Naval activities at Le Havre - Lieut Alex Kirk RNVR

[Richard2439]

I have the BWM and Victory Medal to Lieut Alexander Horace Kirk, together with his Legion of Honour (Chevalier) and Croix de Guerre. At various times he commanded motor launches ML75 (briefly), ML57 and ML366. As well as the French awards, his service sheet shows that in 1916 he received an appreciation of his services from the Admiral (Govr?) Havre, endorsed by his boss, Cdr Sir George E Armstrong. When he was commissioned in 1916 his local newspaper in Tunbridge Wells said he was going to assist Armstrong.

 

Armstrong received the Croix de Guerre at the same time as Kirk and also his Legion of Honour, although he was appointed higher up the scale as Officer.

 

Kirk was a well known portrait painter and his work can be found at the National Army Museum and the National Portrait Gallery. I've been able to discover a lot about his life as an artist but details of his RNVR career are tantalisingly scant, although he obviously did good (but unspecified) work at Le Havre. Does anyone have any suggestions about how I might fill in the gaps?

[seaJane]

Service record here 

https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D7719290

can either be downloaded for £3.50

or seen via Ancestry/FindMyPast subscription, whether your own or a public library's.

 

Or you may be able to make it out from the preview option.

 

 

Edited 4 January , 2020 by seaJane

[Richard2439]

Many thanks, but I've already downloaded his fairly brief service sheet. I'm hoping that someone somewhere may have an obituary for him, which so far I haven't been able to find. This might flesh out his activities during the war.

[alf mcm]

Ship's Logs for Motor Launches are kept at The National Archives. https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/results/r?_p=1900&_hb=tna&_q=MOTOR+LAUNCH+57 Unfortunately they have not been digitised so you would need a personal visit or have get the the records copied.

 

Regards,

 

Alf McM

[PRC]

30 minutes ago, Richard2439 said:

I'm hoping that someone somewhere may have an obituary for him, which so far I haven't been able to find. This might flesh out his activities during the war.

 

The first match on a google search for Alexander Horace Kirk brings up a piece on a Belgium sculptor, a refugee who in 1915 used the studio of another artist, Alexander Horace Kirk, at Tunbridge Wells.

https://belgiansrtw.wordpress.com/category/art/alexander-h-kirk/

(An association with the Belgium refugee community might explain some of the medals)

 

Looking for Kirks in Tunbridge Wells on the 1911 Census of England & Wales brings up an Alexander Horace Kirk, aged 39 and an "Artist (Portrait Painter)", born Glasgow, Lanarkshire, who was recorded as the married head of the household at Brook Cottage, Warwick Park, Tunbridge Wells. Kent. He lives there with his wife Constance, also aged 39 and an "Artist (Minitiature Painter)", born Westminster, London. The couple have been married 6 years and have had 1 child, a 1 year old son John Alexander Carnegie Kirk, born Westminster. There are also two live in domestic servants.

 

The age on the census would place Alexander as being born circa 1872.

 

A search for Alexander Kirk's  born +/-2 years of 1872 in the death records brings up an Alexander H Kirk whose death at the age of 78 was recorded in the Blandford District of Dorset in the April to June quarter of 1950. (It was standard practice at that time for the quarterly index of deaths in England & Wales that was issued by the General Registrars Office to only show middle initials.)

 

The 1950 Probate Calendar records that an Alexander Horace Kirk of Hartland, East Borough, Wimborne, Dorset, died on the 12th April 1950. Probate was granted at the London Court on the 12th July 1950 to Barbara Shaw, spinster, and George Charles Willis, solicitor.

https://probatesearch.service.gov.uk/Calendar#calendar

 

There is a death notice, but no obituary, in the edition of The Times dated Friday, April 14th 1950.

 

"KIRK, - On April 12th, 1950, at Hartlands, Wimborne, Dorset, ALEXANDER H., second son of the late A.C. KIRK, LL.D., Glasgow. Funeral, tomorrow (Saturday) at Wimborne Minster, 2 p.m."

 

I've set it out step by step because as with all such searches there is always the danger of co-incidence and that should always be borne in mind. Gut feel is that they are all the same person but that's not the same as proof.

 

What I'd suggest as a next step is to try a resource like the British Newspapers Archive, either directly, (if you are in the UK your local public library will normally have a subscription), or as part of the premium subscription or bolt on to the major genealogy sites. Likely areas would be the newspapers covering the Tunbridge Wells District during the Great War years, as you may get contemporary reports of what he was up to. Also checking the Wimborne area post WW2 - as well as the possibility of an obituary he may have been active in local society, politics, justice of the peace, running a local arts group, etc which may have led to a resume of his life being published which might have some salient details included.

 

If you have access to FindMyPast of Ancestry you might want to track him down on the 1939 National Register to see where he was living then as that might indicate another area to search the local newspapers for that obituary.

 

Attachments are courtesy probatesearch.gov.uk and The Times Digital Archive so there will be restrictions on their re-use.

 

Hope that helps,

Peter

 

 

[seaJane]

It is worth knowing also that the National Portrait Gallery have an archive and library service and may be able to assist.

https://www.npg.org.uk/research/archive/library

[Watspoon]

There is also a photograph of a self-portrait etching done by him later on in life on the Ancestry website.

[Richard2439]

Thanks very much to everyone who has responded to my post. This has given me some lines to follow up. I have a jpeg copy of that self portraint and my Alexander H Kirk is definitely the one who died in 1950. The National Army Museum and National Portrait Gallery both hold portraits that he painted.

[Richard2439]

For those who are interested, in 1915 Kirk painted this watercolour portrait of Subadar Ayodhya Pathan Bahadur, a veteran of the Indian Mutiny and the last survivor of the Powder Bag Party, Kashmir Gate, Delhi 1857. The painting is now held by the National Army Museum