Dastardly deeds at Kilcredaun

 

14th January 1923

Principal Keeper

Kilcredaun Lighthouse

To: The Secretary,

Irish Lights Office,

Dublin

Dear Sir,

I most respectfully beg leave to report that the station was visited at 9 o'clock last night by a party of masked and armed men who took down and carried off the telephone.

They said they were sorry for giving trouble but were ordered to do this work and had to carry out their orders.

I am, sir, 

Your obedient servant,

William Glanville

William Glanville (Service no. 63) fathered at least 15 children

Seriously, though, armed and masked men today could learn a thing or two from their forebears in 1923. Just because you force yourself into somebody's house doesn't mean you can't be courteous and apologetic about it. Who wouldn't love to be robbed by such utter gentlemen? 

William was 58 and two years from retirement when the IRA came visiting during the great phone shortage of 1923. He would have been the sole keeper at the station with his wife serving as 'Female Assistant.' He had been at Kilcredaun on the Shannon estuary since 1912.

Speaking of ages, the lighthouse, picturesquely situated on the north shore of the Shannon estuary, would have been 99 years old in 1923. To save you doing the sums, this means that it will be 200 years old on 1st September 2024. Doubtless it will look back on the terrifying telephone raid of 1923 with certain nostalgia. 

Having little knowledge of telephone technology in the early 1920s, one wonders at the mechanics of stealing a phone. You would probably have to connect it up to somewhere that was connected to the phone system but presumably didn't have a phone already. And would it keep the number?