The Postcard
A postcard that was published by Lawrence, Publisher, of Dublin. The card was posted using a ½d. stamp on Thursday the 11th. January 1917. It was sent to:
Revd. John McKenna,
The Presbytery,
2, Genoa Road,
Anerley,
London.
The message on the divided back of the card was as follows:
"Here with Elliott for
Station. Grand weather.
Best wishes to all,
John."
St. Mary's, Croydon
The foundation stone for St. Mary's (Our Lady of Reparation) was laid in Wellesley Road in West Croydon in 1863. Father John McKenna became Parish Priest there in 1894, and remained in that post until 1914.
Christmas Battles
So what else happened on the day that John posted the card?
Well,on the 11th. January 1917, the German 8th. Army abandoned a key defense position south of Riga, Latvia and retreated.
They left behind a seven-kilometer gap in the German line that the Imperial Russian Army failed to exploit.
The Kingsland Explosion
Also on that day, a massive explosion destroyed a munitions plant at Kingsland (now Lyndhurst, New Jersey).
Evidence from the blast suggested sabotage, with suspected links to Germany.
Here is a contemporary newspaper account of the disaster:
“The building was in flames in an instant. Ten minutes passed before the first and mightiest explosion. In those ten minutes panic broke loose in the plant.
It is believed that there were 1,400 men working in the factory. Each of these realized what would happen if fire caught hold of any of a dozen isolated buildings.
They started to get out. The entrance to the building was by a narrow gate, guarded by 12-foot walls. In a moment this was jammed by workers, mostly Italians and negroes, who fought desperately to get away. Guards were forced at last to drive back the mob with pistols and rifles.
They broke and scattered. Many of them run to the rear of the plant, which is separated from the swampy meadow by a high barbed-wire fence. They went through this like a drove of cattle.
Frantic with terror, they paid no attention to the wire, which cut some of them cruelly, but went ploughing, the whole terror-struck crowd, through the mud and thin ice of the marsh. Many of them who reached solid ground and safety were plastered with slime from head to heel. Many more were soaked with icy water.
Then came the first great roar. It is said that a building in which the loaded shells were stored was the first to go.
The terrific blast spread the panic, which had hitherto been confined to the factory yard, to Kingsland and the adjoining village of Lyndhurst. After the first detonation came the steady roll of bursting shrapnel and high explosive shells.
In a minute the little Jersey towns were transformed into villages upon the European battle front. Shells that had been intended for the armies of the Czar burst in terrific salvos over the roofs of the houses, shattered chimneys, riddled the car repair barns of the Lackawanna Railway, and set two dwellings on fire.
Two miles of the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad tracks were torn up by the explosions. Commuters from New York City were delayed by up to four hours, and at one point 40,000 were jammed into the Hoboken station in a clamoring, close-packed mass.
Express trains to and from Washington D.C. were disrupted and a comical dispute over rights to a diner car ensued. Dairy and produce shipments to New York City were delayed by for 24 hours as well."
Kingsland resident Theresa Louise "Tessie" McNamara, who operated the company switchboard, was credited with saving 1,400 lives; despite the fire McNamara stayed at the switchboard.
She plugged in each of the buildings and shouted the warning:
"Get out or go up!"
No one was killed in the fire as a result of her announcements. Fleeing workers were able to cross the frozen Hackensack River or run up Valley Brook Avenue to safety.
A reparations case was launched against Germany in 1934 that dragged on for many years and was finally settled in the 1950's. Germany never admitted guilt, but paid $50 million ($630 million in 2024) in reparations to the United States.
The Sinking of HMS Ben-my-Chree
Also on the 11th. January 1917, the Royal Navy seaplane tender HMS Ben-my-Chree was shelled and sunk by Ottoman shore artillery while in harbor at Castelorizo Island, Greece.
It was the only aviation ship of any nationality to be sunk by enemy action during the Great War.