Newry

NEWRY REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OLD CEMETERY

Miss Clara Crozier

Clara Crozier was the daughter of Thomas (a farmer) and Eliza Crozier of Altnaveigh, Newry and a sister to Alice, Annie, David, Edward, George, Mary, Robert and Susan Crozier. Before the First World War, Clara worked in the Newry Manufacturing Company based at Hill Street, Newry. She enrolled in the Queen Mary’s Army Auxiliary Corps (QMAAC) in 1918.

The Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (renamed Queen Mary’s Army Auxiliary Corps in April 1918) was formed in 1917 to help free more men for the front. The women who enrolled offered support to the army by acting as cooks, waitresses, clerical workers, drivers and telephonists.

Clara was serving in Fermoy, Co. Cork, as a member of the Queen Mary’s Army Auxiliary Corps, when she contracted influenza and died there on the 17 November 1918. She was 22 years of age.

A member of Downshire Road Presbyterian Church, Newry, Clara was buried with military honours in the Reformed Presbyterian Church cemetery, Newry.

Clara is the only female from the First World War to be granted a Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstone in the former Newry and Mourne District Council area, and her headstone is in a bad state. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission will be erecting a new headstone for Clara in the near future.

Clara Crozier (Courtesy of Pauline Moore) and her grave (Newry and Mourne Museum Collection)

ST MARY’S ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH, NEWRY

Driver Joseph Carroll

Joseph Carroll was the son of Bernard and Elizabeth Carroll of 26 Church Street, Newry. He was attached to the 130th Battery, Royal Field Artillery and served throughout the war. While home on leave he contracted a chill and this brought about his death at the age of 31 on 18 March 1919. He was buried with military honours, Rev. F. J. O’Hare, C.C., officiating, and a detachment of the military stationed in Newry Barracks formed the firing party.

Grave of Joseph Carroll (Newry and Mourne Museum Collection)

Patrick Francis Curran

Patrick F. Curran was the son of Francis and Sarah A. Curran, Newry. He served in the Royal Irish Fusiliers before joining the Motor Transport section of the Army Service Corps. He had served about two years in France when he was given leave to return home. During his return to Newry he succumbed to an attack of Influenza and died, aged 22, on 3 November 1918. His father had died only seven weeks previously whilst in Paisley. Patrick was given a funeral with full military honours and a detachment of men from Newry Barracks attended. Rev. Daniel V. O’Hagan, C.C., officiated at the graveside.

Grave of P. F. Curran (Newry and Mourne Museum Collection)

James Gorman

James Gorman, the son of John and Sarah Gorman, was born on 22 July 1885 at Ballyoonan, near Omeath, Co. Louth. Before the war he was a labourer, like his father. At the time of his enrolment in the Royal Naval Reserve on 26 September 1914 he was living at 50 Rooney’s Terrace, Newry. James was 5 foot, 9 ½ inches tall and had grey eyes. He was a stoker on HMS Maidstone and died in Endell Street Hospital, London, on 2 March 1919 from appendicitis.

Driver William Lundy

William Lundy was a driver in the Royal Field Artillery. He was the son of John and Nellie Lundy, Moore’s Lane (off Castle Street), Newry. After enlisting in Newry he was in Dundalk, and subsequently England, before being sent to France. After at least ten months in France he received an injury and was sent home on leave. During four months at home, one month was spent in Belfast hospital. He had got kicked by a horse which had caused an injury to his knee. He also had an injury to his hand. William was last saw alive on 6 May 1916, three days before his 23rd birthday. His body was found drowned in Newry River, near Greenwood Park, on 18 May 1916. Fr. Fitzpatrick, C.C., officiated in the chapel and at the graveside. Lundy’s coffin was draped with the Union Jack and it had the cap of the deceased placed on top. A local newspaper recorded how, “At the graveside a large concourse witnessed silently the ceremonial with which the army bids farewell to its comrades.”

Grave of William Lundy (Newry and Mourne Museum Collection)

Private James Mcgrath

James McGrath died, aged 17, on 12 January 1915. Born in Newry, he was the second son of John McGrath (a butcher) and Jane McGrath, Newry. A Catholic, James was a member of the Irish National Volunteers. He enlisted at Ballykinler, Co. Down, joining the Royal Irish Rifles, in response to Lord Kitchener’s appeal, in order to “vindicate right and freedom”. After three months of active service he was knocked out by frostbite at the Front whilst serving in the trenches. Invalided home, he was admitted to Fazakerley Hospital, Liverpool, where he died after ten days of treatment. The casket containing his remains was sent to Newry by the s.s. Iveagh and a firing party of the Royal Irish Rifles participated in the funeral which a local newspaper described as “an impressive spectacle – the last tribute of respect to an Irish National Volunteer paid by British troops”.

Grave of James McGrath (Newry and Mourne Museum Collection)

Private John Mcgregor

John McGregor, the son of John and Mary McGregor of 11 Kiln Street, Newry, was born in Belfast. Before the First World War he was a general labourer. He enlisted in Newry and served with the Royal Irish Fusiliers (1st Battalion). He was admitted to the 12th General Hospital, Rouen, suffering from shellshock and in a letter sent home to his mother and sister he stated that shells bursting so near him had “shattered all his nerves”. He was transferred to West End Hospital, Welbeck Street, London on 7 February 1916 before coming home to Newry.

Private McGregor died, aged 33, on the 26 February 1916 in Newry Union Infirmary, to which he had been admitted from his residence in Monaghan Row, Newry, the previous evening with spotted fever (meningitis). The sixteen individuals who had come into contact with him at Monaghan Row were, as a precaution, isolated for a time in the Union hospital and provided with new clothing.

Rev. Thomas McGrath, C.C., was the officiating priest at his funeral, which was attended by a detachment of the 4th Battalion Royal Irish Fusiliers which were, at the time, stationed in Newry.

Private Alexander Mckigney

Alexander McKigney died in Belfast on the 23rd January 1915. Alexander was married to Catherine McKigney (a flax spinner) who lived at 3 High Street, Newry with their children, Mary and Ellen. He enlisted in Glasgow and served in France with the Royal Scottish Fusiliers (1st Battalion). He was hospitalised, in Glasgow, having returned from the Western Front with severe frostbite. His wife last saw him alive on the 5 January 1915, when she visited him in Stobhill Hospital, Glasgow.

Recently digitised records of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission indicate that the grave Alexander McKigney was buried in belonged to a “distant relative or friend who will in no circumstances permit a headstone to be erected. In this case it is very necessary to avoid friction between the Next-of-kin and the Party who claims a right to the grave by leaving the question of a headstone in abeyance.”

Sapper James O’neill

James was the son of James O’Neill and the husband of Margaret O’Neill. He was a sapper in the Royal Engineers (Inland Water Transport) and died on 23 December 1919, aged 50.

Grave of Patrick Sullivan (Newry and Mourne Museum Collection)

Private Patrick Sullivan

Patrick was born in Limerick, emigrated to Salford and enlisted in Manchester. He served in the Labour Corps and died on 16 January 1918.

Rifleman William Thompson

Before the First World War William worked at Daisy Hill Nurseries. He was in the 6th Battalion Royal Irish Rifles and saw active service in the Dardanelles, Salonica, Egypt and Palestine before being invalided home. He was admitted to Newry General Hospital in July 1918 and died there on 10 February 1919 aged 30. His funeral took place from the residence of his aunt and uncle, Joseph and Mary O’Connell, who ran a boarding house in Castle Street, Newry. Rev. Thomas McGrath, C.C., officiated at the funeral, which was attended by a number of sailors and discharged soldiers. His only brother had been killed earlier in the war.

ST PATRICK’S CHURCH OF IRELAND, NEWRY

John Beattie

Born in Bessbrook, John Beattie was the eldest son of John and Elizabeth Beattie, of Carnegat, Newry. Before the First World War he worked in Bessbrook Spinning Mill. He enlisted in Newry and served with the 5th Battalion Royal Irish Fusiliers. He was sent to Salonica (Greece), where he sustained a fractured spine caused by shrapnel and was admitted to hospital on 10 October 1916. His injury was so serious that a nurse made the journey with him back to Ireland, where he was admitted into the King George V Hospital, Dublin. It was there that he died on 27 January 1918. A Presbyterian he is listed on the War Memorial in Downshire Road Presbyterian Church, Newry, where he was a member.

There is a photograph of his grave on the front cover of this booklet.

John Beattie with nurses in hospital in Dublin (Courtesy of Martin Grant)

Grave of W. J. McAlpine (Newry and Mourne Museum Collection)

William John McAlpine

Born in Newry in 1897, William McAlpine was the son of Robert and Elizabeth McAlpine of 26 Cowan Street, Newry. He enrolled in the Royal Naval Reserve on 25 March 1916 and was a trimmer (coal stoker) on the minesweeper, HMS St. Seiriol. William was 5 feet, 6 inches tall and had brown eyes. He was accidentally drowned at Harwich Harbour, England on 18 November 1916. At the time of his death one of his brothers, Robert, was a Driver in the Army Service Corps and was serving in the British Expeditionary Force in France.

Rifleman G. McGauchey

G. McGaughey was a rifleman in the 13th Battalion Royal Irish Rifles. He died on the 22 January 1920.

Private Herbert George Moore

Born in Benagh, Newry he was the son of Isaac and Annie Moore. His father was an army veteran and served in several campaigns, the final being in the Boer War, after which he was a farmer. Before the outbreak of the First World War Private Moore was employed in the printing department of the Newry Reporter. He enlisted in Glasgow and served with the Hampshire Regiment (2nd Battalion). He died in the Military Hospital at Aldershot on 23 December 1918, aged 25, from wounds he received in action. A Presbyterian, he is buried in St. Patrick’s Church of Ireland graveyard, Newry.

Corporal Samuel Sheppardson

Samuel Sheppardson of Millvale, Newry, died, aged 48, in the Military Hospital, Belfast on 6 August 1915, where he had been for about two months. He had served with the Royal Dublin Fusiliers during the Boer War before subsequently entering the employment of Connors Chemists, Newry. At the outbreak of the First World War he was appointed Recruiting Sergeant for the Newry district. Afterwards he joined the Ulster Division and was appointed sergeant in one of the companies of the Reserve Battalion. He was survived by his wife and three daughters. His remains were brought from Belfast to Newry by motor hearse. The coffin was covered with the Union Jack and several wreaths. A detachment of the 8th Battalion Royal Irish Fusiliers, Newry, attended the funeral and the final salute was fired by a party of thirteen men. He was a member of Downshire Road Presbyterian Church, Newry.

Grave of Samuel Sheppardson (Newry and Mourne Museum Collection)

An Unidentified Soldier

In a fierce gale on the 3 November 1916 the Connemara, a passenger steamer travelling from Greenore to Hollywood collided with the Retriever, a collier owned by the Clanrye Shipping Company, just a few yards from Cranfield Point at the entrance to Carlingford Lough. Over 90 lives were lost in the incident and the only survivor of the disaster was James Boyle from Warrenpoint, who was a 21-year-old crew member of the Retriever.

The remains of an unidentified soldier who had been sailing on the Connemara when it sunk was buried in St. Patrick’s Church of Ireland churchyard, Newry on 8 November 1916. The funeral took place from Newry Military Barracks and full military honours were given. The coffin was covered with the Union Jack and bore a soldier’s cap and accoutrements and was carried to the church on a gun-carriage supplied by the Royal Horse Artillery attached to the battalion of the Essex (Territorial) Regiment stationed at Dundalk. Three volleys were fired and the “Last Post” was sounded by a bugler of the Rifles.

The coffin bore the number “15”, and the official records recorded it as “Soldier, unrecognisable”/“A Soldier of the Great War”/“Unknown British Soldier”. The grave was bought by Newry Town Hall.

Grave of an “Unknown Soldier” at St Patrick’s Church of Ireland Graveyard, Newry (Newry and Mourne Museum Collection)