Frank Butler - The Tipperary Goalkeeper - Croke Park 1920

[corisande]

@Jervisraised the question of the war service of Frank Butler the Tipperary Goalkeeper

 

He is comparatively easy to find

 

We are told he was born in Fethard in 1896 on GAA site. So this is him at the Green, Fethard

 

 

A Pension Card (FmP) gives us this in RDF  which links to The Green, Fethard

 

 

And his Mic on Ancestry is

 

 

There is enough there to build his whole service

 

• enlisted 24 Nov 1914
• landed in France 19 Dec 1915 (War Diary should give his journey through France)
• Medal Roll gives with 9th RDF
• Discharged with SWB wounded 18 Sep 1917

 

You can build his army life from this

Edited 14 October , 2020 by corisande

[doyle3]

thanks for creating the thread.

 

Yes, an easy find this one.

 

Died 13th Oct 1977

https://fethard.com/news_archive_2017/cnews.171016.html

 

1901 census

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Tipperary/Fethard_Fethard_Town/The_Green/1704475/

 

1911 census

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Tipperary/Fethard_Town/The_Green_Lower/842040

 

Interesting that he was discharged with leg and wrist wounds but able to play in goal.

[corisande]

LLT gives for 8th and 9th RDF  So he was in the first group from 9th RDF into France

 

8th (Service) Battalion
Formed in September 1914 as part of K2 and came under orders of 48th Brigade in 16th (Irish) Division. Moved to Buttevant, then in June 1915 to Ballyhooley. Moved to England in September 1915, going to Blackdown.
December 1915 : landed at Le Havre.
24 October 1917 : amalgamated with 9th Bn to form 8/9th Bn.
10 February 1918 : disbanded in France, troops going to the regiment’s 1st and 2nd Battalions, with others to 269 Company of the Machine Gun Corps and numbers 1 and 2 Companies of the 20th Entrenching Battalion.

 

9th (Service) Battalion
Formed in September 1914 as part of K2 and came under orders of 48th Brigade in 16th (Irish) Division. Record same as 8th Bn. Ceased to exist when 8/9th Bn formed

[Jervis]

Excellent work. Thank you Corisande & Doyle3. Much appreciated. 

 

I am guessing the author (Michael Foley who wrote the piece on the GAA site) couldn’t find him in the records as his research was done pre-the release of the WFA pension records. Foley has him down as possible RFA. 

 

Assuming that is the case It goes to show once again the value of these WFA records. 

[Jervis]

1 hour ago, doyle3 said:

 

Interesting that he was discharged with leg and wrist wounds but able to play in goal.

Strange indeed. 

Sometimes the flip side of the pension records record a crude measure of the “degree of disablement” of the soldier. I would guess Butler’s is on the low side. 

[doyle3]

@JervisWFA definitely of value in this case to confirm the Fethard address.