Grandpa John Kilgariff in WWI

 

John Francis Kilgariff

14 August 1890 – 25 July 1955

My maternal grandfather enlisted and served in WW1 with the Royal Irish Rifles and Royal Irish Fusiliers as part of the UK military, 7 August 1914 to 1 August 1919. He was an Irish citizen at the time, living in Belfast with his parents and siblings.

John Francis Kilgariff, Royal Irish Fusiliers (the emblem on his cap).

The chevrons on his right sleeve indicate this photo was probably taken in Egypt towards the end of his service since one chevron = one year of service overseas.

Photo from the private collection of granddaughter Carol McLaughlin Neilson

He served in the War in the Balkans, including service in Gallipoli, and later in Palestine.

                    http://digitalcollections.trentu.ca/exhibits/fowlds/fnum1cdnhosp.htm                           https://www.nam.ac.uk/explore/egypt-and-palestine-campaign

My grandfather’s military papers say he volunteered early in the war, with the Irish Rifles. According to my cousin Chris King, they would have been part of the 6th (Service) Battalion which was formed in Dublin in August 1914, and went through these evolutions and battles:

-Unit attached to 29^th Brigade in the 10^th (Irish) Division

-February 1914: moved to the Curragh (a flat, open plain in County Kildare used by the military as a training camp)

-May 1915: moved to Hackwood Park (Basingstoke) in Hampshire, UK, to continue military training

-7 July 1915: embarked at Liverpool and sailed to Gallipoli via Mudros. Mudros was on the island of Lemnos in the Aegean Sea (see above).

-29 September 1915: moved to Salonika, arriving 4-5 October.

[-31 October 1916: My grandfather was wounded; recuperated through at least December 1916; perhaps longer.]

-September 1917: moved to Egypt for service in Palestine

-15 May 1918: unit disbanded at Deir-el-Nidham, Palestine

-1 August 1919: Demobilized, transferred to Reserve 

Info from:  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10th_(Irish)_Division#:~:text=It%20included%20battalions%20from%20the,travelled%20of%20the%20Irish%20formations

According to his Casualty Card extract [Fig 1] he was wounded 31 October 1916. No full casualty record is available due to WWII bombings of London. But the casualty card extract does tell the places he went when wounded. I put the events in chronological order and added additional information here to make it more understandable.

31 Oct 1916 - Wounded 31 October Reported by ob Battalion

2 Nov 1916 - Sto abdomen admitted 1^st Canadian Stationary Hospital [on Lemnos, Greece]

(I don’t know why the 2 Nov incident appears before the 31 Oct incident on the card?)

6 Nov 1916 - Transferred to Hospital Ship Braemar Castle 6 November 1916 [Fig 2]                                                        a week later the ship struck a mine in the Aegean Sea  

11 Nov 1916 - Sto R Thigh Admitted Admiral Baviere Military Hospital, Malta [Fig 3]

18 Dec 1916 - G Sto R Thigh transferred to Convalescent Camp Ghain Tuffieha, Malta [Fig 4]

Fig 1 - John Kilgariff's Casualty Card. From Ancestry.com

This First Aid wagon is the type of vehicle my grandfather would have been placed in to be transported               from the battlefield to the field hospital, then to the ship that took him to Malta.

This photo of my grandfather (x) and his fellow soldiers would have been taken 

when he was convalescing on Malta. 

Photo in the private collection of Carol McLaughlin Neilson, granddaughter. 

Fig 2 – the Braemar Castle as a hospital ship - https://bandcstaffregister.com/page197.html - accessed 16Mar2023

This is the ship that transported my wounded grandfather to the island of Malta, to recuperate. A week later this ship struck a mine and exploded.

Fig 3 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auberge_de_Bavi%C3%A8re accessed 16Mar2023

The hospital where he recuperated, on the east side of Malta (blue pinpoint).

                                 FIG 5­­­4- http://www.maltaramc.com/imgmaps/mltahosp1915.jpg accessed 17Mar2023

Convalescent Camp Ghain Tuffieha on Malta, location circled in yellow, where he went to convalesce.

In 1917 his unit moved to Palestine for service in that region. At one point during his time in Palestine, he participated in celebrating the Feast Assumption of Our Lady on 15 August 1918. He saved a pamphlet of it, below.

     ~~~   ~~~   ~~~   ~~~   ~~~   ~~~   ~~~   ~~~

Release from the military 1 August 1919. Certificate from ancestry.com

As a result of his service in the military he was awarded three medals, shown on the next page.

 British War Medal -for all who served overseas

Front: shows the King George V, bareheaded coinage effigy, facing left, with the legend: 

GEORGIVS V BRITT : OMN : REX ET IND : IMP :

Reverse: there is a horseman, St. George, armed with a short sword (an allegory of the physical and mental strength which achieves victory over Prussianism). The horse tramples on the Prussian shield and the skull and cross-bones. Off-center, near the right upper rim, is the sun of Victory. The dates 1914 and 1918 appear in the left and right fields respectively. 

        

    

        British Victory Medal                                                                             British 1915 Star                                                                                                                              For all who served in a theater of war                                                                                                                            before 1914

For further information on the Irish in WW1 in the Balkans: 

https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/an-irishman-s-diary-on-the-10th-irish-division-and-salonika-1.2457673

For further information on the 6^th (Service) Battalion:

https://www.nickmetcalfe.co.uk/the-evolution-of-the-regular-and-service-battalions-of-princess-victorias-royal-irish-fusiliers-1914-1918-part-4-the-5th-6th-5th6th-11th-service-battalions/ 

For further information on the 10th (Irish) Division in WWI: 

https://archive.org/details/tenthirishdivisi00cooprich

for further information on experiences of British soldiers in Egypt and Palestine:
http://ndl.ethernet.edu.et/bitstream/123456789/68411/1/23.pdf.pdf