Kelly, Edward John (Edward)

Rifleman

No. 4/7074, 1^st Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles

Killed in action on Sunday 9 May 1915 (aged 22)

No known grave

Commemorated:

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Ploegsteert Memorial, France (Panel 9)

Newtownards and District War Memorial

Presbyterian Church in Ireland (PCI) Roll of Honour 1914 – 1919 for

Greenwell Street Presbyterian Church Newtownards

BIOGRAPHY

In different records, there is some variation in his Regimental Number:

771 (Commonwealth War Graves Commission Debt of Honour Website)

1074 (Newspaper Report)

7074 (Soldiers Died in the Great War 1914 – 1919 Database)

Edward John Kelly was born on 13 February 1893 in Mill Street, Newtownards and he was a son of Alice Kelly who worked as an embroiderer.

In 1901, Edward John Kelly and his sister Mary Ann (Minnie, born 6 December 1898) were living with their mother Alice, their uncle Alexander and their widowed grandmother Margaret in Mill Street, Newtownards.

Edward John Kelly was baptised in Greenwell Street Presbyterian Church Newtownards.

Edward John Kelly enlisted in Newtownards and he joined the 4^th Battalion Royal Irish Rifles.  He went to France with the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) on 28 December 1914 to replace casualties and was posted to ‘D’ Company 1^st Battalion Royal Irish Rifles.

Rifleman Edward John Kelly was posted as missing in action after the action at Rouge Bancs on 9 May 1915 and his mother sought information about him through the pages of the Newtownards Chronicle.  Later it was officially confirmed that he must be presumed to have been killed in action.

Rifleman Edward John Kelly has no known grave and he is commemorated on the Ploegsteert Memorial in France; on Newtownards and District War Memorial and in the PCI Roll of Honour for Greenwell Street Presbyterian Church Newtownards.