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Remembered Today:

Denis Donovan - 23 years in RN


corisande

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I should be able to get a service record for this man, but have failed. Can anyone help

 

He was shot in Cork in 1921, and I can piece together his life - my research click . The pertinent bits that point out his career are mainly from his childrens' birth certs

 

1. Born Cork around 1887. Denis Donovan

2. Married in 1907 in Cork to Kate Leary

3. 23 years in RN, being pensioned 1919/1921

4. Gunnery Instructor on Battleship HMS Kent in China in 1908

5. Naval Constable in 1914

6. Ships Corporal in 1916 on HMS Blake

7. Retired with 23 years service about 1919/1920. Was said to be a Petty Officer

8. Shot at his home in Co Cork in 1921

 

I have been through a number of records on FmP and Ancestry, but I do not seem to be able to find him

 

donovan.jpg.1ffff4271c27aea717fde407a61a8c4a.jpg

Edited by corisande
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Thanks for those to replies.

 

If I take Denis Donovans in the Royal Navy born in Cork between say 1880 and 1895 there are about 10. Seemingly Denis Donovan was a very common name in Cork at that time, there was even a Denis Finbar Donovan shot two weeks later in Cork (but he was not RN)

 

Nothing on the service records I have found on Ancestry and FmP seems to fit

 

Technical question . I have read the definition of Ships Corporal, but can anyone tell me if this was a Petty Officer or not, or was the Master at Arms the only Petty Offer in that department

 

Ancestry gives me for Seaman's Services The following 6 men. Are the Ancestry Service records comprehensive. In other words, is my man almost certainly on of these 6

 

View Record Denis Donovan 2 Dec 1876 1 Feb 1898 Vivid 2 287796  
View Record Denis Donovan 2 Dec 1876 1 Feb 1898 Vivid 2 287796  
View Record Denis Donovan 1 Mar 1877 3 May 1900 Vivid II 295270  
View Record Denis Donovan 15 Jan 1880 4 May 1895 Impregnable 183764  
View Record Denis Donovan 20 Oct 1880 16 Jan 1897 Impregnable 191956  
View Record Denis Donovan 2 Jun 1882 30 Nov 1897 Black Prince 196681  
View Record Denis Donovan 1 Jun 1882 30 Nov 1897 Black Prince 196681  
View Record Denis Donovan 16 Feb 1883 10 Oct 1898 St Vincent 201390  
View Record Denis Donovan 4 Feb 1883 24 May 1910 Fox 201390  
View Record Denis Donovan 16 Feb 1883 10 Oct 1898 St Vincent 201390  
View Record Denis Donovan 4 Feb 1883 24 May 1910 Fox 201390  

 

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On going back over the info he would appear to be this Denis Donovan 183764 - click for Ancestry record

 

The dates on Kent and Blake fit, as does his promotion to Ships Corporal. However it does not seem to end in his leaving the RN. Should there be another page ?

 

donovan2.jpg.3b164e53593b6e412eb1ffcda160e6e4.jpg

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He was discharged invalided with neurasthenia in November 1917.

Ship's Corporal was equivalent to Petty Officer; Master-at-Arms to Chief Petty Officer.

Edited by horatio2
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Thanks,

 

That seems to tidy it up. He appears to have left the RN about a year before I thought, but all else fits, including his date of birth, which I have now been able to confirm

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183764 is the only Denis DONOVAN on the medal roll as Ship's Police: Ship's Corporal 1st Class. His medals were claimed by his widow and there is also an Index Casualty (IC) entry on the roll for 1923 (year of death). Seems to tie in.

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Thanks again

 

I do not have to research many RN men (as few died in Ireland), so I tend to struggle a bit when I come across one :(

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