Calvert, William James
Rifleman
No. 17395, ‘C’ Company, 13th Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles
Killed in action on Saturday 1 July 1916 (aged 19)
No known grave
Commemorated:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Thiepval Memorial, France (Pier and Face 15 A and 15 B)
Killinchy Parish Church of Ireland Church
Presbyterian Church in Ireland (PCI) Roll of Honour 1914 – 1919 for
First Killyleagh Presbyterian Church
BIOGRAPHY
In the Soldiers Died in the Great War 1914 – 1919 database it is recorded that Rifleman William James Calvert (No. 17395) was born in Killyleagh and enlisted in Downpatrick.
Rifleman William James Calvert (No. 17395) served with the 13th Battalion Royal Irish Rifles in 108th Brigade of the 36th (Ulster) Division and he was 19 when he was killed in action on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.
In the Army Register of Soldiers’ Effects, it is recorded that Rifleman William James Calvert (No. 17395) was a son of Mrs Mary J. Seay.
William James Calvert was born on 12 April 1897 in the townland of Toye and he was a son of William John and Mary Jane Calvert (nee White) who were married on 24 September 1895 in Downpatrick Registry Office. William John Calvert from Derryboye was a son of Thomas Calvert, a labourer. Mary Jane White from Ballymacreely was a daughter of Andrew White, a labourer.
William John Calvert worked as a labourer and he and Mary Jane had two children:
William James (born 12 April 1897 in the townland of Toye)
Sarah Henderson (born 17 September 1899 in Frederick Street, Newtownards)
In the 1901 census it is recorded that the widowed Mary Jane Calvert was working as an embroiderer and living in the townland of Clay, Killyleagh with her children, William James and Sarah, along with her unmarried sister Ellen White.
Mary Jane Calvert (nee White) and William Seay (sometimes Sye, sometimes Saye) were married on 1 May 1906 in Ballygowan Presbyterian Church. William Seay, a farmer from Ballygoskin, was a son of John Seay, a farmer.
William Seay and Mary Jane Seay (formerly Calvert, nee White) had two children:
Jane Wilson (born 13 February 1908 in Ballygoskin)
Samuel Morrow (born 8 February 1910 in Ballygoskin)
Rifleman William James Calvert (No. 17395) has no known grave and he is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial in France; in Killinchy Parish Church of Ireland Church and on the Presbyterian Church in Ireland (PCI) Roll of Honour 1914 – 1919 for First Killyleagh Presbyterian Church.