Stanleys and Wilson honoured for rescue
A DROGHEDA man and his son as well as his nephew were honoured on Monday last when certificates of bravery from the Royal Humane Society were presented to them in the City Hall, Dublin. Those honoured were Mr. Jos. M. Stanley, Mr. Hewson Stanley and Mr. Fergus Wilson.
The certificates were from the Royal Humane Society and were made out under the chairmanship of Admiral Sir Michael Hodges, K.C.B., C.M.G., M.V.O., Hon. Treasurer, for each of the recipients, for having on the 1st August, 1936, gone to the rescue of a youth who was in imminent danger of drowning at the Clogherhead Pier, and whose life they gallantly assisted to save.
Two of the Certificates, which were on parchment, were presented to Mr. Jos. Stanley and Mr. Fergus Wilson, while Mr. Hewson Stanley received a vellum certificate, which is very rarely presented.
It will be remembered that the youth who was reffered to in the certificate was a boy named Clarke, from Patrick Street, Drogheda, who fell into the sea at the end of Clogherhead Pier while he was fishing. He was fully clothed and when he fell in he got entangled in the fishing tackle. Mr. Hewson Stanley then plunged into the sea fully clothed and while rescuing the boy got into difficulties.
His Father, Mr. Jos. Stanley, and Mr Fergus Wilson then went to the boy’s assistance, and after a short while rescued both of them.
Mr. Jos. Stanley is the proprietor of the Boyne Cinema. He was formerly publisher of the Gaelic Press, Dublin: editor and publisher of the Sinn Fein weekly in Dublin; Editor of the “Irish War News” in Easter Week. Later on he was Chairman of the Grange Gorman Mental Hospital Committee ; was an Alderman of the Drogheda Corporation and a member of the Louth County Council.
He is also a writer and publisher of songs, and some of his well-known numbers are “The shawl of Galway Grey” and the “Flag of Freedom.”
Mr. Hewson Stanley, who is only 18 years of age, is a student in the Christian Brothers’ Schools, Drogheda, and Mr. Fergus Wilson, who is also 18, is an Engineers apprentice in a motor engineering firm in Dublin.
The presentaion was made by Alderman A. Byrne, Lord Mayor of Dublin, on Monday last when there were a number of the Dublin Corporators, including Mr. Patrick Belton, T.D., present. In making the presentation, Alderman Byrne siad he was gald to see an old colleague of his, Mr. Jos. Stanley, and his son and nephew amongst the people honoured on that occasion.
The distinction of receiving the presentation on vellum accorded to Mr. Hewson Stanley was a very rare one. Mr. Jim Larkin associated himself with the Lord Mayor’s remarks, but regretted there was not some form of Irish Society for the recognition of brave men like those to whom they were presenting the certificates.