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2 Crossing the Line

‘AMAGNIFICENT SPECIMEN OF AN ATHLETE.’

– The Cork Weekly Examiner on Paddy Roche, Irish Olympian, 1907.

Wearing a white vest that accentuated his powerful frame, Paddy Roche stood on the cinder track and waited. His time was about to come. He stretched his limbs, and alongside him runners from Canada, the United States of America and Holland did the same.It was a pre-race routine that the Irishman was used to, but never in these circumstances. The crowd, the noise and the occasion were like no other he had ever experienced. Ireland’s finest sprinter was about to perform on the greatest stage in the world.

Suddenly, the competitors were called forward. They nervously took their positions at the starting line and waited for the crack of the pistol shot. When the race began Paddy Roche kicked out, pushed his legs, and as his heart thundered against his chest he found his stride. He pushed again using the power of his thighs, and propelled himself forwards as his arms cut through the air.

The 200 metre heat was all over in seconds, and the London crowd whistled, cheered and shouted in their thousands. On a summer’s day in the White City Stadium they watched as Roche, a 22-year-old from Cork, secured a place in the semi-final of the Olympic Games. It was a remarkable performance and marked the pinnacle of the young athlete’s sporting life. As he walked around the arena and acknowledged the applause he knew he was within touching distance of winning a medal.

An All-Ireland athletic champion, an Irish international and an Olympian, he was one of the most gifted sportsmen to emerge from Ireland in the twentieth century. Yet, over a hundred years on, he remains largely hidden from the history of Irish sport, a forgotten figure whose life was prematurely taken. His story is all the more remarkable because his athletic prowess was discovered by chance, and as an athlete he carried his talent easily and modestly.

Patrick Joseph Roche was born in 1886 and lived with his parents William and Ellen Roche in Cork. Known all his life simply as Paddy, he was a very active child who enjoyed the outdoor life, and like young boys of his age he had his share of accidents. One day he fell from a horse and badly damaged his left arm, an injury that would stay with him all his life. This did not stop him from enjoying most sports, particularly Gaelic football.Tall, and with powerful legs, he had a great turn of pace and was easily the fastest runner amongst his peers. While he was still at school and playing Gaelic football for a local team he was spotted and encouraged to join Knockrea Athletic Club. The club had a nationwide reputation for producing good athletes, and their runners would often dominate race meetings across Munster. Officials from the club wanted to see how fast young Roche could run, so one evening in 1905 they tempted him away from playing Gaelic football and organised a trial race.

The teenager was pitted against Paddy Kavanagh, who had originally spotted Roche’s potential when he watched him play Gaelic football as a half-forward. A student at Queen’s College in Cork (University College Cork), Kavanagh was an experienced runner and the captain of the Knockrea club. The challenge was supervised by Jim Connolly, who was another stalwart of the club, and he, like his friend Paddy Kavanagh, was keen to see what kind of speed Roche could reach.To compensate for Roche’s age and lack of experience, he was given a few yards’ head start since it was expected that Kavanagh, as the more seasoned runner, would have the measure of him.To startled onlookers, Roche outpaced his older rival and won the race well.

A second race was then organised, but this time the rules were slightly different. Watching club officials were now aware that Roche was at least a match for, or even faster than Kavanagh, so it was agreed that both runners would start at the same place.In the second race Roche outran his older rival and triumphed again. As the small crowd took in what they had witnessed, Jim Connolly and Paddy Kavanagh both realised that they had an athletic sensation on their hands. Paddy Roche became an established member of the Knockrea Athletic Club, and he was very quickly tested against other runners from across Ireland. A series of victories followed in local race meetings, and his easy-going style on and off the track won him many admirers.

In July 1906, in fine weather in front of a large crowd at the GAA championships in Cork, he ran in his Knockrea vest in the 100-yard and 220-yard events. He won both races handsomely, and The Irish Times observed that Roche was ‘one of the most promising youngsters we have seen in years’.

He enrolled as an engineering student at Queen’s College Cork in 1906, and as he was keen to advance his running career he had a difficult job balancing his studies with training.The student athlete was given great encouragement from friends and family to continue his running, even though he was still learning the sport. He was persuaded in 1907 to enter the Irish Amateur Athletic Association championships in Dublin.

Roche made the journey up to the athletic meeting in Ballsbridge with a small band of supporters, including his younger brother, Dick. Feeling confident after his easy wins in the GAA championships the previous year, Paddy Roche was hopeful that he could repeat the trick in Dublin. By this time Paddy Roche had changed physically, and as the Cork Weekly Examiner would recall in fulsome praise, he had ‘blossomed into a magnificent specimen of an athlete’. The newspaper described him as standing well over six feet tall with a ‘wonderful depth of chest over good loins’. The correspondent added for good measure that ‘his limbs were so beautifully straight and graceful that he looked a picture’.

However, he faced strong opposition from Denis and Willie Murray, who were both outstanding runners. These two brothers were amongst the finest competitors in Ireland; Denis was the reigning and six times 100-yard and 200-yard champion, and Willie had recently returned from winning a prestigious tournament in England. In the first race, the 100-yard event, Paddy Roche swept past the Murray brothers and crossed the line first to the cheers of his family and friends.

In his next competition, which was the furlong race, Roche once again found himself up against Denis and Willie Murray. In the early stages very little divided the runners. As Roche came up to the final left-handed bend, he took a wide position and overtook Willie Murray. The move surprised Denis Murray, who gasped as Roche, in his traditional red shirt with the distinctive ‘K’ marking, moved into the lead. As Roche took pole position, his schoolboy brother, Dick, shouted excitedly from the sidelines, ‘Come on, Paddy, boy Paddy was never bate, come on!’ Paddy Roche held his lead and crossed the finishing line a yard and half ahead of Willie Murray.

Paddy Roche, his brother and supporters returned to Munster overjoyed. The boy from Cork was now a double national champion, and great opportunities were about to come his way.

The year 1907 also marked his international debut. On the last Saturday in June he competed in the annual contest between Ireland and Scotland. Roche travelled to the event held at the Ibrox Stadium in Glasgow, the home of Glasgow Rangers. If he was nervous about his first appearance in Irish colours he kept such feelings well hidden.

He entered the 100-yard race, and came first. He ran the distance in 10.4 seconds, finishing a good yard ahead of his nearest opponent. In the 220-yard race he did not disappoint his watching teammates. He again triumphed with an impressive time of 22.8 seconds, 5 yards ahead of his closest rival. Ireland won by six events to Scotland’s five. Roche’s success was picked up by the watching journalists, who noted that he won both races ‘rather easily’. His style of running and his pace caught the eye of both reporters and the officials from the Irish team. In June 1908 he returned to Dublin to defend his 100-yard title. In front of a large and enthusiastic crowd, which included Dublin’s Lord Mayor Joseph Patrick Nannetti and Lady Mayoress, Roche proved that he was not prepared to relinquish his crown, and he won the 100-yard championship easily.

A month later he again swapped his Knockrea vest for an Irish one as he crossed the Irish Sea for the fourteenth annual contest between the athletes of Ireland and Scotland, which took place at Edinburgh’s Saughton Exhibition Grounds. Conditions were dull, but a sizeable crowd of 8,000 turned up to watch proceedings. For Paddy Roche, the event was very important. He was undoubtedly keen to repeat his success of the previous year, but he also wanted to put in a good performance ahead of the London Olympics, which were due to start within days. In Edinburgh he was again selected for two events, the 100-yard race and the 220-yard sprints. He won the 100-yard contests with a time of 10.6 seconds, and was a good yard ahead of his nearest rival. In the longer event he was a little slower than the previous year, and was pushed into second place by a yard. It was a successful afternoon for the Irish squad, and when the results came in from all the track and field events Ireland had won by 8 points to 3.

Nine days later, Paddy Roche was in London to compete in the most important race of his life. The 1908 Olympic Games were not meant to have been hosted in London, and were initially planned to take place in the city of Rome. The eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 1906, however, meant that resources were needed to rebuild homes, and the Italian authorities felt they could not fund the Games, so an alternative venue was needed. With just two years to go, the International Olympic Committee approached Lord Desborough, William Henry Grenfell, the chairman of the British Olympic Association, to see if London could host the Games. Desborough, who was very keen on the idea, got the support of King Edward VII, and then accepted the offer from the Olympic authorities. In 1906, despite the short timeframe, preparations began to host the Games in England, and a new 66,000 capacity stadium was built at White City.

The Games, which began in April 1908 and lasted for six months, were surrounded by controversy. At the opening ceremony the United States team refused to lower their flag as they passed King Edward, who was in the royal enclosure. Concerns were also raised by Finnish competitors when they were asked to march behind the flag of Tsarist Russia.When the competitions finally got underway, the Americans lodged a series of complaints about the way in which the rules were being interpreted, querying a number of decisions taken by officials.

On 20 July 1908, Paddy Roche competed for Great Britain and Ireland, and wearing his white running vest he took to the track in the White City Stadium for the 100-metre heats. In front of a supportive, noisy crowd, Roche knew what he had to do, and those familiar with his achievements were hoping for great things.

The Cork man was expected to qualify, and with a time of 11.4 seconds he came home first. The next day’s 100-metre semi-final was a much tougher affair, and in fine weather he took his place at the starting line. He was up against two Americans, William Wyman ‘Willie’ May and Lester Stevens, and a South African, Reggie Walker. The race did not go well, and Roche struggled to keep up with his rivals. Walker, the eventual Gold medallist, showed great pace, and in the final forty metres pulled away to win the race pretty comfortably. Roche was pushed into third place by Willie May, which meant that he was out of that particular championship. He had little time to deal with his disappointment and had no opportunity to dwell on what went wrong.

On the same day he took part in the heats of the 200 metres.

Roche knew that only the winners qualify for the next round, so the pressure was on him to perform well. This was his final opportunity to make an impact at the world’s biggest sporting event. He was up against athletes from Holland, Canada and the United States, but he finished strongly, securing a good time of 22.8 seconds. It meant that he could progress to the semi-final, thus keeping his chances of an Olympic medal alive. Four semi-final heats were planned for the following day, with the winner of each heat going through to the 200metre final. Roche was placed in the fourth heat, which included George Hawkins, who was also running for Great Britain. Hawkins was an accomplished athlete, and he got off to a great start. In the final seconds he narrowly beat Paddy Roche, and as Roche crossed the finishing post he fell over. He was down and out, and the fall on the White City track ended any thoughts of an Olympic medal.

Despite the controversy over the opening ceremony and arguments over the interpretation of the rules, the London Games were deemed to be a success. Lessons were learned by the Olympic hierarchy. In future Games standard international rules were applied, and judges and competition officials were appointed from an international pool rather than being appointed from the host nation.

The Olympic experience in London did little to diminish Roche’s desire to run at international level, and he continued to train and take part in competitions, both local and national.

On the last Monday in May in 1909, he returned to Dublin to take part in the Irish Amateur Athletic Association championships, in which he won his third consecutive title as champion in the 100yards event, but he was placed second to William Murray in the 220yard race. In 1910 he was selected to represent Ireland in the annual contest against Scotland at the Ibrox Stadium in Glasgow.

He completed his two specialised disciplines of the 100 yards and 200 yards with mixed results. In the 100-yard event he sneaked home by inches into first place, but in the 220-yards he was pushed into third place, a good four yards behind the runner-up.

He graduated from University College Cork with an engineering degree, after which he applied to join the Indian Civil Service. When the Great War began he served with the Indian Army Reserve of Officers, and also with the 1^st King George’s Own Sappers and Miners. He was awarded a Military Cross for showing exceptional courage on active service.

Paddy Roche’s final days were spent in Baghdad, in what was then referred to as Mesopotamia. The city of Baghdad was the headquarters of the Turkish Army, which finally fell to Anglo-Indian troops in March l917. While stationed there Paddy Roche contracted typhoid. The condition proved fatal, and on 25 August 1917 he died.

When the news of his death reached home, it naturally made headlines across the country. The Freeman’s Journal in August 1917 stated that his death would be received with ‘poignant regret’. Irish athletics lost a giant when Paddy Roche died, and it is clear that his passing was felt well beyond the confines of the city of Cork.

It was his running style and easy manner that made Paddy Roche stand out from other athletes. He ran effortlessly, which was a feature that the Cork Weekly Examiner picked up on when it profiled him. The paper’s correspondent wrote:

The strange thing about P.J. Roche was that, in racing parlance, he never ‘sprinted’ – he ‘ran’. He never seemed to be doing his best, so easy did it all come to him. A fall from a horse when a boy left him with a badly damaged left arm, which made him a slow starter in races. Had he been blessed with the full use of this arm in springing off, and had he the full advantage of American training methods, he would have no superior in his time.

In August 1917 Paddy Roche, Ireland’s Olympian, was buried in the Baghdad North Gate War Cemetery, which is maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Just over 4,000 casualties of the Great War are commemorated in the cemetery, and there are nearly 3,000 unidentified burials. They include men who died from bullets and shells and from heatstroke and cholera as they battled in the dust to wrest Baghdad from the Ottoman Empire.

Coincidentally, Paddy Roche is not the only Irish athlete to be buried there. Close to his headstone is the grave of William Hedley Craig, who appears in war records as Hedley William Craig, He was a sportsman and a soldier who was killed four months before Paddy Roche died. Craig, like Roche, was a talented athlete who represented Ireland in track events. He was the son of the late Thomas Craig, who lived at Novara House in Bray in County Wicklow, and the late Eliza Craig, who resided in Kenmare, in Orwell Park in County Dublin.Born in Bray on 10 January 1890, his early schooling was at Aravon and St Stephen’s Green schools, and then on to Trinity College in Dublin.

It was at university that Craig excelled at athletics, and he became a leading member of the Dublin University Harriers. His specialism was the 880-yards event. His college performances began to get him noticed and in 1910 , 1911 and 1912 he was placed 2nd in the 880 yard Irish Championships and 3rd in the mile in 1911.

In 1911 he was selected to represent Ireland in the annual match against Scotland in Dublin and he came a respectable 3rd in the 880 yards event. Scotland won the match by 7 wins to Ireland’s 4.

In June 1912 he was selected to run for Dublin University in the inter-varsity championships in Cork.Eight events took place at the newly acquired football grounds of University College Cork at The Mardyke, whose facilities were much admired. The championships should have taken place two days earlier, but constant rain and thunderstorms made the athletic track unusable.

Trinity faced opposition from University College Cork, University College Dublin, and Queen’s University Belfast. The weather was mixed, and began brightly, but by the afternoon the students were subjected to a series of downpours. The band of the Yorkshire Light Infantry entertained the crowd, and their presence caused controversy. Afterwards, some officials from Cork GAA criticised the university for subsidising ‘anti-national games’, and the presence of a military band was also questioned. It was suggested by some GAA officials that ‘there were civilian bands in Cork at least quite as good’.

Away from athletics and his studies, Craig served as the Ireland Secretary for the Boy Scouts Association, and as Superintendent of the Fishamble Street Mission in Dublin. A man of strong faith, it is believed that he was about to undertake a divinity course just before the war broke out, so he may have been considering a future in the Church. He wasted little time in volunteering, and in September 1914 joined the Royal Engineers as a corporal. When he enlisted he asked to be considered for a role with the Signals Division, and in October 1914, he joined the Signals GHQ.

In January 1916 he got a temporary commission as a 2^nd lieutenant in the Royal Engineers. His war service then took him to Basra, where he arrived in June 1916. Six months later he transferred to the Royal Flying Corps. On 8 April 1917 he qualified as a flying officer, but his time in the skies would only last a matter of days. He was reported missing ten days later, and was then reported killed in action.

The precise nature of how he died is unclear, as no details are contained on his army file in the archives in London. However, the documents do reveal that at his burial German and Turkish officers were in attendance, which suggests that he was killed behind enemy lines. The archives also reveal that his grave was marked by a propeller blade. The ceremony was described as ‘most impressive’.

Craig’s relatives back in Ireland were informed of his death, and his possessions and outstanding army pay were forwarded on to them.

The former Trinity College student was 27 years of age when he died. Today, he lies in a cemetery in Iraq in a place that bears the names of long-forgotten regiments who fought to free the city from the grip of Turkish forces.

Nine months before Craig died, thousands of Irishmen battled the Turkish army in a different theatre of war. In August 1915 in the waters of the Aegean, the hospital ship HMS Gloucester Castle was packed with men who were wounded, dead or dying. It was the final resting place of many young Irishmen before they were buried at sea.

On 16 August 1915, two bodies lay amongst the dozens being cared for by nursing staff. Their war was over. They were brothers in peacetime and comrades in battle. The story of the siblings from County Wicklow is one of the saddest accounts to emerge from the Gallipoli campaign.

Three young men from the same family left Dublin to go to fight the Turkish forces, and only one returned. The two brothers who did not come back died in the same place on the same day.

George Grant Duggan and his brother John Rowswell Duggan lost their lives on a summer’s day on the Turkish coastline. Their youngest sibling, George Chester Duggan, who also witnessed the carnage, survived the conflict, and returned home to the safety of Ireland. Their family story is a tale of military service, death and heartbreak.

It begins with George Grant Duggan, a talented international athlete who enjoyed long-distance running and cross-country competitions. His love of athletics came to the fore as he studied for a Bachelor of Arts degree at Trinity College in Dublin. Born in 1886, he was the son of George and Emilie Duggan, from Ferney near Greystones in County Wicklow. George senior was the manager of the Provincial Bank in Dublin. He sent his son George Grant to be educated at the high school in Dublin and then he entered Dublin University. It appears that life at Trinity College for the young student was rarely dull, and George Grant Duggan filled his time with athletics and studying.

When he was not in the lecture room or in the library he could be found running across laneways and around the playing fields at College Park. He developed a passion for cross-country competitions, organised college races and took a lead role in the management of the Dublin University Athletic Union. His success in race meetings at Trinity led to wider recognition. On 26 March 1908 he represented Ireland the International Cross Country Championship at the Stade de Matin, Colombes near Paris.

Eleven athletes from Ireland made the trip, competing against their French hosts, England, Scotland and Wales. George Grant Duggan took part in the 16km cross-country event and ran it in fifty-seven minutes, and was placed forty-ninth. The race was won by an Englishman, Arthur Robertson, who finished the course in just over fifty minutes.

In 1908 he graduated from Trinity College and began working with the Irish Lights Commissioners, and at this time he was also a member of the university’s Officer Training Corps (OTC). Duggan was one of the original members of the OTC. He was made a corporal in 1910, and immersed himself in the activities of the Training Corps, which he clearly enjoyed. Such was his attitude that he and a number of other cadets were selected to attend the Coronation of King Edward VII. George Grant Duggan may have got his love of the military life from his grandfather, Colonel Charles Coote Grant, who was in the Bedfordshire Regiment. His passion for military adventure was shared by his brother John Rowswell Duggan, who was eight years younger than George, and also became a member of the OTC. John, like George, had a great love of the outdoor life, and was a keen marksman, often winning trophies for his rifle shooting.

After he graduated, George Duggan’s personal life changed when he married Dorothy Isabella Tuthill in a ceremony at Christ Church in Dublin in August 1910. They had two children and, keeping up the family tradition, they named their first son, who was born in 1911, George. A year later their second son, Dermot, was born.

That same year George Duggan received a commission as an officer with the Training Corps, and in February 1913 he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant. Whilst the military exercises took up much of his evening and weekend work, he also devoted much of his time to the Boy Scouts. He was a Scoutmaster of the 6^th County Dublin Troop, and served on committees for the County Dublin Association and the Sea Scouts.

By 1914, George Duggan was becoming more involved in the work of the Training Corps, attending the School of Musketry at Hythe, and was later given a platoon to command. When the war broke out in the August of 1914, it was only natural that George Grant Duggan and his brother John volunteered for service. George Grant Duggan joined the 5^th Battalion of the Royal Irish Fusiliers, and his two other brothers, John and George Chester, joined the Royal Irish Regiment. George Grant was commissioned as a lieutenant, and he was quickly promoted to the temporary rank of captain in October 1914. For the next few months he was involved in training, and by the summer of 1915 he and his brother were ready to do battle with Turkish forces in the Gallipoli Peninsula.

In July 1915, as part of the 10^th Irish Division, George Grant, John and George Chester set sail to take part in a battle that would have devastating consequences. The journey to the Aegean Sea took a number of weeks, and the objective was to establish a foothold on the peninsula and push the Turkish forces back towards Constantinople and force them to surrender. The invasion by British and Commonwealth troops had been ordered after two British ships were sunk, and other ships came under attack, from Turkish forts along the peninsula. In April 1915, thousands of Australian and New Zealand soldiers (Anzacs) were joined by French and British troops. The attack they mounted on Turkish soil was a bloody failure; thousands were killed in the water before they reached the shore, and the attacks did little to push the Turkish forces back.

Keen to find a new way to attack the Turkish coastline, the British high command came up with the plan of surrounding an area to the north of where the Anzacs and the British had attacked in April. The new plan revolved around an area called Suvla Bay, and the aim was to land forces by boat and then push the Turkish forces inland. Desperate to keep their plans watertight, only a handful of senior British officers were aware of the precise nature of the plan. As the men of the 10^th Division sailed to their destination, they had no idea what to expect.

As they approached Suvla Bay, men from the Royal Irish Fusiliers were placed on a number of boats, one called Honeysuckle and the other Snaefell, which was named after the highest mountain on the Isle of Man. As they came closer to the coastline the men could hear the sound of gunfire, and they all knew that their disembarkation was imminent.

Nothing could have prepared the Duggan brothers for what they were about to experience, which one Gallipoli veteran would later describe as a nightmare. After the war, Captain G.W. Geddes, who served with the Royal Munster Fusiliers, reflected on his days fighting the Turkish forces:

Hell it has been, with a vengeance, and the men who were at Mons and La Bassée say it was child’s play to what we’ve gone through here.

The Duggan boys survived the landing, but in the next few days of fighting they witnessed carnage on a grand scale as many of their comrades were struck down by Turkish bullets. Bodies lay where they fell, some on the shore, some on the hillside. The beaches and the mountain paths were stained with blood.

The combat was severe, and as the men of the 10^th Irish Division tried to advance inland, the casualty list mounted. During a lull in the fighting George Grant made time to go and find his brother, and the two men shared some precious time together. As the Turkish guns briefly remained silent the two Duggan brothers chatted and discussed how they had survived the past few days. They had witnessed death on a scale they could not have imagined.

John wrote home, detailing their conversation.He said that after the early fighting George was ‘the only Captain left in his regiment’, and that despite the awful conditions George was remaining upbeat, ‘certainly looking splendid and cheery’.

George Grant Duggan survived for ten days, and on 16 August he was severely wounded in an area known as the ridge, which overlooked the bay. The ridge was Kiretch Tepe Ridge, which was held by the Turkish forces and was a stretch of mountain that towered over the sea. The Turkish soldiers had the advantage of being on higher ground and had greater firepower, so as the hours rolled on the British casualties mounted.

Now fighting for his life, George Grant was placed on board the hospital ship the Gloucester Castle, but his injuries were so severe that he died later that day.

By a twist of fate, John Duggan died on the same day as his brother. The younger Duggan brother was initially injured in his left wrist and had a shrapnel injury to his face and side. He was advised to go to the hospital ship, but said that since his men were without an officer he wanted to rejoin them. He had his wounds dressed, and then returned to his comrades, who were in the firing line. Shortly afterwards, John Duggan was hit in the face by a bullet and died.

One of his colleagues, Sergeant P.J. Nolan, would later write to his father and say that, ‘Your son could have saved his own life, but he was always good to his men and he died encouraging them to fight till the last.’ On 16 August, George Duggan was taken from the hospital ship the Gloucester Castle and buried at sea. It would take some time before George Grant Duggan’s death would be officially reported, and in the confusion and mayhem of the ongoing operation at Gallipoli it seems that lines of communication got crossed.

On 4 September 1915, a telegraph arrived at the Dublin home of George Grant Duggan’s wife, Dorothy. The message informed her that her husband ‘was wounded on 16 August’. It also stated that ‘further details will be wired when received’. Unsure as to whether her husband was alive or dead, she replied to the War Office asking for more information. She was told by officials in London that ‘enquiries are being made’.

For Dorothy Duggan, the delay must have been agonising. Like so many military wives in her position, all she could do was wait for the next telegraph and pray that it was good news. In Dublin, as she tried to carry on with her life as best she could, the War Office sent a message to British staff based in Cairo to try and ascertain whether George Duggan was dead or alive. The news came back that he had been placed on a hospital ship and died on the same day. Intriguingly, it seems that one of George’s brothers was informed that George had died just hours before he was in fact killed. The military file in the archives in London does not make it clear which brother was informed of George’s death. It seems most likely to have been George Chester as John was injured that day.

Finally, on 6 September, another telegraph arrived at the Duggan home informing Mrs Duggan that George’s brother had ‘secured a cable’ stating that George was put on board the hospital ship the Gloucester Castle at Suvla Bay, and he had been ‘shot in the neck and died the same day’.

The Duggan family were heartbroken, but more bad news was to follow.

Eventually,it was confirmed that the two Duggan boys had died in Gallipoli on the same day. It was a double heartache for the family to take. The boys’ father, George, received a letter from the Earl of Granard, the colonel of John’s regiment. He wrote:

I am sorry to tell you that your son has been missing since 16 August. He went with his company into action on that date, and we have not seen him since. I have enquired from several of the men of his company and they all tell me he was wounded whilst gallantly leading his men. I sincerely hope that he is a prisoner. It is a consolation to know that the Turks treat their prisoners with the greatest consideration.

[…] I have now soldiered for a great many years and can honestly say that I never came across a better subaltern; and as regards his social qualifications he was beloved by all ranks of the regiment.

A fellow soldier was given the difficult task of writing to John Duggan’s girlfriend back in Ireland. He told her, ‘I am afraid I only have the worst possible news. Jack (John) Duggan is reported killed.’ Dorothy Duggan, George Grant’s wife, had to bring up her two children alone, and in the weeks after her husband’s death she had much correspondence and administration to deal with. There was a series of army payments to apply for, including a gratuity payment and her husband’s pension, and she also had to organise the return of his possessions. His belongings were sent back home, and they included a copy of the New Testament that he had carried into battle.

George Chester Duggan survived the war and returned to Ireland scarred by the memory of his Turkish experiences. The sounds and scenes from the Aegean cliffs were so firmly lodged in his memory that he could not forget them.

Like so many who witnessed the carnage, he could not get the bloody events of 1915 out of his head. He had watched his friends die and had lost his brothers – his two dearest friends. He must have wrestled with the horror of battle for years, and finally decided to put his thoughts and emotions on paper.

In 1921 George Chester wrote a volume of poems dedicated to George Grant and John. It was a very public attempt to capture the ghastliness of war, but also to keep alive the memory of the two men he had loved. In one final poem entitled ‘The Watchers on Gallipoli’, he wrote the poignant line, ‘March away, my brothers, softly march away.’

The Duggan family paid a heavy price for the military service of George Grant and John, and the actions of the two men were not forgotten by their friends. Their names appear one after the other on an inscription on the Great War Memorial at Trinity College, where they both studied.They are also remembered at the Dublin High School and for their contribution to the scouting movement in Ireland.

Both men have their place in the history of sport at Trinity College. John’s rifle-shooting prowess is well documented, and he is remembered as a fine marksman.He was awarded a number of cups, including a Daily Express trophy and the Adjutant’s Cup from the Officer Training Corps. He also achieved the highest score amongst junior marksman in Leinster schools in 1912. His brother George Grant is still viewed at Trinity College as one of the best long-distance runners ever to emerge from student ranks.

Many families were torn apart during the Great War, but what makes the Duggan story particularly poignant is the fact that George Grant and John were in the same theatre of war and lost their lives on the same day.

They were brothers who played together as children and who died together as men.