Dr Arthur Colahan and Galway Bay

[Ronan McGreevy]

Folks, 

I'm trying to find out some information about Dr Arthur Colahan who wrote the song Galway Bay made famous by Bing Crosby. 

He served in the Royal Army Medical Corps during WW1. The only information I can find out about his war service is that he served in India and was gassed. 

I wasn't aware of any war action in India and certainly none involving poison gas. 

Would anybody have any more information about Colahan or the war in India? 

Thank you in advance, 

Regards, 

Ronan 

[Mark1959]

His Medal card shows only the British War Medal which indicates he did not serve in an active theatre of war. Supports an India only WW1.

Medal Roll shows same. Issued 1925. Roll annotated “Service in India”

There is a record that he sailed from Devonport to India on 14/3/1916. This is shortly after he got his commission (with effect from 7/2/16)

https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/29485/supplement/2058

cannot locate his offficer file at the national archives on line.

Edited 31 January , 2019 by Mark1959

[corisande]

Commissioned Lt on 3 Feb 1916 - London Gazette

 

The Medal Roll shows he served in India

[corisande]

Fr what its worth , his marriage and death

. I cannot get anything on his time in India

 

 

[Mark1959]

His promotion to Temp Captain in 1917

https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/29957/supplement/1863

Edited 31 January , 2019 by Mark1959

[corisande]

30 Jan 1918 he relinquishes his commission because of ill health contracted on active service

 

https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/30499/supplement/1413

[corisande]

So we are left with the "Mustard Gas". As far as I can see nobody, until the OP, has questioned this. Seems to be cut and paste job everywhere. Even a weighty academic paper on the Colahan family of Galway uses the same single half sentence

[corisande]

Article from Guardian on Mustard Gas in 1Sep 2013. As with many things, Churchill appears to be involved - here pushing for the use of Mustard Gas against rebellious tribes in India.

 

It indicates that Mustard Gas was therefore contemplated in India, but does not necessarily link Dr Colahan to it

 

Tjere is a more academic article on Churchill and Mustard Gas here

 

The British were no strangers to the use of chemical weapons. During the third battle of Gaza in 1917, General Edmund Allenby had fired 10,000 cans of asphyxiating gas at enemy positions, to limited effect. But in the final months of the first world war, scientists at the governmental laboratories at Porton in Wiltshire developed a far more devastating weapon: the top secret "M Device", an exploding shell containing a highly toxic gas called diphenylaminechloroarsine. The man in charge of developing it, Major General Charles Foulkes, called it "the most effective chemical weapon ever devised".

 

Trials at Porton suggested that it was indeed a terrible new weapon. Uncontrollable vomiting, coughing up blood and instant, crippling fatigue were the most common reactions. The overall head of chemical warfare production, Sir Keith Price, was convinced its use would lead to the rapid collapse of the Bolshevik regime. "If you got home only once with the gas you would find no more Bolshies this side of Vologda."The cabinet was hostile to the use of such weapons, much to Churchill's irritation. He also wanted to use M Devices against the rebellious tribes of northern India. "I am strongly in favour of using poisoned gas against uncivilised tribes," he declared in one secret memorandum. He criticised his colleagues for their "squeamishness", declaring that "the objections of the India Office to the use of gas against natives are unreasonable. Gas is a more merciful weapon than [the] high explosive shell, and compels an enemy to accept a decision with less loss of life than any other agency of war.

Edited 31 January , 2019 by corisande

[corisande]

I can get no further with what, if anything , the British did with Mustard Gas in India

 

I cannot get a reference Arthur Colahan's officer file, which should hold the answers.

 

And for anyone interested here is a Utube clip of Bing Crosby singing Galway Bay or a more recent one by Daniel O'Donnell . Probably because my family lived in Galway, but I find the song very emotive

 

His death is odd too. He died in Leicester, but his body returned to Galway for burial, where it was put in an unmarked grave. The last line of Galway Bay is " And if there's going to be a life hereafter, and something tells me sure there's going to be, I will ask my God to let me make my Heaven, in the dear old land across the Irish Sea "

 

Colohan was regarded as a modest and quiet man, for whom riches and glory were of little interest. He died at his Leicester home at 9 Prebend Street on 15 September 1952. The ill-feeling with his estranged wife and in-laws meant that although his body was brought back to Galway, he was buried with little ceremony in a multiple grave in Bohermore cemetery. Though the names of other family members appear on the monument his name does not, and it is odd that the man who single handily did more for tourism in Galway than anyone else should be forgotten in this way. A blue circular plaque commemorating his achievements on the wall of his former home in Leicester was unveiled by Leicester City Council in 1986. Galway Bay is a song which encapsulates the soul of Galway and maybe a plaque will someday honour his name in Galway.

Edited 31 January , 2019 by corisande

[JulianR]

The only action in India as far as I know was the establishment of the East Persian Cordon, and no use of gas.  So was he accidentally exposed to mustard gas at some stage during his initial RAMC training, or were there stores of mustard gas in India and was there an accident whilst it was stored?

 

Julian

[corisande]

8 minutes ago, JulianR said:

So was he accidentally exposed to mustard gas at some stage during his initial RAMC training, or were there stores of mustard gas in India and was there an accident whilst it was stored?

 

That is what it boils down to now.

 

I cannot get any press references, and I cannot get a reference to his officer file (odd really as he left army in Jan 1918)

[Ronan McGreevy]

Gentlemen, 

 

Once again, I'm indebted to your help. It appears that he didn't see active service at the front and there is no evidence that he was gassed.

I think that's fair to say. 

Regards, 

 

Ronan 

[corisande]

Put the other way, there is no evidence to say he was not gassed

 

Do you know where the initial thought that he had been gassed came from?

[Ronan McGreevy]

2 minutes ago, corisande said:

Put the other way, there is no evidence to say he was not gassed

 

Do you know where the initial thought that he had been gassed came from?

On 05/05/2013 at 23:12, Kitchener's Bugle said:

The answer to this was on tonights QI but for those who did not see Stephen Fry's explanation, would you like to hazard a guess or perhaps you might actually know?

 

That JStor article and numerous newspaper pieces about him, but they are all cut and paste jobs. There is no other information about him being gassed. I'm suspicious because there was no war in India and no gas attacks that I'm aware of. That's why I asked. 

[Murrough]

Could it be that he had malaria but "gassed" sounded better, some veterans did like to spin a yarn.BTW there is a road named after him on the seafront in Salthill, Galway.