Auction of Irish officer’s first World War belongings, intact after 100 years

A collection of the personal belongings of an Irish officer in the British Army during the first World War has come to light in Co Meath and will be auctioned by Fonsie Mealy Auctioneers this week.

The auctioneers said the “exceptionally complete, possibly unique collection” includes the officer’s uniforms, leather boots and stirrups, folding bed, roll-out mattress, folding chair and table, fitted travel case, cooker with spirit lamps, cups and saucers, knives, forks, spoons.

The items belonged to Major EF Farrell, an officer with the Leinster Regiment.

Auctioneer George F Mealy said individual items of this type often turn up at auction but it was “very rare” to get an entire collection and “amazing that it has survived intact for 100 years”.

The collection is lot number 910 and is estimated at €1,000-€1,500. It is among more than 1,000 that go on view from tomorrow in the saleroom in the Old Cinema, in Castlecomer, Co Kilkenny, where the auction takes place on July 21st and 22nd.

There’s already a lot of interest – both Irish and international – in a collection of stained-glass windows from the Harry Clarke Studios that are being auctioned individually. The windows were commissioned by churches in Ireland, Wales and New Zealand in the mid-20th century but were never delivered and have been in storage for decades.

Among them, and particularly worth viewing, is Lot 531, “Saint Francis Xavier preaching in the Orient’’ (€2,500-€3,500).

Among the furniture, Lot 234 is a spectacular Killarneyware Collector’s Cabinet made with arbutus, yew wood, bog oak and ebonised and estimated at €10,000-€15,000.

Paintings by English artist George Edward Lodge (1860-1954), famous for his paintings of birds, include The Kill, a watercolour depicting a falcon with a captured rook, estimated at €1,500-€2,000.

Everything is collectible and the auction includes a surprisingly colourful collection of vintage tractor seats – made by Irish, English and North American manufacturers – to be sold individually. Among them is Lot 1006, a blue-and-red painted “Pierces Wexford” tractor seat (€150-€200).

Other curiosities include Lot 55, a late 19th-century silver “bleeding bowl”, used by doctors for blood-letting, once a common procedure to alleviate various illnesses). Made in London, in 1896, by Chas Stuart Harris, it is about 7 oz and engraved with a coronet and “B”, the Beresford crest (€160-€220).

Lot 77 is a large collection of 18th- and 19th-century english and continental shoe and belt buckles (€325-€450).