Slacke, Charles Owen
Captain
14th Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles
Killed in action on Saturday 1 July 1916 (aged 44)
Buried:
Connaught Cemetery, Thiepval, France (Grave IV. A. 9)
Commemorated:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Royal Ulster Yacht Club, Bangor
Royal County Down Golf Club, Newcastle
St Columba’s College Dublin War Memorial Tablet
College of St Columba Roll of Honour 1914 – 1918
Slacke Memorial Plaque, St John’s Church of Ireland Church, Newcastle, Co Down
Newcastle and District War Memorial
Malone Golf Club War Memorial
BIOGRAPHY
Charles Owen Slacke was born on 21 January 1872 in Carrick House, Carrick-on-Suir, Co Tipperary, and he was a son of Owen Randal Slacke RM (later Sir Owen Randal Slacke CB) and Catherine (sometimes Katherine) Anne Slacke (nee Lanyon) who were married on 7 October 1863 in Carnmoney Parish Church of Ireland Church, Co Antrim. Owen Randal Slacke, then a Lieutenant in the 10th Hussars at Newbridge, Co Kildare, was a son of the Rev William Randal Slacke, Rector of St John’s Parish Church of Ireland Church, Newcastle, Co Down. Catherine Anne Lanyon from The Abbey, Carnmoney was a daughter of architect Sir Charles Lanyon DL, JP, who died in 1889.
Owen Randal Slacke RM and Catherine Anne Slacke (nee Lanyon) had two children:
Helen Maria (born 5 December 1869 in Carrick House, Carrick-on-Suir, Co Tipperary)
Charles Owen (born 21 January 1872 in Carrick House, Carrick-on-Suir, Co Tipperary)
Catherine Anne Slacke (nee Lanyon) died in Carrick House, Carrick-on-Suir on 27 January 1872 (aged 34), as the result of complications during her pregnancy.
Owen Randal Slacke and Fanny Rose Connellan were married in Inistioge Parish Church of Ireland Church, Co Kilkenny on 17 July 1875.
Owen Randal Slacke RM and Fanny Rose Slacke (nee Connellan) had two children:
Randal Beresford (born 31 October 1876 in Carrick House, Carrick-on-Suir, Co Tipperary)
Roger Cecil (born 10 October 1880 in Carrick House, Carrick-on-Suir, Co Tipperary)
Sir Owen Randal Slacke CB died in 1910.
Charles Owen Slacke was educated at St Columba’s College Dublin.
Charles Owen Slacke, then living in Atlantic Avenue, Belfast, and Kate Dixon were married on 14 June 1902 in Holywood Parish Church of Ireland Church (St Philip and St James). Kate Dixon was a daughter of Sir Daniel Dixon – a businessman, Ulster Unionist politician and Belfast’s first Lord Mayor. His statue stands in the grounds of Belfast City Hall.
Charles Owen Slacke was a businessman with premises at 16-18 Ashton Street, Belfast. His company manufactured galvanised hollowware – bins, bathtubs, buckets etc. He was an Orangeman and in 1909/1910 was Worshipful Master (WM) of Eldon Loyal Orange Lodge (LOL) No 7. His picture hangs in Clifton Street Orange Hall, Belfast. A member of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), he commanded the second battalion of the North Belfast Regiment. In the Great War he served as a Captain in 14th Battalion Royal Irish Rifles in the 36th Ulster Division, and he was killed at Thiepval on 1 July 1916. Initially posted as missing in action, his brother-in-law, Sir Thomas Dixon, sent a telegram on 17 July 1916 to the Right Honourable David Lloyd George at the War Office in London asking him to find out if Captain Slacke was being held as a prisoner-of-war in Germany. Later it was confirmed that Captain Slacke had been killed. He was buried in Connaught Cemetery, Thiepval, France, and there is an inscription on his CWGC headstone:
I HAVE FOUGHT A GOOD FIGHT
II TIMOTHY 4.7
Kate Slacke (nee Dixon) was born in 1871 and during the Great War she served on the Home Front with the Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD). She and Captain Slacke had two children:
Randal Charles (born 24 January 1904 in Wheatfield House, Crumlin Road, Belfast)
Edith Avril (born 11 June in Wheatfield House, Crumlin Road, Belfast)
Kate Slacke’s name is on the list of donors to the Ulster Memorial Tower at Thiepval.
Kate Slacke lived on in Wheatfield House until the end of the war. By 1921 she was living at Parkdene, Fortwilliam Park, Belfast, and she died there as the result of breast cancer on 23 December 1921 (aged 50). She was buried in the Dixon family grave in Belfast City Cemetery (G 631).