Police Officer Hero-David Prendergast 1929

[Wendyem]

Quoted with permission from a lass on another Forum, BritishGenealogy.

David Prendergast 1929 is he yours?
A fob watch presented to a heroic policeman for rescuing two men from the River Mersey situated in northeast England, has turned up in a pile of stolen property in the Northern Territory, Australia. Police are now trying to contact the officer's family.
The US-made watch was found amid loot in Alice Springs and there is no way of finding out where it was stolen from.

A British newspaper reported the rescue on June 10, 1929.
Under the heading Policeman's Full-dress Dive to Rescue Two Men, it said:
"A Wallasey policeman named David Prendergast dived fully dressed into the River Mersey yesterday to the rescue of two young men who were trying to swim ashore from a sinking canvas canoe.
"It was near high tide at the time, and the river was rather rough, and it was with some difficulty that all men were rescued by lifebelts and a small boat manned by a fisherman."
The article said all three were taken to hospital but PC Prendergast was allowed home after treatment.

If Constable David Prendergast is yours, you should contact the NT Police,
Police Headquarters
PO Box 39764
Winnellie NT 0821
or their Facebook page Northern Territory Police Force | Facebook
Sandra

Sandra & others would very much like to see this watch go to Prendergast Family or Relatives.

[MaryA]

Thanks for posting, the more a plea like this is spread round the more likely it is to get a hit.

[Bertieone]

http://www.old-merseytimes.co.uk/merseyswim1914.html

[Fledge]

I wonder if this has already been published in the Wallasey News or the Globe. It ought to be.

[Wendyem]

Thanks Bert, small world when one looks around.

Fledge, do you have any friends in said areas?

[dickiesam]

Oddly, there are only two persons named David Prendergast in the 1910+1 census in all areas covered.

PRENDERGAST, David - 24 - 1887 - Salford, Lancashire, who is a shoemaker,
And,
PRENDERGAST, David James - 5 - 1906 - Chorlton, Lancashire. His father is a caretaker in a Manchester Council school.

I can't see either a marriage or a death for him in the GRO up to 2005, or an entry in the outgoing passenger lists. Did he end up in Australia during WW2?

From the Liverpool Echo:
"PC Prendergast, lived at 9 Rappart Road, Seacombe." Anyone with a directory? In the 1910+1 a Mrs Hughes lived there.

[Fledge]

I know Rappart Road. Small world getting smaller...

[Bertieone]

Possibly this is David


Ireland, The Royal Irish Constabulary 1816-1921about Prendergast, David
Name:
Prendergast, David
Birth Date/Age:
1898
Birthplace:
Kilkenny
Film #:
2093
Page #:
61
Year:
1919

[Alison C]

Hello,

FreeBMD has a death record for David Prendergast in Wallasey in Q1 1942. He was aged 50 (ref 8a, 1103).

There is also a death for Kevin Prendergast, aged 15, in Wallasey in Q1 1944 (8a, 772). This looks to be David's son:

Births Sep 1928
Kevin H Prendergast
Mother's name Ludden
Birkenhead (8a, 815)

Marriages Sep 1919
David Prendergast to Sarah A Ludden
Birkenhead (8a, 1510)

Alison

[Wendyem]

A few David Prendergasts can be found in Australia & also travelling to Canada. One in 1929 is a constable. aged 29. c/o Mrs P. in Co Kilkenny.

May pop over to Canada after Brekky.

[Wendyem]

Hello,
FreeBMD has a death record for David Prendergast in Wallasey in Q1 1942. He was aged 50 (ref 8a, 1103).

There is also a death for Kevin Prendergast, aged 15, in Wallasey in Q1 1944 (8a, 772). Alison

Good one Alison, the righr area too. We really do need some help via directories or a friend in Wallasey Police force records.

[Fledge]

That would be Cheshire Constabulary.

[Wendyem]

Then again, perhaps this watch was stolen in UK & taken along on holiday to Australia.

There are many websites carrying this message now. Hopefully we can find the right Family somewhere.

[daggers]

The original post has the newspaper report as placing the Mersey in North East England!

I think Wallasey was a county borough in the pre-Merseyside County days. Did it have its own police force? If so it was probably consumed by Mersyside Police, rather than be linked to Cheshire's force.

D

[Blue70]

Kelly's Directory 1938

Prendergast David Police Constable 62 Hartismere Road Seacombe, Wallasey


Blue

[Hilary]

Wallasey Borough did have its own Police Force from 1913 and as Daggers says it's part of Merseyside Police now.

Maybe Wirral Archives could help or Wallasey library?

[Bertieone]

I can have a look later on in the week when I'm down at Wirral Archives, the Birkenhead/Wallasey News are likely to have covered the story.
I would think the Liverpool Shipwreck and Humane Society would have honoured him also.

[Hilary]

David and his wife appear to have had two daughters before their son Kevin. One born in 1920 and one in 1925. The one in 1925 died in 1926. The first daughter appears to have married in 1940 to someone called Smith. I haven't named her as I cannot see an obvious death for her and her husband. She may have had a children who are probably still alive. David's wife Sarah died in 1981.

[Hilary]

As this story appears to be everywhere including the Liverpool Papers how is it being coordinated so that people's efforts aren't duplicated?

[Sue H]

Hi Folk

I was on ancestry when you posted my reply to Norah/Annie Prendergast, and decided to have a little look for David Prendergast.

Bingo found a tree with him with quite a lot of information, so I have emailed this link to her

I hope someone in that family is alive to take ownership