Francis de Groot

Francis de Groot (around 1915)

Francis (Frank) Edward de Groot (born October 24, 1888 in Dublin , Ireland , † April 1, 1969 in Ireland) was a merchant sailor, coal and antique dealer before the First World War . During the war he served as a major in the 15th The King's Hussars on the Western Front, and after immigrating to Sydney worked as an antique dealer and maker of high quality furniture. In Australia he worked as a politician with national-conservative views.

He became known in Australia for causing a protocol incident at the inauguration of the Sydney Harbor Bridge in 1932.

Early life

Frank de Groot was the youngest son of Cornelius De Groot, a sculptor and Huguenot , and his wife Mary, née Butler. After attending Blackrock and Belvedere College , he joined the Merchant Navy at the age of 13. He then completed a five-year apprenticeship as an antique dealer with his uncle Michael Butler. In 1907 he joined the South of Ireland Imperial Yeomanry and in 1909 he was in the 5th Dragoon Guards for six months, in 1910 he traveled to Australia, where he worked successfully as an antique dealer.

In 1914 he went back to Ireland and was with the 15th Hussars , where he fought on the Western Front and later with the 15th Tank Battalion with the rank of captain . In April 1919 volunteered to fight the Bolsheviks in Russia . On October 25, 1919, he married Mary Elizabeth in Byrne of Portumna , Galway .

He was in Sydney again in May 1920, where he subsequently became known for the manufacture of high-quality furniture; In 1927 he employed 200 artists in his factory on Rushcutters Bay .

politics

Political stance

Groot's political view was conservative nationalist, he was a loyal supporter of the British Empire and the Irish nationalist John Redmond . In the Great Depression, which also hit Australia economically, he became a staunch opponent of the Australian Prime Minister Jack Lang of the Australian Labor Party and the Communist Party of Australia . He joined the New Guard paramilitary fascist organization in September 1931 , led by Eric Campbell . In February 1932 he was area commander of that organization and chairman of the Council of Action .

Inauguration of the Sydney Harbor Bridge

Groot caused a protocol incident in Sydney on March 19, 1932, on the day of the opening ceremony of the Sydney Harbor Bridge , when he rode through the crowd on a horse in a hussar uniform from the First World War, armed with a cavalry saber drawn and with the words " in the name of the decent and respectable people of New South Wales "(German:" In the name of the decent and venerable people of New South Wales "), a ribbon was struck that was stretched for the official release of the bridge.

The New Guard had a large membership in New South Wales , especially Sydney. About 60,000 people are said to have been organized out of a total Sydney population of 1.2 million. The New Guard feared a shift to the left under the government led by Jack Lang.

The incident on the bridge happened because the New Guard in Australia announced that Prime Minister Jack Lang would not open this bridge. As a result, the state protection forces expected a massive deployment of the New Guard . Groot, who was one of the leading personalities of the New Guard , took advantage of this misjudgment because nobody had expected him and he did not attract attention in his uniform at first. Groote succeeded in disrupting the official process of the festivities despite 1,500 police officers on duty in Sydney, 315 of them on the bridge and another 200 soldiers from the Army and Navy Honor Guard.

After his crime, he was subsequently disarmed and detained. The reason he gave was that the British King had not been invited to the celebration, although other different reasons are given in the literature. The ribbon was then renewed, Jack Lang officially inaugurated the bridge with a 21-shot salute and with overflights of the Royal Air Force, then the people of Sydney celebrated in a big festival.

Groot became known for his crime in Australia and was sentenced to a fine of 5 pounds sterling in court.

Next life

In 1932 he broke with Campell and the New Guard and then cooperated with the Australian secret services. During World War II , he worked with Major General Gordon Bennett and maintained liaison with the Citizen Military Forces and the Australian Imperial Force . From 1942 to 1943 he was in command of the Greta army camp , where his past as a fascist became the subject of controversy. Further tasks with which the army entrusted him led him to Tamworth and Sydney and later for six months in the United States Army in the South Pacific Area Command . In January 1944 he was discharged from the army.

In 1950 he went back to Ireland with his wife and there is also the saber. There are initiatives to bring the cavalry saber from the First World War back to Australia as a historical document.

literature

• Brian Wright: In the Name of Decent Citizens: The Trials of Frank de Groot , ABC Books, Sydney 2006.
• Andrew Moore: Francis De Groot: Irish Fascist Australian Legend , ABC Books, Sydney 2005.

Web links

• workers.labor.net.au : The New Guard: Who were Australia's fascists in the 1930s and was John Howard's father in the New Guard? Labor historian, Andrew Moore, uncovers some surprising information about Australia's fascist past . (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} adbonline.anu.edu.au : De Groot, Francis Edward (Frank) (1888–1969), in English, accessed June 8, 2011
2. ↑ federationpress.com.au : Francis De Groot: Irish Fascist Australian Legend, in English, accessed June 7, 2011
3. ↑ ^{a b} shm.com.au : Tony Stephens: Mystery solved: De Groot's sword to cut a dash again , March 17, 2007, in English, accessed June 7, 2011