31 replies to this topic

[greatspywar]

Hello everybody,

I have just transferred/translated some biographical details on some of the men discussed here.

If you have questions, just ask.

Merjay, Franz

Date of birth: 14/06/1852
Place of birth: Sat.-Josse-ten-Noode
Nationality: Belgian
Mother tongue: French
Marriage: yes
Children: 8
Address: Elsene, rue de la Culture 183
Profession: none
Age (at the time of death): 65
Date of death: 11 May 1917
Place of death: Charleroi
Postwar funeral: exhumed at Mons 12/7/1919, reburied 13/7/1919 at Elsene
Network: British GHQ: Service Doutreligne, Service Merjay
Function in network: head of the service, recruited several agents/soldiers, courier, transmission of documents
Recruited: N/A
Date of Arrest: 11/01/1917
Place: at home
By: German Police
How: traited by CC & DK
Imprisoned: Barracks of Charleroi
Date of conviction: 13/4/1917
Place of conviction: N/A
By: Field Court Martial
German reason: espionage, being head of service
Laywer: Louis Braffort (influential Belgian lawyer)
Decorations: OBM

Two streets were named after him: rue Franz Merjay in Elsene and the Rue Franz Merjay in Ukkel

Baeckelmans, Joseph

Date of birth: 29/12/1882
Place of birth: Antwerp
Nationality: Belgian
Mother tongue: Flemish/French
Marriage: no
Children: none
Address: Antwerp
Profession: Architect
Age (at the time of death): 33
Date of death: 23/9/1915
Place of death: Brussels
Postwar funeral: N/A
Network: British GHQ: Service Baeckelmans
Function in network: head of the service, transmission of documents
Recruited: N/A
Date of Arrest: 26/7/1915
Place: at home
By: N/A
How: N/A
Imprisoned: prison Saint-Gilles
Date of conviction: 14/9/1915
Place of conviction: N/A
By: Field Court Martial
German reason: N/A
Laywer: Braun; Dorff and Kirschen (3 important Belgian lawyers)
Decorations: OBM

A street was named after him: Baeckelmansstraat in Antwerp.

[archimedes]

greatspywar, on 01 December 2005 - 08:12 PM, said:

Hello everybody,

I have just transferred/translated some biographical details on some of the men discussed here.

If you have questions, just ask.

Merjay, Franz

Date of birth: 14/06/1852
Place of birth: Sat.-Josse-ten-Noode
Nationality: Belgian
Mother tongue: French
Marriage: yes
Children: 8
Address: Elsene, rue de la Culture 183
Profession: none
Age (at the time of death): 65
Date of death: 11 May 1917
Place of death: Charleroi
Postwar funeral: exhumed at Mons 12/7/1919, reburied 13/7/1919 at Elsene
Network: British GHQ: Service Doutreligne, Service Merjay
Function in network: head of the service, recruited several agents/soldiers, courier, transmission of documents
Recruited: N/A
Date of Arrest: 11/01/1917
Place: at home
By: German Police
How: traited by CC & DK
Imprisoned: Barracks of Charleroi
Date of conviction: 13/4/1917
Place of conviction: N/A
By: Field Court Martial
German reason: espionage, being head of service
Laywer: Louis Braffort (influential Belgian lawyer)
Decorations: OBM

A bit of information first:

FRANCOIS MERJAY  after 1919  press communiqué was inhumed at Charleroi on the spot were he was shot - unmarked graves - he and others  executed at teh same place were exhumed after the germans left - identified  and reburried with military honours.

Francois (Franz) Mergay was shot on May 11 1917 - on the same date were shot at the same spot my Grandfather August Jan Hofman and another Belgian A. Vanhecke.

First question you mention date of conviction for Merjay 13  4 1917, are you sure about the date - it was  in German habits to  execute very soon after conviction - after family information my Grandfather learned only at the last moment of the death sentence

Second Question do you have any information about the members of the Mergay Network -  I presume my Grandfather was one of them - we have very litte information aubout his activities - unless he was refusing to name any of his contacts. There is a letter of the British Military Intelligence Commision dated 12 8 1919 adressed to my grandmother about the urgency of some paperwork  to be acomplished - transmittal of some form - .

Thnx
Marcel Hofman


1May 111.5. 1917

[John Thorne]

Since the discussion has mentioned biographies of Edith Cavell, I thought you might like to see the cover of the very first bio of her - a "shilling shocker" published in 1915, a propaganda piece rushed into print just after her execution. Herbert Leeds was a Norfolk journalist.

[archimedes]

John Thorne, on 11 January 2012 - 03:19 AM, said:

Since the discussion has mentioned biographies of Edith Cavell, I thought you might like to see the cover of the very first bio of her - a "shilling shocker" published in 1915, a propaganda piece rushed into print just after her execution. Herbert Leeds was a Norfolk journalist.

cavell.jpg

Thanks

There has always in the family -mainly of the "aunties" my fathers elder sisters some tradition about a link between my grandfathers execution and Edit Cavell- so I am interested - however in this discussion the link to Mrs Cavell  was geographic - because of the Franz Merjay street . The link between Mr Merjay and my grandfather is more feasible, because they and several other people wit them we executed the same morning in the same spot  baracks at Charmeroi, May 11 1917 some two years later that the executuion of Ms Cavell





Off topic an for what it is worth a got e message about a personal conversation by some "love4history" to which I cannot respond

ARCHIE

[archimedes]

Wendy Mac..., on 13 January 2012 - 08:18 PM, said:

Archie Welcome to the GWF Forum ~ You need to have posted five times before you can use the PM personal messenger.
One more post and your there

Wendy

Thank you Wendy
Archie

[KateH]

Hi everyone
I recently read that Edith Cavell's clinique was not a proper Red Cross hospital post August 1914, but still a civilian hospital. I have been reading Rowland Ryder's book on EC which states variously, that a. Red Cross banners were flown, and b. the hospital was 'affiliated' to the Red Cross.

On websites, there are a plethora of suggestions that either EC or the hospital were part of a. British Red Cross, b. Belgian Red Cross.

Can anyone add anything definitive here please? Preferable with primary references!

many thanks

Kirsty

[Sue Light]

It was never, ever part of the British Red Cross, and at the outbreak of war was certainly a civil hospital - in peacetime I can't see how it could have been anything else.  But whether there was an official affiliation to the Belgian Red Cross, I've no idea - it's often mentioned.

Sue