another group of Volunteers. No details about which group or where he was held unfortunately just that he was prisoner for a few hours.