ONE hundred years ago, as war broke out over Europe, the Lord Mayor of York wrote to a family in the city, thanking them for their patriotic service to the country.
The family was that of Paddy and Sal Calpin, an Irish immigrant and his wife from the Walmgate slums, who had watched as all ten of their sons signed up to fight in the approaching war.
From 39-year-old John to 18-year-old David, all ten of the Calpin boys had joined either the Army or the Navy, and when the Lord Mayor heard of the family’s remarkable sacrifice he wrote to Paddy and Sal to congratulate them, and to invite them and their only daughter, Anna, to visit him at the Mansion House.
Nearly a century later Michael Calpin, 63, who is the grandson of the ninth Calpin boy, Ernest, treasures the letter which has been passed down through the family at his home in Thirsk.
Michael said: “I am very proud to have this. It’s not something that will ever happen again, is it? Hopefully there will never be another world war, and there certainly won’t be ten brothers fighting together.”
The Lord Mayor of York Henry Rhodes Brown’s letter shows he heard of the Calpin family through a newspaper article, and wrote offering his “hearty congratulations”.
He wrote: “It will be hard for anyone in the Empire to equal your record of ten sons all serving their country.
“Our sincere thanks for their noble service, and I trust in their return to their native country.”
The family became minor celebrities because of the brothers’ service, and their story was used as a recruitment tool as the war went on.
Later in 1914 Paddy, Sal and Anna went to a civic reception at the Empire Theatre, now the Grand Opera House.
Michael knew his own grandfather, Earnest, who served on HMS Dreadnought and went on to fight in the Second World War. Michael’s father, Owen, believed seven of the men served and returned home safely.
However, the eldest, John, was gassed in the trenches in France and died in York in 1916.
His forgotten grave was uncovered by family members in Cemetery Road last year.
The youngest, David, served on the HMS Ariadne and suffered from exposure when the ship was sunk by a German U-boat in 1917. Although he returned to York and worked at Rowntrees, he died not long after the war ended.
The letter sent by the Lord Mayor of York to the Calpin family
Michael Calpin at his home in Borrowby with a pictorial record of his family's exploits during the First World War, presented to his family by the Lord Mayor of York