James Anthony (Jim) Murphy. My Great Uncle Jim emmigrated to Canada in 1911 aged 18 years, and worked on the railways. He was originally from Blackrock, Co. Louth, Ireland. He joined the Canadian Army in 1916 and trained in Camp Hughes in Canada. He was sent on the 'Olympic' to England in 1916 and trained/remained in Whitley and Seaford camps. There was a rubella quarantine so he did not go to France until 1917. He was sent to dig tunnels in Vimy Ridge. He then joined the 8th Battalion Royal Winnipeg Rifles Regiment. In the Battle of Arleux in April 1917 he was wounded in the shoulder by a sniper's bullet. He was wounded again by shrapnel in the right arm in the Battle of Hill 70 on the Western Front in August 1917. He was hospitalized for several weeks. He returned in October 1917 to his Battalion and was preparing to go North. His letters stop at the end of October and it is believed he was killed on 10th November. His body was never found. It is believed he was killed by artillery (there were statements by another soldier to the Red Cross re same). Philip (Fip) Murphy. My Great Uncle Fip was also from Blackrock, Co. Louth, Ireland. He was a doctor by profession and trained in Dublin. He served in St. Vincents, The Coombe and Camberwell Infirmary in England. Initially he was refused admission into the army due to heart problems, but he managed to enlist in 1917 as Captain. He was sent to Egypt, Palestinian Front. He travelled on the S.S. Transylvania from Marseille which was torpedoed by a German sub. He survived – many died – and was brought to Savona, Italy. He wrote home to describe the incident. He came from a very catholic family and believed that his wearing of the green scapula at the time saved his life. He served in the 3rd General Hospital from June 1917 to mid-1919. He was then demobbed and sent home. Alongside dealing with the wounded from the Front he also cared for people with Spanish Flu. He returned to Norwich, England and continued to practice as a doctor. He returned to Co. Louth in Ireland in the 1960’s. Harry Carney – First Cousin – served with the Royal Dublin’s from mid-1917 to 1918. He got pleurisy in the trenches, was sent home but died in 1919. His brother Philip Carney was a doctor and served with the Tyneside Irish, Northumberland Fusiliers. He won a Military Cross in March 1918 for removing wounded under fire. He was sent home, but returned to the war for 100 days. He fought in the Second Battle of the Marne and won the Croix de Guerre. He remained in the army and served with the Connaught Rangers and was posted to India. He would survive and return to Ireland to continue working as a doctor. || Photograph (Philip Murphy &James Anthony Murphy) Greeting Card Christmas 1916; Letter from J.M. to his mother 1917 - a number of pages of this letter; Picture Greeting card; Picture postcards, and reverse side of these postcards; Death Certificate Private James Murphy

JOSEPH PRIOR was under age when he signed up as a regular in 1915 aged 15 years and one month. He joined the 5th Essex Brigade - one of the first Kitchener brigades - which the family says shows how the recruitment campaigns were working. Joseph hero-worshiped his older brother, Bertie Augustus, who was a regular soldier 10 years older than him. In the 5th Essex Brigade, an older soldier, P.Oliver, looked after the younger boys and quickly worked out that Prior was underage and told him to “wet his razor”. Joseph was born on 8th October, 1899, in Chesham, Bucks. He was the last of 12 siblings - his mother was aged 49 when she fell pregnant with him. His father, Robert, was a railway engine driver, so the children were all born near railway stations. Joseph was very short and took only a size 6 in shoes. His wife-to-be worked in a boot factory back in England so Joseph would teasingly blame her for the fact they didn't make boots small enough for him. Instead he had to wear boots that were too big with two pairs of socks underneath. Out of the 20 photos of Joseph Prior, only three were placed on show in an album for the family to see. These included a photograph of the 5th Essex Brigade with the old Anzac boys; the first photograph of Joseph when he signed up as a regular and a group picture of the 5th Essex Brigade. The other photographs were found in an envelope. As Joseph was posted to the Middle East, he had many stories about the enjoyment of seeing new places in the world. One he told related to riding camels around the pyramids in Egypt. However, Joseph said: “I would walk the whole of Egypt and Palestine leading a mule rather than riding a camel again. This hatred of riding camels was due to the sea sickness feeling he encountered when riding a camel. When Joseph's brigade discovered he couldn't swim, they threw him in the Suez Canal. He soon found out how to do it .... Remarkably, Joseph Prior managed to keep his war rifle. At home he used it to shoot rabbits for the pot. He died on Easter Day April 1993 at the age of 93. This was despite being invalided out of the army 22/7/19 due to recurring attacks of malaria for which he was entitled to free treatment and a pension until 20/1/20! He was considered to have a temporary 10% disablement. BERTIE AUGUSTUS PRIOR was Joseph’s older brother - and someone he hero-worshiped. He was born in either October or November, 1889, at Marylebone, London. His baptism was held on 1st Dec 1889 at St Barnabas, Marylebone. He is listed in the 1911 census as being in the military, England. However, it says the 59th Battalion, Royal Field Artillery, Institution: India. The family understand that Bertie was in the regular army and was initially posted to Belgium. He was in the Royal Horse and Royal Field Artillery as a driver. However, he was soon transferred to Salonika on the HT Marquette, which was carrying a number of New Zealand doctors and nurses when it sank on the 23rd October 1915. Dying aged 26, Bertie is commemorated on the Mikra Memorial at Kalamaria, Greece. || Photos and postcards

Anchor brooch with the name the HMS METEOR on it.