Johnhallmagowanww1

John Hall Magowan (1893-1951): WWI + the
aftermath

[Article sent by James Magowan, written by his sister, Rachel]

(John was born at Tullyherron,
Mountnorris, Co Armagh on 5 October 1893. After initial education at
Mountnorris primary school, and at Royal School Armagh, he entered Trinity
College, Dublin in 1911, to study Modern Languages. While at Trinity he joined
the Dublin University OfficersÕ Training Corps.
[1]
He also met, and became engaged to Winifred Ray, a fellow language student
whose family lived in Dublin).

Aged
22, John was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the ÔSpecial Reserve of OfficersÕ on 4 November 1915.

ÔYou
are therefore carefully and diligently to discharge your Duty as such in  the Rank of Second LieutenantÉ and you
are at all times to exercise and well 
discipline in Arms the inferior Officers and Men serving under you, and
use your best endeavours to keep them in good Order and Discipline. And We do
hereby Command them to Obey you as their superior Officer, and you to observe
and follow such Orders and Directions as from time to time you shall receive
from Us, or any your superior Officers, according to the Rules and Discipline
of War in pursuance of the Trust hereby reposed in youÕÉ [2]

After
some initial training at Athlone John found himself in France, serving with the
Royal Field Artillery, as part of the British Expeditionary Force. He had
travelled by train from Waterloo station, in London, to Southampton, and then
crossed the Channel on a troopship to Le Havre. A letter to his father from ÔNo. 13 Camp, No. 2 General Base Depot, HavreÕ,
dated 15 March 1916, contained his first impressions:

ÔWe
landed here this afternoon and after a long bit of racing around I have arrived
at the above address. How long I shall be here I do not yet know (but probably
not for long) but letters will be forwarded if you write here when I have
movedÉthis is quite a comfortable spot as regards quarters etc, and although
itÕs raining pretty hard, things arenÕt a bit more uncomfortable than at  Athlone. The four of us who came from
Athlone are together still. I missed them at Waterloo but found them again in Southampton
and we came on here together.
I left a suitcase full of
things and a sword in Dublin for the girls to take home. They are things I
donÕt want here so they can be sorted out and kept till I need them againÕ 

The
ÔgirlsÕ who were to look after his
excess baggage were probably his sisters Eliza and Mary, who were both, at the
time, students at Trinity. What the sword was for, and where it is now –
who knows?

John was wounded in September 1916, and
was sent home for a short period to recover. He was evidently also home on
leave the following summer – he married Winifred Ray at Rathfarnham Church,
Dublin, Ireland, on 22 June 1917. He gave his address at the time as being Ô37 Queens Gardens, Lancaster Gate, London W2Õ.
The marriage was witnessed by JohnÕs friend, J A Acheson, and WinÕs father,
John Titterington Ray.[3] Photographs
taken on a sunny summerÕs day shortly afterwards, at his parentsÕ home at
Mountnorris, show him in his uniform, with his family, and with Win.

John
was made a Lieutenant in 1917, and moved into a staff appointment later that
year. In November 1918 he was Ômentioned
in despatchesÕ:

ÔLt J H Magowan was mentioned in a Despatch
from Field Marshal Sir Douglas
HaigÉ dated the 8 Nov 1918É for
gallant and distinguished services in the Field.Õ [4]

By
May 1919 John had served overseas for three years. His group (HQ Light
Division, Army of the Rhine), had been moved from DŸren, a Ôfairly big townÕ to Harff, a Ôlittle place northwest of CologneÕ. He
described the setup in a letter to his father:

ÔWe
have our offices, and the general and senior officers live in the Schloss,
which was the residence of the Count Mirbach who was murdered by the Bolsheviks
in Moscow last year. His younger brother, the present count, and another
brother, a baron, all live here with us, so you see we only associate with the
top-notch HunsÕ[5]  

Hoping
to be demobilised soon, he had an interview with the Foreign Office and wrote
to his mother:

ÔIt
was fairly successful, and I got unofficial hints that IÕd be nominated to the Consulate
in Germany as soon as peace relations were resumedÕ.[6]

Peace
negotiations dragged on for another six months before John was able to take up
his post as a Junior Vice Consul in Bremerhaven. On 10 January 1920 he wrote to
his father from London, explaining that he and Win intended to travel to
Edinburgh (where they would visit JohnÕs widowed aunt, Fannie Magowan), and
sail from Leith to Hamburg within the next few days:

ÔAs
the Peace Treaty has probably been in force since 4pm today, we shall  probably
be pushing off to Hamburg in a day or two, and the present arrangement
isÉ that we go to Edinburgh on Tuesday night, stay in Edinburgh on
Wednesday, and sail from Leith to Hamburg on Thursday. I have been a good
son and written to Aunt Fannie to say that unless she heard to the contrary in
the meantime, Win and I will call and see her on Wednesday afternoon,
your affectionate nephew John Hall MagowanÕ.[7]
   

John
was one of two Vice Consuls who had been appointed to help the elderly Consul
General in Hamburg. As his wife Win explained in a letter to the family at
Mountnorris, there was plenty for them to do:

ÔJohn
is very fit, but I canÕt say he is getting any fatter.  He is at the Consulate all day from
10-5, and sometimes later, and has even spent a couple of Sunday mornings there,
which I donÕt approve of! But I canÕt make a fuss yet, as theyÕve really had a
very heavy time getting the place cleaned up – painters and business
started simultaneously – and the brunt of the ÔmuckÕ-work falls on him
and the other Vice Consul, as the Consul General is fairly old and not strongÕ.

In
common with Mr Simpson (the other Vice Consul) and Miss Jeffries (the lady
typist at the Consulate) John and Win spent their initial weeks in Hamburg at
the Hotel Atlantic. In the evenings they went to the local opera (Ôstreets ahead of anything we saw in EnglandÕ),
and played bridge with Mr Simpson and Miss Jeffries. Accommodation was
difficult to find, and frequently let Ôunter
der HandÕ – an avenue not open to consular staff. In anticipation of
finding unfurnished accommodation to rent they began to build up a collection
of secondhand furniture:

ÔBy dint of watching the newspapers and
wandering round the town we have picked up almost enough things (mostly
secondhand odds and sods from private families) to start a small home with
– if only we had oneÕ.[8]

(Eventually they found a
house to rent on the outskirts of Bremerhaven, at Parkstrasse 10, SpeckenbŸttel, Lehe am Weser. They
had one daughter, Ann, born on 5 Sep 1921, and a son, Andrew, born on 20 Jun
1922. JohnÕs next posting was at Mainz, where their son David was born, on 16
Jul 1928. Subsequent postings took him to Haiti, Washington and Berlin. He was
awarded a KBE in 1946, and appointed HM Ambassador to Venezuela, in 1948. John
died, aged 52, while on leave at Rostrevor, Co Down, N Ireland, on 5 April
1951,[9]
and was buried at Mountnorris).

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