Soldier’s First World War letters found in old suitcase in Belfast
A COLLECTION of letters written by a young Irishman serving on the Western Front has been discovered in Belfast.
There are more than 180 letters, including many from Patrick Dixon to his parents, telling the story of an Irish officer’s life during the First World War.
Mr Dixon was born in Wales in 1899 to Irish parents and the family moved to Dublin in 1903.
He was a medical student during the First World War, having volunteered to serve just after the 1916 Easter Rising when republicans attempted to overthrow British rule in Ireland.
His letters were discovered in an old suitcase at the historic CliftonHousebystaffattheBelfast Charitable Society.
One of the letters is dated November 11, 1918 to the family home in Grosvenor Road in Dublin 4.
However, Mr Dixon refers to the beauty of the surrounding countryside and how interesting his work is, before mentioning the famous Armistice which ended the war.
“Of course today we are all rather excited over the armistice,” he wrote.
“Nevertheless the ‘war’ will carry on just the same for a bit, except that there will be no firing.”
Aaron McIntyre, archive and heritage officer for Belfast Charitable Society, said Mr Dixon’s assessment seems to have been correct, as he was not released from the Army until the following year.
“He was actually right, he isn’t demobilised until June the next year, which is of great frustration to him, and his last letters show that frustration quite plainly,” Mr McIntyre said.
The serving lieutenant appeared to be very well-informed, making commentary on the 1918 conscription crisis in Ireland, the impact of the Spanish Flu pandemic and the torpedoing of RMS Leinster. He expressed disappointment in a letter dated May 1918 that conscription had not been introduced in Ireland. “I was very sorry to hear the Catholics had been so successful in resisting conscription. It looks as though it may be defeated altogether... still conscription is nothing like as good as volunteers,” he wrote.
Plans to introduce conscription in Ireland were abandoned amid a political storm.
Mr Dixon is more vague when talking about his own military service, writing in one of his letters to his mother in September 1918: “We are fairly busy at presentbut(it)isquiteaninteresting war. I got a most beautiful pair of Goertz (field) glass(es) yesterday, also a very nice automatic.”
He also appeared to have sent home a number of items from the war, including a bugle, which he described as “the best souvenir I got”.
“He’s involved with the Royal Artillery, he’s also involved in what looks like intelligence work, he’s quite obtuse about what he would send back to his family in terms of information,” Mr McIntyre said.
It is not clear how the collection of letters came to be in storage at Clifton House. and the material may have been The Belfast Charitable Society deposited at Clifton House for believesMrDixondidnothavea safekeeping. family. However, his sister Clifton House is hosting a Margaret Wynne’s symposium on November 15 to husband had mark the end of the First World been in- War. volved It will include historical talks with the and an exhibition of the Dixon society War Letters.
In addition, the public will be asked to join in by creating silhouettes of people in the sand, remembering the millions of lives lost or changed forever by the conflict.
Scottish poet Carol Ann Duffy has been invited by Boyle to write a new poem, which will be read by individuals, families and communities as they gather on the various beaches on November 11.