Remembering T Hurley of Crumlin, One More Soldier...

The Crumlin War Memorial

On BBC Wales News tonight (Wales Today) there was a story about a war memorial in Crumlin, north of Cardiff. The metal plaque on the memorial was stolen, but luckily an elderly gent in the town had written down all the names and so the plaques could be recreated.

On showing the new plaque there right near the top (1914-18) was a T. Hurley (see pic at right, T Hurley is second from top, middle column).

How very sad that some low life thinks so little of the dead, of our history and of the sacrifices men made - to nick metal war plaques just for a few quid.

And so we can remember T. Hurley from Crumlin who died so many years ago.

I like to think as my famous rugby-playing great grandad Henry Huzzey came from Pontypool, just five miles from Crumlin, that maybe the Hurleys from Crumlin and the Huzzeys from Pontypool may have bumped into each other in the street once or twice... who knows?


Crumlin War Memorial Re-Dedicated

Newport's Hurley War Dead

My grandfather, Daniel Hurley fought in WW1 with the Royal Engineers.

In trying to find out a little more about this I came across the website below which details the Hurleys from Newport, Gwent who died in WW1, two of whose memorial is in St Mary's RC Church (I assume in Newport).

Interestingly, my grandfather was born in Ireland and, as yet, I do not know if he was recruited or called-up in Ireland or Wales, because in WW1, 1914-1918, the whole of Ireland was still officially part of the United Kingdom (despite the 1916 Easter Rising).

It wasn't until Ireland was partitioned in 1921 that Kinsale, County Cork and all of what we now know as 'southern Ireland,' 'the Irish Republic' or 'Eire' became the Irish Free State.

So it is perfectly feasible that during WW1 a Hurley from Kinsale may have signed up or been called up for service in the British Army.

A 'Who Do You Think You Are?' documentary I watched a while back (Dervla Kirwin I think???) broached this very subject, and said that service in the army was normal, even for those with Irish republican (Sinn Fein/IRA) sympathies.

My search for Daniel Hurley's war record with the Royal Engineers continues...

Link:
Newport's War Dead: H

	Hurley, Daniel, 40, 26th September 1917, 10th Bn. Royal Welsh Fusiliers,   33741, Private, Son of Bartholomew and Noah Hurley, of 11,  Wallis St., Pill, Newport, Mon., TYNE COT MEMORIAL,   Panel 63 to 65.Local memorial - St Mary's RC church
	Hurley, Harold, 21, 29th April 1916, Private
	Hurley, Harold, 24th May 1917,   1st/4th Bn Devonshire Regiment, 200743,  Private, BASRA MEMORIAL, Panel 11.
	Hurley, John. Royal Engineers, 768, Sapper,      WW1 Local memorial - General Post Office,  Newport and St Mary's RC church
	Hurley, Victor, 23rd October 1918, 9th Bn.   The Loyal North Lancashire Regiment, 41364,  Private, BERLIN SOUTH-WESTERN CEMETERY, XVIII. B. 9.

James Francis 'Frank' Hurley - An Heroic Photographer

Has there been an Australian life to equal that of Frank Hurley's for its breadth, its exuberance, its derring-do? Photographer, adventurer, explorer, showman - Hurley was all of these and more.

Thus starts the review for 'Frank Hurley - A Photographer's Life.'

This video on you tube is quite moving, spanning so many momentous events.

Sadly the makers of the video (or montage) have not allowed it to be embedded in other sites [probably at the request of the photo owners... I'm not sure].

If you are a Hurley, interested in exploration, an historian, fascinated by WW1 or WW2, an Australian or a photographer then I would strongly recommend this video.

The commentary is very good and the video is quite moving.


Link:
Frank Hurley's Photography

And a review of the book pictured above is at the website of the Australian newspaper The Age

Frank Hurley, Famous Australian Photographer

Many years ago I was pottering in a charity shop when I came across a book entitled "Victoria, a Camera Study by Frank Hurley." I had to buy it - so I did. I forked over £1 (no doubt tears welling in my eyes).

The book details much of the history and nature of Victoria in Australia, including I was pleasantly surprised the Eureka Stockade, the scene of a heroic rebellion in 1854 from which we get the Eureka banner, similar to Irish banners, based on star constellations. Professor Geoffrey Blainey said the Eureka flag was an "Irish Cross."

Wikipedia says of Frank Hurley:

James Francis "Frank" Hurley, OBE (15 October 1885 – 16 January 1962) was an Australian photographer and adventurer. He participated in a number of expeditions to Antarctica and served as an official photographer with Australian forces during both world wars.

From the same source, re. Shackleton's explorations:

He later compiled his records into the documentary film South in 1919. His footage was also used in the 2001 IMAX film Shackleton's Antarctic Adventure.

Links:
Frank Hurley website
Victoria by Frank Hurley

U-Boat Attack off Kinsale: The Sinking of the Lusitania

German U-boat U20 on May 7th 1915 sank the ship RMS Lusitania. The ship sank in 18 minutes, eight miles (15 km) off the Old Head of Kinsale, Ireland, killing 1,198 of the 1,959 people aboard.

The Lusitania departed New York on 1 May 1915. The German Embassy in Washington had issued this warning on 22 April

Notice!
Travellers intending to embark on the Atlantic voyage are reminded that a state of war exists between Germany and her allies and Great Britain and her allies; that the zone of war includes the waters adjacent to the British Isles; that, in accordance with formal notice given by the Imperial German Government, vessels flying the flag of Great Britain, or any of her allies, are liable to destruction in those waters and that travellers sailing in the war zone on the ships of Great Britain or her allies do so at their own risk.
Imperial German Embassy
Washington, D.C. 22nd April 1915

The sinking of the ship turned many against Germany and is said to have contributed to the entry of the USA into the war on the Allied side in 1917.

Remember that during WW1 Ireland was still a unified country and was still absorbed into the United Kingdom (recruiting for the British Army occurred throughout Ireland) whereas after 1921 (and so in WW2) the Irish Free State (the Republic) existed with Northern Ireland separated to stay within the UK.

In 1915 therefore Kinsale and its environs were, officially, "British."

This is a modern re-enactment of the sinking: