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Trove Tuesday - Dashed Past Tram

Today's Trove Tuesday post involves my grandfather Mervyn Donnelly, he would have been nineteen years old when this occurred.



Source: DASHED PAST TRAM. (1925, April 1). Evening News (Sydney, NSW : 1869 - 1931), p. 10. Retrieved November 18, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article117452830

Transcript:

DASHED PAST TRAM

Speeding Motorist Fined

"This is a gross offence, and you can consider yourself lucky I have not cancelled your license." said Mr. Laidlaw, S.M., at Newtown Court to-day, when he fined Mervyn Donnelly, of Junction-street, North Sydney, £10 for having driven his motor car past a stationary tram.
Constable McLaughlin said that on the night of February 14, while he was doing duty in Parramatta-road, Camperdown, defendant drove past a tram at a speed of about 40 miles per hour.  A passenger had to jump back in order to avoid being knocked down.

Mervyn James Phillip Donnelly (1905-1943)

His run in with the law obviously had some sort of impact on him because he went on to join the New South Wales Police force on the 20th November 1925.  My Grandmother had a photograph that she would show us of him in his Police uniform and proudly say he had been a policeman.

New South Wales, Australia, Police Gazettes, 1854-1930 about Constable Mervyn James Phillip Donnelly

Name: Constable Mervyn James Phillip Donnelly
Event Place: New South Wales, Australia
Event Type: Police Business
Publication Date: 6 Jan 1926
Page #: 18


'PROBATIONARY CONSTABLES.
Donnelly, Mervyn James Phillip, No. 2153, 20th November 1925. '

Source: Ancestry.com. New South Wales, Australia, Police Gazettes, 1854-1930 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010

It proved to be a short career with him resigning in April 1926.

New South Wales, Australia, Police Gazettes, 1854-1930 about Constable M J P Donnelly

Name: Constable M J P Donnelly
Event Place: New South Wales, Australia
Event Type: Police Business
Publication Date: 12 May 1926
Page #: 262

'RESIGNATIONS.
Donnelly, M.J.P., Probationary Constable No. 2153, 26th April 1926.'

Source: Ancestry.com. New South Wales, Australia, Police Gazettes, 1854-1930 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. 

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