Connolly, Albert
Private
No. M2/117563, Mechanical Transport, Army Service Corps attached to
110th Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps
Died of disease on Tuesday 25 February 1919 (aged 22)
Buried:
Tourcoing (Pont-Neuville) Communal Cemetery, France (Grave M. 2)
Commemorated:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Saintfield Presbyterian Church
Family grave headstone in Saintfield Presbyterian Graveyard
BIOGRAPHY
In some records his surname is spelt Connoly.
The death of Driver Albert Connolly was reported in the 8 March 1919 edition of the Newtownards Chronicle under the headline Death of Ballygowan Soldier.
Albert Connolly was born on 21 September 1896 and he was the youngest son of John and Mary Elizabeth Connolly (nee Wallace) who were married on 1 June 1882 in First Holywood Presbyterian Church. John Connolly, a farmer from Ballycloughan, Saintfield was a son of George Connolly, a farmer. Mary Elizabeth Wallace from Ballycultra, Holywood was a daughter of James Finlay Wallace, a farmer.
The Connolly family lived in the townland of Ravara, Ballygowan.
John Connolly was a farmer and he and Mary Elizabeth had ten children:
James George (born around 1882/1883; died of phthisis at Ballycultra 19 February 1905 aged 23)
William John (born 2 June 1884 in Ravara; died 5 May 1968)
Mary Jane (born 18 September 1885 in Ravara)
Hugh Henry (born 14 May 1887 in Ravara; died of bronchitis 8 March 1888)
Ruth (born 18 September 1888 in Ravara; died 6 July 1891 in Ballycultra – ten minutes after being accidentally knocked down by a horse)
Hugh Henry (born 28 May 1890 in Ravara)
Ruth (born 8 March 1892 in Ravara; died 30 June 1936)
Anna Euphemia (Effie, born 13 October 1894 in Ravara; died 29 January 1935)
Albert (born 21 September 1896 in Ravara)
Margaret Isabella (Madge, born 27 October 1898 in Ravara)
Albert Connolly was two when his father died of stomach cancer in Ravara on 31 August 1899 (aged 48).
Albert Connolly was educated at Ballycloughan, Saintfield and, prior to the Great War, he worked as a mechanical engineer.
Albert Connolly enlisted on 26 May 1915, joined the Army Service Corps and went to France in October 1915.
Private Albert Connolly (No. M2/117563 was attached to the 110th Field Ambulance as a Despatch Rider and he was 22 when he died of pneumonia at No. 10 Clearing Station in France on 25 February 1919.
Private Albert Connolly (No. M2/117563 was buried in Tourcoing (Pont-Neuville) Communal Cemetery, France and there is an inscription on his CWGC headstone:
UNTIL THE DAY BREAK
AND THE SHADOWS FLEE AWAY
EVER REMEMBERED
One of Albert Connolly’s brothers served with the Australian Forces.