IRELAND. THE SERVICE MEDAL 1917-21 WITH COMRAC CLASP AND COMMEMORATIVE CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE AWARDED TO WILLIAM HENRY, WHO SAW SERVICE WITH THE 3RD BATTALION, DUBLIN NO. 1 BRIGADE, OGLAIGH na hEIREANN (OLD IRA) DURING THE IRISH WAR OF INDEPENDENCE 1917-21.
WILLIAM HENRY WAS ONE OF SIX BROTHERS, WILLIAM, FRANCIS, FREDERICK, JAMES, PATRICK AND ROBERT, FIVE OF WHOM SAW SERVICE DURING THE 1916 RISING AND/OR THE 1917–21 WAR OF INDEPENDENCE; FREDERICK, FRANCIS AND JAMES ALL SEEING SERVICE IN BOTH THE 1916 RISING AND THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE AND ROBERT AND WILLIAM SEEING SERVICE DURING THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. FRANCIS AND FREDERICK WERE BOTH MEMBERS OF THE IRISH CITIZEN ARMY AND SAW SERVICE WITH THE IRISH CITIZEN ARMY AS PART OF THE COLLEGE OF SURGEONS GARRISON, STEPHENS GREEN, DURING THE 1916 RISING.
Two: Service Medal 1917-21, Comrac clasp, with its original top brooch suspender (unnamed, as issued); original Irish War of Independence Certificate of Service, E & M Companies, 3rd Battalion, Dublin No. 1 Brigade, awarded to William Henry, blue and green on white paper, ornate celtic strapwork border with portraits of the seven 1916 leaders, Pearse, Clarke, Ceannt, Connolly, McDonagh, McDermott and Plunkett, signed by William Henry and counter-signed in ink by Brigadier-General Oscar Traynor, Commandant Joseph O'Connor and Captain Michael Tannam.
Medal Extremely Fine, virtually as struck and with its original ribbon, and its original silk lined, card box of issue, certificate of service with central folds and some creasing, otherwise good condition.
William James Henry, the eldest of six brothers, was born in Dublin in 1880, the son of William and Catherine Henry. He is recorded in the 1911 census as a 31 year old married painter living at 6 Smiths Cottages, Pembroke West, Dublin, with his 29 year old wife Mary Anne and 25 year old brother in law, Daniel Dunne.
William Henry did not see service during the 1916 Rising, Certificate confirms that his sole service was during the Irish War of Independence, 1917-21, with the 3rd Battalion Dublin No. 1 Brigade.
Medal and certificate accompanied by a copy of a letter from John Hanratty (late Commandant, Irish Citizen Army) to William Henry's niece, Caroline "Carrie" Murphy, nee Henry, dated 3/6/1948, regarding her having been issued with William Henry's 1917-21 Service Medal, which reads as follows -
“Dear Mrs. Murphy, I understand from your letter that you are in receipt of your father‘s 1916 Medal as he was taken prisoner and interned until the general release in Dec 1916. He would if alive be entitled to the Military Service medal with bar. But you as his daughter can claim it in application as you did in the case of the late William Henry. As regards Connolly’s song “The call of Erin”, it was written by him when he was on the way home from America. I don’t know if the words and music are to be had you might get them in Waldron’s North Frederick Street but if not, I can tell you that the air is “Rolling Home to Bonnie Scotland”, if all fails you might be able to get that as to the words I enclose them. Yours sincerely John Hanratty”
Medal and certificate also accompanied by copy of a three page manuscript letter from William Henry’s brother, Francis "Frank" Henry, which refers to the 1917-21 Service Medal and Certificate of Service awarded to "uncle Bill” (William Henry), which reads as follows -
”Dear Carrie, I write you these few lines hoping that yourself Paddy and the boys are in the pink. Also to thank you for your gift of Shamrock and the excellent little book of views completely covered up with those Murphys from Dublin. and again thank you very much. I am sorry that I could not get up to see you all before I came back to Brum, but I suppose you can guess the reason, a numerous amount of sympathisers and a hard rush for the train. I would have liked to have seen you, especially since you mentioned about medals and certificate re uncle Bill as I would have liked to learn all about it. Well, Carrie, Bob set my mind easy about a little picture of your noble father may he rest in peace and I feel content to know that you have got it. Poor old Bill done the simple decorating also a glass draftboard (the first I made) over 50 years ago. Well time rushed on so no matter. Well, Carrie dear, to you Paddy and your two grand boys I send my best wishes and kindest regards and please accept them in the manner they are intended wholeheartedly and sincerely. I now conclude with all the best your affectionate old uncle Frank.”
The following biographical details regarding William Henry's five brothers have been extracted from genealogical records on Ancestry, census returns of the period and their Bureau of Military History service records.
Francis "Frank" Henry (1879-1951) is recorded in the 1901 census as a 22 year old unmarried house painter resident at 15 Love Lane, South Dock, Dublin, with his parents, four of his brothers and two sisters, and in the 1911 census as a 33 year old married house painter resident in 5 Fennels Lane, Dublin, with his wife Ellen and a son and daughter. His service papers file in the Irish Bureau of Military History confirms that he saw service with the Irish Citizen Army during the 1916 Rising and War of Independence and fought on the anti-treaty side during the Irish Civil War.
Frederick Joseph Henry (1884-1921) was born in Dublin, the son of William Henry (1854-1910) and Catherine Henry (1854-1935). He is recorded in the 1901 census as a 17-year-old unmarried house painter living at 15 Love Lane, South Dock, Dublin with his parents, four of his of his five brothers, Francis (22), James (15), Patrick (19) and Robert (7), and his two sisters, Anne (10) and Margaret (13), and is recorded in the 1911 census as a 27-year-old married painter, resident as a boarder at 10 Gamble Street, Belfast.
Frederick was an early recruit to the Irish Volunteers, who held their first public meeting and enlistment rally at the Rotunda in Dublin on 25th of November 1913, Frederick joining the Irish Volunteers in November 1914, and subsequently transferring to the Irish Citizen Army in early 1915. During the 1916 Rising Francis saw service alongside his brother, Frederick, in the Irish Citizen Army, as part of the College of Surgeons garrison. He also saw service during the Irish War of Independence and died whilst "on the run" in May 1921.
James Joseph Henry (1886-1940) is recorded in the 1901 census as a 15 year old unmarried factory messenger resident at 15 Love Lane, South Dock, Dublin, with his parents, four of his brothers and two sisters, and in the 1911 census as a 25 year old married house painter resident in Mount Street Lower, South Dock, Dublin, with his 25 year old wife, Christina. His service papers file in the Irish Bureau of Military History confirms that he saw service during the 1916 Rising and War of Independence.
Robert Henry (1894-1966) was born in Dublin and is recorded in the 1901 census as a 7 year old school boy resident at 15 Love Lane, South Dock, Dublin, with his parents, four of his brothers and two sisters. His service papers file in the Irish Bureau of Military History confirms that he saw service during the War of Independence and Civil War, 1st April 1917 to 30th September 1923, seeing service with the anti-treaty forces during the civil war, and was awarded a 1917-21 Service Medal in 1948.
The sixth Henry brother, Patrick Joseph, was born in Dublin in 1882 . He is recorded in the 1901 census as a 19 year old unmarried house painter resident at 15 Love Lane, South Dock, Dublin, with his parents, four of his brothers and two sisters. Patrick emigrated to England prior to the 1916 Rising (his daughter Elizabeth was born in Chorlton, Lancashire, in 1910) and did not see service in the 1916 Rising, War of Independence or Irish Civil War., and as a result was not entitled to any medals.
The Henry family were contemporaries of the Irish playwright Sean O'Casey (born John Casey), who was also a member of the Irish Citizen Army, rose to become its General Secretary, March-July 1914, and subsequently wrote a history of the Irish Citizen Army. His plays about working class life in Dublin at the time of the 1916 Rising feature many characters who would have been immediately recognisable to the Henry family.
The Henry family and Sean O'Casey both grew up in the same area of Dublin, the Dublin docklands, the 1901 census return recording the Henry family as being resident in the South Docks area and the Casey (O'Casey) family in the North Docks area.
Sean O'Casey (1880-1964) is recorded as an unmarried 21 year old junior delivery clerk resident in Abercorn Road, North Dock, Dublin, with his mother and two brothers, and in the 1911 census return as a 31 year old railway labourer, again resident in Abercorn Road.
