Youth
Edward Mannock was born on 24 May 1887, probably in Ballincollig, County Cork, Ireland, although Aldershot and Preston Barracks in Brighton have also been claimed. He was the son of an English corporal in the British Army and an Irish mother. The family moved to India early in Mick's life, before postings brought the family back to England. In 1897, Mannock developed amoebic infestation which rendered him temporarily blind. Legend has it that it left him with permanently impaired vision; however accounts written by former comrades discount any such impairment. His father, a hard-drinking, brutal man, abandoned his family when Mick was twelve.
He had to leave school for a series of jobs including, in 1911, one with the National Telephone Company in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, England. In 1913 he became the Secretary of the Wellingborough Independent Labour Party.
The outbreak of the war found him working as a telephone engineer in Turkey. The Turks interned him and his health rapidly declined in prison. Near death, he was repatriated and, in 1915, joined the Royal Army Medical Corps. By 1916, he had become an officer in the Royal Engineers and in August 1916 transferred to the Royal Flying Corps.
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Famous quotes containing the word youth:
“Manhood like a lawyer with his formulas
Sesamés his youth for innocent acquittal.”
—Allen Tate (1899–1979)
“He that hath a beard is more than a youth, and he that hath no beard is less than a man; and he that is more than a youth is not for me, and he that is less than a man, I am not for him.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“When a god is once beguiled
By beauty of a mortal child,
And by her radiant youth delighted,
He is not fooled, but warily knoweth
His love shall never be requited.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)