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| Lucy: Young Sergeant |
John Francis Lucy, (1894–1962), British army officer and author, was born 6 January 1894 at 4 Rock Terrace, Cork, the elder son of Denis Lucy and his wife Kate (née Coleman). His father was an unenthusiastic agent for the family beef farming business, which was then struggling in the face of Argentine imports. John was educated at the North Monastery in Cork and left home with his younger brother, Denis, in the winter of 1911 after an argument with his father. He worked in a local newspaper office before enlisting with his brother in the Royal Irish Rifles in January 1912. After basic training in Belfast, he was posted to the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Irish Rifles, stationed in Dover. He was promoted to lance-corporal early in 1914.
At the outbreak of the Great War he was a full corporal in A Company, and sailed to France on 13 August 1914. He took part in the first action between the British Expeditionary Force and the German army at Mons, Belgium, where his battalion inflicted severe casualties on advancing German infantry. On 15 September 1914 his younger brother, Denis, was killed during the Aisne Crossing. By the end of 1914 John had been promoted to sergeant and was offered a commission but declined because of exhaustion. He subsequently fought at La Bassée (10 October-2 November 1914), Aubers Ridge and Festubert (May 1915) and Loos (September 1915). During the course of these battles he witnessed not only the decimation of his own battalion, but also the end of the old regular army. At the end of 1915 he returned home sick and, while on leave, decided to apply for a commission. He was in Dublin during Easter week 1916 and took part in the defence of Trinity College, but was horrified at the execution of the rebellion's leaders.
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| Lucy Fought in the Earliest Battles of the BEF |
Commissioned second lieutenant in June 1917, he rejoined his battalion in July and fought at the third battle of Ypres (31 July–10 November 1917), his battalion capturing Westhoek Ridge. In early December 1917, during the German counter-attack after the Battle of Cambrai, he was badly wounded by a grenade blast, suffering sixteen splinter wounds, and was evacuated to England. During his convalescence, he studied at University College Cork and befriended authors Sean O'Faolain and Frank O'Connor. He was especially close to O'Faolain, later buying him his first typewriter and hiding him in his rooms during a search by Black and Tans.
He remained in the British army and, promoted to major, was seconded to the King's African Rifles (1921–26). He next served abroad in India as a staff officer in Bombay (1928–31) and rejoined the 2nd battalion, Royal Ulster Rifles, in 1933. Retiring from the army in April 1935, he began writing an account of his wartime experiences which was published as There's a Devil in the Drum (1938). A vivid and poignant memoir of the Great War as seen by a young NCO and officer, it was greeted with acclaim and is generally regarded as one of the best autobiographical accounts of the war. During the interwar years he also worked for Radio Éireann, presenting a quiz show called ‘Question time’ and acting as a military commentator on the Spanish Civil War for news programmes.
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| Lucy: Young Officer |
As a reserve officer, he rejoined the British army in 1939 and served in France on the staff of the British Expeditionary Force. Evacuated from St Nazaire in a destroyer in June 1940, he returned to England and served as a training officer. In January 1942 he was promoted to lieutenant-colonel and given command of the 70th battalion, Royal Ulster Rifles, stationed as part of the anti-invasion force in Essex. He then commanded the 28th infantry leader training battalion at Holywood Barracks in Co. Down. The first member of his regiment to rise from the rank of rifleman to command a battalion, he was awarded an OBE for his wartime service in 1945.
Returning to his native Cork, he was a founding member of the Cork Civic Party and served as a city councillor, working particularly hard on behalf of the poor. He was also a member of the Cork Health Authority, a trustee of Skiddy's home for the elderly, and secretary of the Cork Branch of the British Legion. A promoter of Irish tourism, he strongly supported the Cork airport project. An accomplished amateur artist, he also wrote occasionally for the Evening Echo. He died 1 March 1962 at the home of his son Sean, 10 Mount Pleasant, College Road, Cork. After a large funeral, he was buried at St Finbarr's cemetery.
In 1928 he married a divorcée, (Dorothea) Mary Carver, whom he had met in Nyasaland, Africa. She was the daughter of Professor James George Jennings, vice-chancellor of Patna University and author of a book on Vedantic Buddhism. Mary or Molly (as she was called) was a composer and poet in her own right and assisted Lucy in the writing of his wartime memoir; she died in 1950. They had a daughter, Kate Davis (b. 1932), who worked as a teacher, musician, composer and actress, and two sons, Sean Lucy (1931–2001), professor of English at UCC, and Major Denis Lucy (b. 1928) of Royal Ulster Rifles. The family's Cork residence was at Ronayn's Court, Rochestown, Cork. John Lucy's papers and several of his watercolours are held by his family. During the second world war a German POW, Heinz Schröder, painted a portrait of him (held by his son Denis).
Source: Dictionary of Irish Biography
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