DeVoy, Samuel (Sammy)
Sergeant
No. 17563, ‘B’ Company, 13th Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles
Killed in action on Saturday 1 July 1916 (aged 29)
No known grave
Commemorated:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Thiepval Memorial, France (Pier and Face 15 A and 15 B)
Newtownards and District War Memorial
Presbyterian Church in Ireland (PCI) Roll of Honour 1914 – 1919 for
Strean Presbyterian Church Newtownards
BIOGRAPHY
In some records his surname is spelt Devoy.
Samuel DeVoy was born on 14 September 1886 in Court Street, Newtownards and he was a son of John and Eleanor Maria DeVoy (nee McCracken) who were married on 28 June 1882 in First Newtownards Presbyterian Church. John DeVoy from Newtownards was a son of James DeVoy, a farmer. Eleanor Maria McCracken, a school-teacher from Newtownards was a daughter of Alexander McCracken, a farmer.
The DeVoy family lived in Court Street, Court Square and South Street, Newtownards.
John DeVoy worked as a saddler and he and Maria had at least six children:
James (born 11 January 1883 in South Street, Newtownards)
Mary (born 6 August 1884 in South Street, Newtownards)
Samuel (born 14 September 1886 in Court Street, Newtownards)
Agnes Jane (Netta, born 16 February 1893 in Court Street, Newtownards)
John Forbes (born 23 July 1894 in Court Street, Newtownards)
Eleanor Maria (born 16 April 1899 in Castle Street, Newtownards)
Agnes Jane, John Forbes and Eleanor Maria DeVoy were baptised in Strean Presbyterian Church Newtownards.
Samuel DeVoy was present when his father, John, died of asthma at Court Square, Newtownards on 20 April 1910 (aged 55) and Samuel registered his father’s death.
Prior to the outbreak of the Great War Samuel DeVoy worked as a draper’s assistant. He enlisted in 1914 and served with the 13th Battalion Royal Irish Rifles in 108th Brigade of the 36th (Ulster) Division.
Sergeant Samuel DeVoy (No. 17563) was killed in action on the first day of the Battle of the Somme and his widowed mother placed a For King and Country notice in the Newtownards Chronicle. So too did his chum, George Whalley, who lived in Court Square, Newtownards.
Sergeant Samuel DeVoy (No. 17563) has no known grave and he is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial in France; on Newtownards and District War Memorial and in the PCI Roll of Honour for Strean Presbyterian Church Newtownards.