No damage done and nothing taken


Blacksod lighthouse (photo Richard Cummins)

The following unnoteworthy correspondence is taken from the War and Raids collection at UCD and rivals the 'Small earthquake in Chile . Not many dead' headline in the 'Move on, nothing to see here' category.

Irish Lights Office
Dublin
14th June 1922
To PK, Blacksod,
You are to forward a special report of the incident mentioned in your Journal for the 19th May, stating that the Station had been raided by a party of men, some armed; and explain your apparent omission to do so in the first instance,
                                                                                     Secretary

Blacksod when it was painted white!

Sir,
I respectfully beg to report that this Station was raided on the 19th May at 2.30am by a party of about twenty men, three of whom were armed with rifles.
These men were in search of arms, ammunitions and explosives. They entered the premises, forcibly searched kitchen and lower room of tower and left after a stay of ten minutes without taking anything or doing any damage.
My reason for not officially reporting this occurrence at the time it took place was that I feared that, if I did so, the raiders might return on some future occasion and destroy the Station,
                                         I am, Sir, Your Obedient Servant,
                                                                                    T. Glanville PK

The Granuaile heading out of Blacksod Bay

And that seems to have been the end of the affair. The Board was notified and, as there was 'no damge done and nothing taken,' the unexciting story stopped there.

Thomas Glanville (88) had been born in Suffolk in 1863 and had joined Irish Lights in 1889. He was made PK in 1904. Stations that we know he served at were; Ferris Point (1891), Rathlin Island (1893/4), Sligo Lights (1899/1900), Galley Head(1901/03), Roancarrig (1909), Carlingford (1911/12), Loop Head (1915-18) and, obviously, Blacksod (1922) by which time he would have been close to retiring. At least one of his sons, John Kevin, (318) followed Dad into the lightkeeping business.


Thomas Glanville, with daughter, Alice, wife Kate Byrne, from Monkstown, daughter Mary and, probably, son Thomas around 1914


Comments

  1. AnonymousFebruary 21, 2025 at 4:57 AM

    His son Thomas was a lightkeeper for a number of years before he went to sea in the Merchant Navy. He went up through the ranks to become a Master mariner. He was the commodore captain in Irish Shipping Ltd when I joined that company in 1966. He always brought his fiddle with him on the vessel and was an accomplished traditional musician

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