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Category: World War I

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Lusitania – looting or salvage?

from MS 10575
from MS 10575

Today is the sombre centenary of the worst maritime disaster in Irish waters; on 7 May 1915 the RMS Lusitania was sunk by a German U-Boat, with the loss of 1,198 lives, as she neared the end of her journey from New York to Liverpool. It was an event that was instrumental in bringing America into the First World War and it was the subject of accusation and counter accusation in the propaganda war between England and Germany. The Germans asserted that the ship was a legitimate target as it carried munitions; the English denied this but eventually confirmed that it carried small arms ammunition. Rumours persisted of the presence of dangerous high explosives.

The wreck has for years been the subject of legal tussles between the Irish government and the owner of the site, American venture capitalist Gregg Bemis. As Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht in 1995, Michael D. Higgins imposed a heritage order on the wreck, saying it should be protected as though it were a war grave; Bemis successfully challenged this and established his ownership, although the heritage order still stands and the ship is considered to be an archaeological site. Bemis’ sale of objects taken from the site, which influenced Higgins’ action, has been controversial; allegedly one of the propellers was melted down to make a personalised set of golf-clubs. Can this be true? If it is, it surely represents the best possible argument against any further removal of material from the wreck. As a result of Michael D’s heritage order, the Bemis/ National Geographic diving expedition, that recovered  fixtures and fittings in 2011, had to surrender the objects to the Irish Receiver of Wrecks.

MS 10575/21-23
MS 10575/21-23

Oddly enough Trinity College Library is home to a few poignant artefacts.

The sinking of the ship has always attracted dedicated researchers. One of these was a Canadian called Terence Robson, whose family presented his research papers to the Library after his death in 1991. While most of this collection of papers comprises copies of records – drawings of the ship, passenger lists, photographs and so on –  there is some memorabilia which Robson may have acquired from the sale of objects removed from the wreck in 1982. Among the items sold at that time were 6000 Kitchener commemorative spoons, which were to have been presented to the first-class passengers as a memento of the voyage, and a box of watches.

MS 10575 /24
MS 10575 /24

Jane Maxwell

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All Changed, Changed Utterly

TCD MUN MC 207
TCD MUN MC 207

Changed Utterly – Ireland and the Easter Rising is a new blog project from the Trinity College Library Research Collections Division. Launching today, the 99th anniversary of the start of the 1916 Easter Rising, the project aims to explore the Library’s collections relating to the Rising through a year of weekly blog posts.

The posts will draw on the rich and diverse collections of 1916 material held in the Manuscripts & Archives Research Library, the Department of Early Printed Books and Special Collections, the Glucksman Map Library and the Music Library. Posts will focus on one extraordinary item or collection each week, and will include diaries, letters, pamphlets, photographs, objects and even items of clothing.

The posts will draw on the rich and diverse collections of 1916 material held in the Manuscripts & Archives Research Library, the Department of Early Printed Books and Special Collections, the Glucksman Map Library and the Music Library. Posts will focus on one extraordinary item or collection each week, and will include diaries, letters, pamphlets, photographs, objects and even items of clothing.

By starting in April 2015 the aim is to showcase the breadth of the 1916 collections and to act as a catalyst for research ahead of the anniversary in April 2016.

Helen Shenton, Trinity College Librarian and College Archivist with project leads Estelle Gittins, M&ARL and Shane Mawe, Early Printed Books and Special Collections
Helen Shenton, Trinity College Librarian and College Archivist with project leads Estelle Gittins, M&ARL and Shane Mawe, Early Printed Books and Special Collections

Blog posts are written mostly by Library staff, with contributions from Trinity College academics and other experts in the period. Each blog post will contain further links to entries in Trinity College Library catalogues, and to digitised items on TCD Digital Collections, as applicable.

The site can be accessed via www.tcd.ie/library/1916 where you can read the first entry – ‘The Howth Gun Running’. You can also follow on Twitter – @TCDLib1916.

Estelle Gittins

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Throwing a bit of light on the subject

Light 2The celebrations in Trinity Week, which is a week of celebration of Trinity in Trinity, are normally sponsored and themed by one of the faculties. This year it’s the Faculty of Engineering, Mathematics and Science which is hosting the programme of events, beginning on 11 April, and the theme is ‘Light’.

The Library, which is so central to so much of the work afoot in College, will remind people of this important fact by staging a number of events on the theme of light during Trinity Week.

Harry Clarke, for example, used light as part of his palette, and his role in Irish cultural history will be acknowledged by the installation of a reproduction, from the Library’s Harry Clarke Studios archives, in one of the windows of The Trinity Long Room Hub. The image chosen is a glorious drawing of three roses set in a starburst.

The Library also presents itself as an ‘illuminary’ – that which illuminates – since that is what the Library does to the research mission of the College. To bring home this point, images from the Library’s historic collections in the Manuscripts & Archives Research Library and the Department of Early Printed Books and Special Collections will be projected onto the wall above the Nassau Street entrance to College and also above the entrance to the Berkeley Library.Light 1

Allying this theme with the centenary of the First World War has inspired another Library installation; ‘The lamps have gone out all over Europe. We will not see them lit again in our lifetime’ – a well-known and resonant phrase, dating from the eve of First World War, which was understood from the beginning as a threat to enlightened civilization. It is proposed to project, onto the East face of the 1937 Reading Room, the names and portraits of the Trinity engineers and medics who fell. The images from the Medical School are part of the Library’s archival collections, while those of the Engineers still grace the walls of the Museum Building.
All of the images being projected are accessible through Digital Collections

Early Printed Books and M&ARL have taken a bit of liberty with the word ‘light’ in the titles of an exhibition and of this present blog post: ‘…and there was light’ is the title of a small exhibition, curated by EPB in the Berkeley foyer, which explores the theme through texts on religion, science and literature.

The website for the Library’s projects within Trinity Week is accessible here

Jane Maxwell

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Mary Christmas

MS10983_2_LO Princess Mary TinWith the approach of Christmas in 1914 the seventeen-year-old Princess Mary, daughter of King George V, organised a public appeal to send presents to the troops fighting in the Great War.

‘HRH the Princess Mary’s Christmas Fund’ was launched on 14 October and soon captured the public imagination raising £162,591 12s 5d to ensure that every person ‘wearing the King’s uniform on Christmas Day 1914’ received a Christmas present; this amounted to 2,620,091 servicemen and women.

MS10983_1_LO Princess Mary Tin 1

The gifts took the form of embossed tins containing small treats aimed at boosting morale. All boxes contained a photograph of the princess and a Christmas card, but then a variety of contents were selected to cater for different recipients; most boxes contained 1 oz of tobacco and 20 cigarettes, but alternative boxes for non-smokers were also produced containing writing paper and a bullet pencil. An effort was also made to tailor the contents to the dietary restrictions of various religious groups fighting under the British flag. The Gurkhas were to receive the same gift as the British troops; for Sikhs the box was filled with sweets and spices; for all other Indian troops the box had a packet of cigarettes, sweets and spices. Authorised camp followers, grouped under the title ‘Bhistis’, were to receive a box of spices. All the aforesaid gifts were deemed unsuitable for nurses serving at the Front who were instead offered the box and a packet of chocolate.

The large number of people who were to receive the gift rendered it impossible to manufacture, supply and distribute the gifts by Christmas Day 1914. So whilst most troops serving in France and in the Navy received their gifts by Christmas Day, other members of the British forces received theirs later accompanied by a Happy New Year card.

The logistics of producing over 2 million brass tins were also very complex. Brass was a valued metal for the war effort, and sources were scarce. Large quantities were bought from America, but the bulk of an order to be used in the manufacture of the tins sank with the RMS Lusitania when she was torpedoed off the coast of Ireland on 7 May 1915.

Having used or consumed the contents, servicemen and women often used the tins to carry other small items, which ensured the survival of a relatively large number of these unique containers. One such tin came into the Library’s possession and is currently on display in the Long Room as part of the exhibition ‘manage to exist and try and be cheerful’ mounted to commemorate the anniversary of WWI.

Estelle Gittins

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Still Soldiering On

1914-1918It is only right and proper that the centenary of the cataclysm that was the First World War should be acknowledged again and again for the next four years. Trinity College Library has been, and will continue to be, involved with College-wide projects to honour the memory of the people and the times. The WWI Roadshow, which was hosted by the College on 12 July last was one such event. RTE was one of the driving forces behind this and the result, a week-long Nationwide special on the War in general, culminates tonight with a programme shot in large part on campus during the Roadshow. One segment was filmed in the Long Room Hub featuring an exhibition of reproductions of the war-time recruitment posters, from Early Printed Books and Special Collections. There were over 200 of these originally produced, specifically tailored to the Irish audience, and the Library’s collection is the most complete one to have survived. It was presented to the Library by Rupert Magill shortly after the end of the war.

The College Communications Office produced a film on the day also which can be viewed here; this gives a lot of attention to the exhibition in the Long Room of M&ARL material relating to the war.

The Library is also represented on the Decade of Commemoration committee and is the contact point for its website wherein WWI-related activities, and other commemoration projects, which are being planned across the College, may be advertised.

Jane Maxwell