Campbell, Mark Welch (Mark)
Private
No. 16982, 1st Battalion, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers
Killed in action on Tuesday 14 December 1915 (aged 26)
Buried:
Twelve Tree Copse Cemetery, Gallipoli, Turkey (Grave II. F. 11)
Commemorated:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Ballygrainey Presbyterian Church
BIOGRAPHY
There is some variation in how Mark Campbell’s second forename is spelt in different official records – Walsh, Wash, Welsh and Welch.
Mark Welch Campbell was born on 12 May 1889 in Bangor and he was a son of Mark and Jane Campbell (nee McCready) who were married on 3 May 1877 in Ballygrainey Presbyterian Church. Mark Campbell, a sailor from Bangor, was a son of Thomas Campbell, a sailor. Jane McCready was from Cottown.
The Campbell family lived in the townland of Cottown, Donaghadee.
Mark Campbell Senior was a sea captain and he and Jane had at least six children:
Mary Murdoch (born 21 July 1882 in Cottown)
Samuel Skimmin (born 9 December 1883)
Jane (born 21 May 1885 in Union Street, Bangor)
Sarah Kirkpatrick (born 9 July 1887 in Cottown)
Mark Welch (born 12 May 1889 in Union Street, Bangor)
Thomas (born 31 July 1892 in Union Street, Bangor)
All of these children were baptised in Ballygrainey Presbyterian Church.
Mark Welch Campbell enlisted in November 1914 in Liverpool, he served with the 1st Battalion Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers in 87th Brigade of the 29th Division and went to France in March 1915. He was invalided home in August 1915 and was an in-patient in Springburn Hospital, Glasgow for nine weeks. He was posted to the Dardanelles in November 1915 and was killed in action there one month later on 14 December 1915.
Private Mark Welch Campbell (No. 16982) was buried in Twelve Tree Copse Cemetery, Gallipoli, Turkey and he is commemorated in Ballygrainey Presbyterian Church. There is an inscription on his CWGC headstone:
THY WILL BE DONE
At the time of Private Mark Welch Campbell’s death, his sisters were living at 10 Haddon Avenue, Liverpool.