Thomas Matthew Mary Nangle (1889 – January 4, 1972) was a Newfoundland cleric, military chaplain of the

Royal Newfoundland Regiment The Royal Newfoundland Regiment (R NFLD R) is a Primary Reserve infantry regiment of the Canadian Army. It is part of the 5th Canadian Division's 37 Canadian Brigade Group. Predecessor units trace their origins to 1795, and since 1949 Royal New ...

during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, diplomat and later a Rhodesian politician and farmer.

Early life

He was born in St. John's, Newfoundland and educated at St. Bonaventure College before attending

All Hallows College All Hallows College was a college of higher education in Dublin. It was founded in 1842 and was run by the Vincentians from 1892 until 2016. On 23 May 2014, it was announced that it was closing down, due to decreasing student numbers. The sale ...

seminary in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

and

St. Patrick's, Carlow College St Patrick's, Carlow College, is a liberal arts college located in Carlow, Ireland. The college is the second oldest third level institution in Ireland and was founded in 1782 by James Keefe, then Roman Catholic Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin, an ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. He was ordained in the

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

priesthood in 1913 at the Basilica of St. John the Baptist in St. John's, Newfoundland and enlisted in the

Newfoundland Regiment The Royal Newfoundland Regiment (R NFLD R) is a Primary Reserve infantry regiment of the Canadian Army. It is part of the 5th Canadian Division's 37 Canadian Brigade Group. Predecessor units trace their origins to 1795, and since 1949 Royal New ...

in 1915 becoming the regiment's

padre __NOTOC__ Padre means father in many Romance languages, and it may also refer to: Music * "Padre" (song) People * A military chaplain * A Latin Catholic priest * A member of the San Diego Padres baseball team Places * Padre Island, a barrier ...

ultimately gaining the rank of

lieutenant-colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colo ...

. While on furlough in 1917, he returned to

St. John's, Newfoundland St. John's is the capital and largest city of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, located on the eastern tip of the Avalon Peninsula on the island of Newfoundland. The city spans and is the easternmost city in North America ...

to deliver popular lectures about the experiences of the troops and calling for new recruits to join the war effort.

Public service career

Following the war, Nangle was appointed by the Dominion of Newfoundland's government as Director of War Graves, Registration, Enquiries and Memorials and also as the country's representative on the

Imperial War Graves Commission The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of Commonwealth of Nations mil ...

in London and supervised the construction of memorials to Newfoundland soldiers in Newfoundland, including the National War Memorial in St. John’s at King’s Beach, and 15 war graveyards and memorials in Europe and Gallipoli including the

Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial The Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial is a memorial site in France dedicated to the commemoration of Dominion of Newfoundland forces members who were killed during World War I. The preserved battlefield park encompasses the grounds over wh ...

Beaumont-Hamel Beaumont-Hamel () is a commune in the Somme department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. During the First World War, Beaumont-Hamel was close to the front line, near many attacks, especially during the Battle of the Somme, one of the larg ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

and four other similar memorial parks at

Gueudecourt Gueudecourt () is a commune in the Somme department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. History During the Battle of the Somme, the town of Gueudecourt had represented one of the most distant objectives for the British drive that opened on ...

Masnières Masnières () is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. Heraldry History Masnières figured into the 1917 Battle of Cambrai during which time it was briefly captured by the British on the first day of the battle, November 20, an ...

and

Monchy-le-Preux Monchy-le-Preux () is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France. Geography Monchy-le-Preux is situated southeast of Arras, at the junction of the D33 and the D339 roads. Junction 15 of the A1 autorout ...

and at Courtrai/Kortrijk

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

on notable battlefields where the Newfoundland Regiment fought. While in London, he acted as the

High Commissioner of Newfoundland to the United Kingdom The High Commissioner of Newfoundland to the United Kingdom was the Dominion of Newfoundland's foremost diplomat, diplomatic representative in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (after 1922, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Nort ...

from 1923 to 1924.

Rhodesia

In 1926, Nangle later left the priesthood, emigrated to Rhodesia in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

where he became a farmer, married, and became active with the Reform Party, which he had helped found, and was elected in the 1933 election to the

Southern Rhodesian Legislative Assembly The Legislative Assembly of Rhodesia was the legislature of Southern Rhodesia and then Rhodesia from 1924 to 1970. Background In 1898, the Southern Rhodesian Legislative Council, Southern Rhodesia's first elected representative body, was foun ...

as the MP for Salisbury District. He was defeated the next year in the 1934 election by

Prime Minister of Southern Rhodesia The prime minister of Rhodesia (Southern Rhodesia before 1964) was the head of government of Rhodesia. Rhodesia, which had become a self-governing colony of the United Kingdom in 1923, unilaterally declared independence on 11 November 1965, a ...

Godfrey Martin Huggins who ran against Nangle in his district. Nangle ran for the legislative assembly again in the 1946 and 1948 elections as a candidate for the

Rhodesia Labour Party The Rhodesia Labour Party was a political party which existed in Southern Rhodesia from 1923 until the 1950s. Originally formed on the model of the British Labour Party from trade unions and being especially dominated by railway workers, it fo ...

but was defeated. He died in Rhodesia in 1972 at the age of 83.

Legacy

A street in St. John's is named Padre Nangle Place in his honour, and in 2016, Nangle was named a National Historic Person.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nangle, Thomas 1889 births 1972 deaths Rhodesian politicians White Rhodesian people Canadian emigrants Immigrants to Rhodesia Politicians from St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador Diplomats of former countries World War I chaplains Alumni of Carlow College Alumni of All Hallows College, Dublin Newfoundland military personnel of World War I 20th-century Canadian Roman Catholic priests Rhodesian Roman Catholics Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada) Royal Newfoundland Regiment officers Canadian military chaplains Members of the Legislative Assembly of Southern Rhodesia