An Army officer who traced his family and military history back to the Isle of Man has held a family reunion here with 35 family members making the pilgrimage.
Lieutenant Colonel Simon Hirst and his family laid a new headstone dedicated to their ancestor, George Hirst, at Kirk Braddan Church, who died in 1897 and is Simon’s great-great-grandfather.
We reported in October last year how Simon had traced his roots back to the island and revealed his fascinating military history.
Simon is currently serving in Germany but was previously stationed in Afghanistan.
He is the fifth generation of his family to serve in the military and his family roots with the island date back to 1891, to his great-great-grandfather George, who was the first toll gatekeeper on Marine Drive.
Simon found his great-great-grandfather’s grave at Kirk Braddan, also visiting his birthplace at 32 Athol Street.
George had followed in his own father’s footsteps in joining the army, and became batman to brigadier Thomas Leigh Goldie who was later killed at the Battle of Inkerman in 1854.
George then moved to the island with his wife, Martha, where they had two sons, Thornton Malcolm Leslie Hirst and George William Hirst, who was Simon’s great-grandfather.
Both Thornton and George William fought in the First World War.
George William fought in the Second World War, as did his son, George William Leslie Hirst.
George William Leslie Hirst fathered Simon’s father, Terence, who joined the Queen’s Royal Irish Hussars (QRIC). Terence’s brothers Michael and William were also in the QRIH.
On this latest visit to the island, Simon travelled from where he is currently stationed in Germany, as is his father, to meet up with a 35-strong contingent of the Hirst family.
Members of the Hirst family came from far and wide for the reunion, with Simon’s father also travelling from Germany, his cousin Marty coming in from the Netherlands and Marty’s father travelling from Australia.
The family held a short ceremony at Kirk Braddan Church for the headstone dedication. Later, a presentation was given at the Empress Hotel by Simon and his cousin Marty, regarding the life and times of George Hirst in the 1800s, and the Hirst family’s military history, which is virtually unbroken from the Napoleonic Wars to present-day Afghanistan.