John Watson Lake

[Abhanliath]

Sean Murphy mentions him too; Murphy's home at the time (where he says John Watson Lake was waiting) was 1 Lr Clanbrassil Street.
https://www.militaryarchives.ie/collections/online-collections/bureau-of-military-history-1913-1921/reels/bmh/BMH.WS0204.pdf#page=7

[Abhanliath]

@hanes_teulu Is there an online search for newspapers available from the British Library? I've visited the library and read newspapers there, but if they're online too that would be brilliant.

[Abhanliath]

JW Lake's widow writes in her unsuccessful application, “My husband John Watson Lake joined the Volunteers in 1915 and the IRA 1918 – he served in Jacob's in Easter Week 1916. He served 3 months in Dundalk in 1917. He served in Wicklow and Wexford in 1919-1920. Served under orders in Scotland later. His health was impaired with the cessation of the Civil Strife. His health never recovered until he died in 1932. His highest rank in the IRA was Lieutenant."

[Abhanliath]

I'd love to know what happened to that baby boy, and his mother.

[Wexflyer]

Have a look at this birth of an Edward Watson 1885
Does it say Lake under the name Watson on the father? Number 68
https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/birth_returns/births_1885/02637/1972755.pdf

Yes, gives the father's name as Watson Lake in two places!
And the son is not surnamed Watson, but Lake - Watson is a second name.
Mother's name is Mary Dunne.

In which case this looks to be their marriage in 1885, in Dublin
https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/marriage_returns/marriages_1885/10859/5964995.pdf

Robert was a widower, which may (or may not) dispose of the bigamy theory.

What was Robert's profession on the 1885 birth of Edward?

[Wexflyer]

These are all brilliant - is this the Wexford 1911 census you're talking about, hanes telulu? Arthur W Lake? On a boat of some sort?

http://census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Wexford/Kilmore/Kilmore_Quay/692617/

No, no no!
The Edward with brother John shown in Dublin on the 1911 census was recorded as born in Wexford.

[Abhanliath]

@Wexflyer, I cain't see no Edward Lake birth registration in 1885?

[Abhanliath]

Oh wait, sorry, Edward is born in Gorey and registered as Watson:

1885 Edward Watson birth registration, father Robert Watson Lake, Ballylacken, mother Mary Watsong née Dunne, father's profession traveller

(Sorry to be so dim; I'm making a table of ~230 people and am now down to the M ones. I'd rather left John Watson Lake behind, but would still be eager to know what happened to his wife and their little boy. Perhaps the 1926 census may give a clue, should I live to 2026; perhaps not.)

(I keep getting dragged off the trail by fascinating byways. For instance, look at Shankers Ryan, the tout / Military Foot Police member killed by The Squad. He's always described as a brother of the famous prostitue Becky Cooper, but I find it hard to track them down as brother and sister; contemporary reports gave his age as 48 but his death registration gives it as 32… I have pushed this mystery firmly away, but it keeps coming back like a cloud of midges.)

Edit: unlinking the full page and instead adding a screenshot, to accord with what I understand to be the rules here… sorry, forgot.

[Abhanliath]

Visiting the file again, I see I had Edward…

There are three marriages of a John Lake - two of them soldiers in the British Army - at about the right time:

Marriage of JOHN LAKE and ELIZA CLEARY
on 26 September 1861
Group Registration ID   3304067
SR District/Reg Area   Fermoy
Marriage of JOHN LAKE and EMMA HAYDEN
on 21 June 1852
Group Registration ID   3222695
SR District/Reg Area   Cork
Marriage of JOHN LAKE and SARAH POWER
on 03 February 1870
Group Registration ID   2736607
SR District/Reg Area   Dungarvan

(though the 1870 one is a bit of a stretch, unless Robert Watson Lake had already been born when his parents married, as with John Watson Lake's son later on).