A ‘quiet champion’ from Birr who forged an important life in Canada
‘The increasing number of ocean-going ships entering the Great Lakes, Canada soon proved insufficient to placate the fears of seasoned Lake goers’
WE were contacted recently here in The Midland Tribune by a reader of our paper who is living in England and who had an interesting story to tell. He said that as part of investigating his wife’s family tree he stumbled upon “some fascinating history about her great grandfather’s connection to Birr. He is one of those quiet champions who left Birr to make his fortune in the USA and Canada.”
His name was George Cecil Watson Browne and in 1910 in New York he married Birr woman Florence Fletcher (who was previously the owner of the Central Hotel on Main Street Birr). The marriage was recorded in the Kings County Chronicle.
George Browne was one of the early pioneers of wireless communication, a career starting from 1913. He served Canada throughout the 1st World War and later became Controller of Tele-Communications for Canada.
“His leadership and his technical knowledge”, said our reader, “led to him being granted a rare privilege of being recognised by the USA for his pioneering work in the use of Radio Telephony as a very important safety measure on the Great Lakes. He was internationally recognised as a major player in Radio Communications until his death in 1956.”
George Cecil Watson Browne was born in 1890 in 74 Main Street Cashel Urban, County Tipperary Ireland to William V.S. Browne and his wife Georgina. William was recorded as being literate and a member of the Church of Ireland. “The next time he enters the record,” continued our reader, “was when he was prosecuted on the 6th August 1909 in Birr, Ireland for having no lights on a vehicle. He is reported to have been a graduate of Trinity College Dublin as a civil engineer. He might have met Florence Fletcher in Dublin, or in Birr. There is no record of them being together before 1909. Around this time, he was recorded as having passed the exams for wireless operation after studying for 3 weeks, an exam that usually required months of learning. He is also mentioned in the local press as being musically talented and giving regular piano recitals.”
Florence Fletcher was a Methodist and when they married in 1910 it was in the Union Methodist Church 48th Street New York. “Eventually they returned to Birr. Their second child was my wife’s grandmother. In 1913 George Cecil left Ireland never to return, leaving his family behind for ever. He subsequently remarried. There is no evidence for Florence remarrying.
“George worked as a wireless operator on a Canadian military ship. George lived with his new wife in Nova Scotia and Ontario. Over the following years he became a notable professional in the emerging field of radio and communications. He was an extraordinary man, driven by his desire to learn, without whom many would have died on the Great Lakes. Back in Birr, Florence’s hotel, the Central Hotel was sold for £550 in 1937.
“The increasing number of ocean-going ships entering the Great Lakes, Canada soon proved insufficient to placate the fears of seasoned Lake goers. Most of the new traffic was under the command of foreign-registered masters, who had little experience sailing in these congested waters. The problem was compounded by the fact that most deep-sea ships did not have the correct radio equipment to communicate with the already established structure. In 1952 American and Canadian representatives met in Ottawa to take joint action. The Canadian group was headed by George, in his position as Controller of Radio for the Department of Transport. The delegates forged an Agreement for the Promotion of Safety on the Great Lakes by Means of Radio. From that point on, all ships, regardless of country or registry, had to be fitted with radio equipment capable of communicating to 80kms.”