Patrick Joseph Devine, courtesy of Martina Grady. Source: Niall Brannigan, John Kirwan. Kilkenny Families in the Great War (2012).
Patrick Devine was born into a large Roman Catholic family on 17 March 1886 in Skeaghvasteen, Kilkenny, Ireland. He lived with his parents, Patrick and Elizabeth, or Eliza, his grandmother Mary, seven siblings (out of nine) and a young niece, Eliza Lowe. Patrick’s father was a ‘Sub Postmaster’ and his mother, originally from Dublin City, worked as the District Midwife. In 1901, a 14 years-old Patrick, worked at the Post Office, as a rural postman.
Census of Ireland 1901.
In 1908, on 10 August, Patrick Devine left Skeaghvasteen and joined the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC). There is one record of him serving in Brawney, Athlone, county Westmeath. On 27 October 1913, he resigned from the RIC to emigrate to Australia.[i]
Royal Irish Constabulary, HO1084, NAUK.
Patrick Joseph Devine was sworn in into the Queensland Police on 11 February 1914 (Reg No 1805). Since its inception in 1863, and until 1930, Ireland was a key source of recruits for the Queensland Police. Candidates with previous service with the Irish Constabulary or any other military/law enforcement agencies were actively sought out by Australian police.[ii] The Queensland Police Recruit Register describes Patrick as 5 feet 11 and a quarter inches tall, measuring 37 across the chest, of fresh complexion with blue eyes and dark hair.
Recruit course, Brisbane Police Depot, 1913. A number of these men volunteered for War service. Some did not return. Patrick James Moynihan (1888 – 1915) extreme right front row; John (Jack) Graham (1892 – 1917) on left 3rd row & Patrick Devine (1915-1917) on left back row at top of stairs. All three served with the 9th Battalion. (PM0111 Courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum).
As Patrick volunteered to enlist into the Australian Imperial Force so soon after joining the QPF, his local police service record is brief. He spent his short career as a policeman in the Traffic Office at Roma Street Station. His military record shows Patrick enlisted into the AIF on 25 June 1915. Following a competitive exam, he was appointed 2nd Lieutenant on 30 July 1915.[iii]
The Queenslander Fifth Expeditionary Number, October 24, 1914 – p. 24. JOL, SLQ.
On 21 October 1915, Lt Devine embarked on HMAT A48 Seang Bee and left Australia for Suez. He wrote home on 26 Apr 1916 to say ‘I have been promoted First Lieutenant so the next step is Captain. Please God I will be spared to get it for the sake of all at home. (signed) Paddy’.[iv] On 24 July 1916, Lt Devine, 9th Infantry Battalion AIF, was wounded in Pozieres, France. The proceedings of a medical board indicated that Patrick was suffering from shell shock. On 8 August 1916, Devine was hospitalised at the 4th London General Hospital (RAMC). He was incapacitated for 8 weeks.
On 10 October 1916, the Medical Board, Australian Military Offices, London, found that Lt Devine was still suffering from shell shock; ‘nervous, and insomniac, sleeps badly, dreams, and has no appetite.’ Four months later, on 19 February 1917, though still suffering from shell shock, Devine was found fit for general duty.[v] Later in the year, on 20th September, Patrick’s battalion ‘went into action at Polygon Wood. They were relieved on the 23rd and returned to the line at Anzac Ridge on 30th September. They were in action again in the Battle of Broodseinde and relieved Canadian troops who had captured the quagmire of Passchendaele Ridge.’[vi] On the morning of 3 November, their position was shelled, and after fierce fighting that followed, Patrick was killed in action by ‘a bullet through the head’. He died in the field hospital, Belgium.
‘Killed in Action’, NAA 3503373.
Eva Mary Devine of 4 Brighton Buildings, Terenure Rd, Dublin, was listed as the next of kin. Patrick and Eva Mary Bethel got married while he was on leave, near the end of 1916 in South Dublin.[vii] Eva Mary would have been Patrick’s sweetheart before he resigned from the RIC and left for Australia. The Constabulary had a 10-year marriage ban for policemen, so 1916 would have been the earliest opportunity for them to get married. A year later, Eva Mary was widowed, and like millions of mothers and widows, she received an envelope, shown below, notifying her of her husband’s sacrifice to the Great War.
‘Dear Madam’, NAA 3503373.
Patrick’s grave site unknown, however, DEVINE_PATRICK is listed on the memorial to the missing at Ypres (Menin) Gate.
Memorial to the missing Menin Gate, Ypres, France.
Queensland Police and the Great War Effort, is a project by Dr Anastasia Dukova, a policing historian, which connects personal, police and war service stories and histories of the Queensland Policemen who left active police duty to volunteer in the Australian Imperial Force.
[i] RIC, HO1084, NA UK.
[ii] A Dukova, A History of the Dublin Metropolitan Police and Its Colonial Legacy (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016), p. 153
[iii] NAA 3503373.
[iv] Brannigan & Kirwan, Kilkenny Families in the Great War (2012), p. 113.
[v] Ibid, pp. 11-13.
[vi] Paul Ruge, Their Glory Shall not be Blotted Out (2006).
[vii] Eva Mary Bethel, Patrick Joseph Devine, 1916, Oct-December registration quarter; Vol 2, p. 541, Irish Marriages 1845-1958, findmypast.com.au
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This information was researched and written for the Police Museum Blog by Police Historian Dr Anastasia Dukova. The Police Museum is open 9am to 4pm Monday to Thursday and 10am to 3pm on the last Sunday of the month (Feb-Nov) and is located on the Ground Floor of Police Headquarters at 200 Roma Street, Brisbane. Email: museum@police.qld.gov.au
“FROM the VAULT – Queensland Police ANZACs: Constable Patrick Joseph Devine (17 March 1886 – 3 November 1917)” by the Queensland Police Service is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (BY) 2.5 Australia Licence. Permissions may be available beyond the scope of this licence. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/au/legalcode