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"...Hundreds of men who were gassed lay three deep in the firing step..."

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Patrick Gerrard Curran

By Trevor Temple

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In his book, Ireland's Unknown Soldiers, The 16th (Irish) Division in the Great War, Terence Denman quoted from a Lieutenant Weld, of the 7th Leinsters, to describe the horrifying effects of gas poisoning on the Irish Division the day Patrick Curran met his death: 'It was a ghastly sight. Hundreds of men who were gassed lay three deep in the firing step. They had died in terrible agony with faces all purple from the gas. Many others not yet dead gasping out green foam. This is about the most fearful sight I have yet seen.'Ìý

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Twenty-two-year-old Sergeant Patrick Gerrard Curran died from the effects of gas poisoning at Loos, France, on April 29, 1916. He was the first member of the Division mentioned in despatches (March 3, 1916)

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He was a member of 'D' Company, 8th Battalion Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, and h is remains lie interred in Chocques Military Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France. His name is commemorated on the Diamond War Memorial.ÌýÌý

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Patrick Curran was born in County Armagh, the eldest boy of a Catholic family of seven. His father, Mr John Curran, of Killylea and later of Crossmaglen, was a former Royal Irish Constabulary member, and died in 1910. Two years later, Patrick's mother, formerly Miss Kathleen McCloskey, of the Claudy district of County Londonderry, decided to come to Londonderry, so when Patrick Curran came to the Maiden City at the age of eighteen he did not, although born in County Armagh, come here as a total stranger, but to a district with which his family on his mother's side had been associated for many generations.

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Patrick Curran's mother, who appears to have remarried a Mr Denis Martin, and resided at 68, Foyle Street, Derry, was an exceptionally talented woman, who, in days when women did not play much part in business life, seized opportunities to conduct lucrative businesses in the lace trade – she was an acknowledged authority in Carrickmacross lace – and also in the sale of feeding stuffs to farmers.ÌýÌýÌý

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When the Great War arrived, Patrick Curran enlisted at Dublin. Two of his brothers, Dennis and John joined up in the 8th Battalion Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, which formed part of the largely Catholic and Nationalist 16th (Irish) Division.

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Patrick Curran's brother, Company Sergeant Major Denis Joseph Curran (who survived the Great War), entered the firm of Hogg and Mitchell, Ltd., as an apprentice shirt cutter in 1912, and later went to Bryce and Weston, Ltd., Clarendon Street. He enlisted on July 12, 1915, and was a victim of the first big cloud gas attack at Loos. He was later wounded at the Battle of the Somme, in September 1916, and, after having been in hospital in Scotland for a lengthy period, he recovered and returned to the Front in the following year, this time to the 2nd Inniskillings, which had been merged in the 36th (Ulster) Division. While in this battalion he was shell-gassed on the Belgian coast, and in March, 1918, in the last great German advance in the war, he was taken prisoner. Lord Farnham, the Battalion Commanding Officer, was in the same trench section at this period.ÌýÌý

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Denis Curran spent the remaining months of the Great War as a prisoner, in a prison camp near the Danish border. He was repatriated from Denmark and arrived home at Leith on Christmas Eve, 1918, being demobbed at Dublin in April of the following year.

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Back in 'civvy street' he resumed his career in the shirt industry – in Hogg and Mitchell's – and a year later he entered the firm of D. A. Mooney and Co., Foyle Street. Shortly afterwards he married Miss Annie Lamberton, from Rosemount. He had a very successful career in the firm of D. A. Mooney and Co., and Mr D. A. Mooney, J.P., the principal, who recognised his ability and had the greatest confidence in him, appointed him manager. With Mr Mooney's encouragement, and, in cooperation with Mr Mooney's son, Mr Arthur Mooney, he played a part in the expansion of the factory. Denis Curran had in Mr Mooney, he later gratefully acknowledged in an interview he gave to the Londonderry Sentinel (published on February 10, 1960), an example of business enterprise and personal integrity, and from him he learnt much.

'I owe much to Mr Mooney,' said Denis Curran, who was at that time a Justice of the Peace, and resided at 'Ash Villa', a distinctive large Swiss-style house on the Duncreggan Road. 'He gave me my chance in my business career.' It had been Mr Mooney's intention that Denis Curran and Mr Mooney's son should continue the business after his retirement, but, unfortunately, Mr Mooney, Junior, died in England, and when Mr Mooney retired Denis Curran, who had been a partner since 1931, purchased the business. Some years later, Denis Curran bought the shirt factory of S. M. Kennedy and Co., Magazine Street, and made this the centre of the pyjama manufacturing section of his business.ÌýÌýÌý

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With Denis Curran in business, at the time of the Sentinel interview, were two sons, Mr John Curran, who was a director and works manager, and Mr Arthur Curran, a commercial representative, and two daughters, Miss Rita Curran, who was cashier, and Miss Nancy Curran, who was her father's secretary. Of Denis Curran's other sons, the eldest, Mr Charles Curran, was managing a factory in South Africa, and Mr Denis Curran (junior) was in business in Canada, while another son, Mr Thomas Curran, was an accountancy student in Belfast. Denis Curran's eldest daughter, Mrs Kathleen McGrath, died around 1949, and another daughter was Mrs Maureen McCollum, Ballyowen.Ìý

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Seemingly not content with his participation in the Great War, during the Second World War, Denis Curran served as an officer of 21 Platoon, F Company, of the 1st Londonderry Battalion, Ulster Home Guard, and second-in-command of the 1st (Cadet) Battalion the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers.