Papers of Admiral Story.

Administrative / biographical background
Admiral W.O. Story was born in 1859 at "Bingfield", the family estate, in Cavan, Ireland. The letters detail his life from a cadet in HMS BRITANNIA, his first cruise in 1872 as a midshipman, and subsequent dutys in China, Japan, and the islands of the South Pacific via the new Suez Canal and around the Cape of Good Hope. His service in the east included action in the Perak expedition, and at Suakin, in the attempt to relieve General Gordon at Khartoum. He was mentioned in dispatches for the latter. He also fought in Egypt in 1882. In later life, Story returned to service during the First World War, eventually becoming Admiral Superintendant of Halifax Dockyard. Intriguingly, the family believe that his conversion to Catholicism led to him being forced to resign his naval position in 1911, and emigrate to Canada. Although there is no confirmation of this from the letters included, he obviously became a devout Catholic, as letters from his pilgrimage to Lourdes in the collection testify.