Identified: Patrick Bryan Adair

IDENTIFIED: Patrick Bryan Adair, Battery Sergeant Major, 16th Battery, Motor Machine Gun Service, Machine Gun Corps. (Lantern Slide #11)

Patrick Bryan Adair was born on 12th January 1890. He was living at 73 North Queen Street in 1901 aged 11 with his widowed mother Mary Adair and three older sisters Jane, Elizabeth and Grace

He was living at Greenmount Street in 1911 with his mother and stepfather Daniel Bell. He was aged 21 his profession was listed as a machinist.

Patrick Bryan Adair joined the Belfast Fire Brigade on 24th July 1911.  He signed the Ulster Covenant at Central Fire Station in 1912.

During the First World War he served with both the Royal Irish Rifles and the 16th Battery, Motor Machine Gun Service, Machine Gun Corps. His rank was Battery Sergeant Major. He was Mentioned In Despatches and was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal.

In 1918 his address was given as 6 Loughview Villas, Shore Road.

Nicknamed Gutty, he was a dedicated Officer and a Graduate Member of the Institution of Fire Engineers. He had been promoted to the rank of Third Officer in the Brigade in February 1932 and subsequently to the position of District Officer when the ranks were revised in 1936.

Belfast Fire Brigade First Aid team posing with their cups and trophies. (Bryan Adair front second from left) from Bill Broadhurst

He had taken the unusual step of writing directly to the Ministry of Home Security at Stormont as “One of the professional Fire Officers, who have been compelled to sit back and watch the mistakes, and blunders, made in the organisation of the City’s Fire Fighting Services.”  (The Flaming Truth: William Broadhurst)

He died of a heart attack on 9th April 1941 and was buried from his home in Ardoyne Fire Station.

Patrick Bryan Adair died 9th April 1941. Image from Bill Broadhurst

If you have any more information on Patrick Bryan Adair or think you may be related to him, please let me know by leaving a comment below.  Or you can contact me at karen@castletonlanterns.co.uk.

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