Sub-Lieutenant Thompson Baird Quinn of Belfast died on 23rd November 1939 when H.M.S. Rawalpindi came under attack from the German battlecruiser Scharnhorst.
Sub-Lieutenant
Sub-Lieutenant Thompson Baird Quinn served in the Royal Naval Reserve during the Second World War. He was the eldest son of James Quinn and Elizabeth Jane Quinn of 72 Ravenhill Park, Belfast. James was a well known grocer in the York Road area of the city.
In civilian life, Thompson trained on the Conway, serving an apprenticeship with the Elder & Fyffe Line. After this, he remained in Belfast for a time taking an examination and gaining promotion to Second Mate. He then joined the Bibby Line, qualifying as First Mate, and joining the Royal Naval Reserve in August 1939.
Sub-Lieutenant Quinn died on 23rd November 1939 aged 23 years old while serving on H.M.S. Rawalpindi.
I am commanded by My Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty to send you the enclosed certificate and Oak Leaf emblem of a Mention in Despatches awarded by the King to your son, Sub-Lieutenant Thompson Baird Quinn, Royal Naval Reserve, for coolness, courage, and devotion to duty in H.M.S. Rawalpindi, sunk in action against a greatly superior German force on 23rd November 1939.
With complete disregard for his own safety, Sub-Lieutenant Quinn took charge of the lowering of the lifeboats and by his skill and determination many men were saved.
I am to express Their Lordship’s pleasure at this mark of His Majesty’s appreciation and their deep regret that your son did not live to receive it.
In the days before the battle, Quinn sent a letter home including a handwritten copy of the poem ‘At the Gate of the Year’ by Minnie Louise Haskins. The poem includes the lines:
And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year,
Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown,
And he replied, go out into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God,
That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.
Sub-Lieutenant Quinn has no known grave and his name is on Panel 35, Column 3 of the Plymouth Naval Memorial, Plymouth, Devon, England. His name is also on the Second World War memorial at St. Jude’s Church, Ormeau Road, Belfast.