Pinkerton: Antrim to Australia to France
My grandmother's cousins, whose father had emigrated to Australia, enlisted almost as soon as war broke out. Alfred Lionel Pinkerton was in the British Special Reserve Artillery as a second lieutenant; he later joined the Royal Flying Corps/ Royal Air Force, and was shot down over Germany. He escaped from prison, got back to England and went back into conflict. He was shot down again, and stayed in a prison camp until the end of the war. On his way back to Australia, he took part in a horse race in Shanghai, was thrown from his horse and was paralysed down one side. He returned to Australia, but died in 1923. His brother Archy Norman Pinkerton joined the Australian Army Service Corps on 20 August 1914, and served in France, and was apparently at Gallipoli. He survived the war, and died in Australia in 1949. It's possible that they visited their father's family near Ballymoney, co. Antrim; certainly the two brothers somehow got a Christmas card printed with the badges of the two units in which they were serving, and sent it to my grandmother's family for Christmas 1916. It has the words France 1916 Germany 1916, possibly indicating Alfred's escape from Germany in October that same year
Photograph of Alfred Lionel Pinkerton in RAF uniform
Christmas card and envelope specially printed for the two brothers Alfred and Archy Pinkerton
Xerox of genealogical information
Offprint of a newspaper with information about Alfred Lionel Pinkerton's fate in Germany
Gallipoli Front
Aerial Warfare
Specially printed Christmas cards with badges in gold ink of two units, Australian Service Corps and RAF.
Christmas card
Postcard
Christmas
Address of recipient of Christmas card
Address side of envelope
Front
Other
Information from official records about army career of Archy Pinkerton
information from official website
Genealogical information
information from family history and records
Dublin
CONTRIBUTOR
Linde Lunney
DATE
1914-08-20 - 1923
LANGUAGE
eng
ITEMS
6
INSTITUTION
Europeana 1914-1918