DEVINE, William

William Devine was a parish priest at St Paul's Church, 264 Brunswick Street, Coburg, when he enlisted on 1 July, 1915. The son of George Devine, a draper, and his wife  Catherine, nee McGluckey, he was educated at Drumnadey National School, St. Columba's College, Derry and St. Patrick's College, Maynooth. When he enlisted, he was aged 27 years old, had three degrees - a Licentiate in Philosophy, a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Divinity. He gave as his next of kin the Dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral, East Melbourne, his only connection with this suburb. He was 5' 10" in height, with perfect eyesight and good health. On call-up, he was gven the rank of Major and was taken on strength as an Unalloted Chaplain. He embarked from Melbourne on HMAT Demosthenes A 64 on 16 July,1916,  landing in Egypt on  14 August. He was attached to the 48th Battalion as Roman Catholic chaplain when it was formed at Tel-El-Kebir in March, 1916, then served at the 46th Battalion headquarters and then to duty at the Military Hospital at Suez.

 ADB Entry: After the 48th Battalion was transferred to France in June, he saw much of the fighting around Pozières, Mouquet Farm, Flers, Gueudecourt and Ypres. Uninjured, he succumbed to the harsh winter of 1916-17, but in late December was invalided to Rouen and then to Ireland, resuming duty late in February. He served with the battalion throughout 1917, returning to Melbourne briefly in 1918 as a transport chaplain, but was back at the front in May, remaining with the A.I.F. until 8 September 1919.

: It was rare for a chaplain to remain for so long on continuous service and rarer still to spend such a long time with one battalion. Such devotion to his men at least partially accounts for Devine's popularity. On 1 May 1917 he was awarded the French Croix de Guerre for 'conspicuous services', and next year he won the Military Cross for 'conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty' east of Hamel on 8 August; following the advance closely, he remained with the troops under heavy artillery fire and assisting the wounded. The battalion was 'overjoyed at the news' of the honour, according to the compiler of the war diary.

In The Story of a Battalion (Melbourne, 1919) Devine gave an excellent portrait of the 48th; unlike most unit historians he refrains from providing a catalogue of names and exploits, but seeks instead to depict the spirit the battalion as a whole, almost as if it had life of its own. From his book it would seem that Devine succeeded as a chaplain and enjoyed his work; it demonstrates love for his men, sympathy and concern for their welfare, ability to share their life and acceptance of their ways. He was also critical of the overall conduct of the war and the apparent carelessness of the higher command for the lives of common soldiers.

Returning to Melbourne in 1919, he was stationed at Lancefield as a curate and, still devoted to Mannix, now Archbishop of Melbourne, he brought together thirteen Victoria Cross winners to act as his guard of honour in the 1920 St Patrick's Day procession. This was a considerable coup, demonstrating graphically the extent of Australian Catholic loyalty and heroism, qualities under challenge from the Protestant majority in the heightened sectarian turmoil of the time.

Devine returned to Ireland and the diocese of Derry before joining the Maynooth Mission to China (the Columban Fathers) in 1927 and lecturing in history at the Tientsin University in Hankow. In 1930 he returned to Derry as curate of Dungiven and Sion Mills. During World War II he served as a chaplain with the Royal Navy, first on an unofficial basis at Derry, whence he often sailed with convoys in the North Atlantic, and then officially at Taranto, Italy. In 1944 the Vatican sent him on a mission to Yugoslavia which he believed compromised his position as a chaplain.

Devine returned to Derry in 1946 and was appointed parish priest of Clonmany in County Donegal in 1947; he worked there continuously for ten years, except for a brief visit to Melbourne in the 1950s. He died in a Dublin hospital on 19 October 1959.