The Irish on the Somme: Being a Second Series of 'The Irish at the Front'MacDonagh, Michael
History
The Irish on the Somme: Being a Second Series of 'The Irish at the Front'
MacDonagh, Michael
Great Britain. Army; Somme, 1st Battle of the, France, 1916; World War, 1914-1918 -- Regimental histories
The official account of Private Quigg's exploit is as follows--
"For most conspicuous bravery. He advanced to the assault with
his platoon three times. Early next morning, hearing a rumour
that his platoon officer was lying out wounded, he went out
seven times to look for him under heavy shell and machine-gun
fire, each time bringing back a wounded man. The last man he
dragged in on a waterproof sheet from within a few yards of the
enemy's wire. He was seven hours engaged in this most gallant
work, and finally was so exhausted that he had to give it up."
It was also "for most conspicuous bravery" in searching for wounded
men under continuous and heavy fire that Lieutenant Geoffrey
Shillington Cather of the Royal Irish Fusiliers got the Victoria
Cross. He lost his life in thus trying to succour others on the night
and morning after the advance of the Ulster Division. "From 7 p.m.
till midnight he searched 'No Man's Land,' and brought in three
wounded men," says the official account. "Next morning, at 8 a.m., he
continued his search, brought in another wounded man, and gave water
to others, arranging for their rescue later. Finally, at 10.30 a.m.,
he took out water to another man, and was proceeding further on when
he was himself killed. All this was carried out in full view of the
enemy, and under direct machine-gun fire, and intermittent artillery
fire. He set a splendid example of courage and self-sacrifice."
Lieutenant Cather was twenty-five years of age, a son of Mrs. Cather,
Priory Road, West Hampstead, London. His father, who was dead, had
been a tea merchant in the City. On his mother's side, Lieutenant
Cather was a grandson of the late Mr. Thomas Shillington, of Tavanagh
House, Portadown; and on his father's side, of the late Rev. Robert
Cather, a distinguished minister of the Irish Methodist Church. He was
a nephew of Captain D. Graham Shillington, of Ardeevin, Portadown,
who, with his son, Lieutenant T.G. Shillington, was serving in the
same battalion of the Royal Irish Fusiliers. Lieutenant Cather was
educated at Rugby. He first joined the Public Schools' Battalion of
the Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment), and obtained his
commission in the County Armagh Volunteers in May, 1915.
The second officer of the Ulster Division to win the Victoria Cross
was Captain Eric N.F. Bell of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, whose
gallantry on July 1 also cost him his life. He was about twenty-two
years old, one of three soldier sons of Captain E.H. Bell, formerly of
the Inniskillings (serving in Egypt in a garrison battalion of the
Royal Irish Regiment), and Mrs. Bell, an Enniskillen lady living in
Bootle. The two brothers of the late Captain Bell hold commissions in
the Ulster Division. The deeds for which he was awarded the Victoria
Cross are thus set out in the official account--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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