McAlorum, Daniel
Lance Corporal
No. 3216, 6th Battalion, Prince of Wales’s Leinster Regiment (Royal Canadians)
Killed in action on Tuesday 15 May 1917 (aged 39)
Buried:
Struma Military Cemetery, Greece (Grave V. D. 3)
Commemorated:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Bangor and District War Memorial
Royal British Legion (Bangor Branch) Memorial Plaque
Comrades of the Great War (Bangor Branch) Album in North Down Museum
Cousin of Corporal James McClure (No. D/21116)
BIOGRAPHY
In some records his surname is spelt McIllorum, in others McIlloran, in others McIlgorm, in others McIlheran, in others McIloran and in others McIlorum.
Daniel McAlorum was born on 8 November 1877 in Conlig and he was a son of Daniel and Margaret (Maggie) McAlorum (nee Sweeney) who were married on 13 August 1878 in Ballygrainey Presbyterian Church. Daniel McAlorum from Drumhirk was a son of Michael McAlorum, a labourer (Michael McAlorum died on 5 April 1892). Maggie Sweeney (aged 18) from Conlig was a daughter of David and Lizzie Sweeney (David Sweeney worked as a labourer).
[Daniel McAlorum and Maggie Sweeney may have been married previously in a Roman Catholic Church. It may be that one of them was Roman Catholic and the other one Presbyterian. Before 1 January 1871 it was illegal for a Roman Catholic priest to marry a mixed-religion couple. There are records of marriages conducted in Roman Catholic Churches after civil registration where the marriage is not recorded in Civil Records. In the 1901 census all the family members are recorded as Presbyterian and living in Castle Street, Bangor.]
The McAlorum family lived in Conlig and then in Bangor – in Croft Street, Castle Street, Middle Road, West Street and Church Street.
Daniel McAlorum worked as a plasterer and as a labourer and he and Maggie had at least twelve children:
Daniel (born 8 November 1877 in Conlig)
Henry (Harry, born 8 September 1879 in Conlig)
Martha (born 13 August 1881 in Croft Street, Bangor)
Elizabeth Jane (born 30 April 1883 in Castle Street, Bangor)
Isabella (Bella, born 22 February 1885 in Castle Street, Bangor)
Walter (born 1 January 1887 in Croft Street, Bangor)
Charlotte Kathleen (born 28 January 1889 in Middle Road, Bangor)
Susan (born 19 September 1890 in West Street, Bangor)
Anna (born 21 May 1892 in West Street, Bangor)
David James (born 25 January 1894 in Church Street, Bangor)
Mary (born 2 December 1895 in Church Street, Bangor; died of diarrhoea 20 October 1898)
John (born 6 November 1897 in Church Street, Bangor)
Daniel McAlorum was baptised on 14 February 1878 by Fr Peter McCabe.
[The date is unusual because, normally, babies were baptised within a couple of days of birth in the Roman Catholic Church.]
Daniel may have been baptised in the old St Comgall’s Roman Catholic Church, Brunswick Road, Bangor; or at home or in the Roman Catholic Church, Newtownards.
At least three of his siblings attended St Comgall’s National School, Brunswick Road, Bangor which opened on 1 October 1890. Harry, Martha and Bella were enrolled on the opening day.
Daniel’s widowed mother, Margaret McAlorum, died of bronchitis on 25 January 1916 at 53 Castle Street, Bangor.
Daniel McAlorum served throughout the South African War and he was awarded the Queen’s Medal.
In civilian life Daniel McAlorum worked as a plasterer and on 11 September 1911 he and Annie O’Shea (a daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth O’Shea) were married in Bangor Roman Catholic Church. Thomas O’Shea, who was born in Co Tipperary, was a horse trainer on the Dufferin and Ava estate; Elizabeth O’Shea, who was born in Co Armagh, was a confectioner.
Daniel and Annie McAlorum (nee O’Shea) had four children:
Mary Elizabeth (born 27 October 1911 in King Street, Bangor)
Patrick John (born 13 January 1913 at 26 King Street, Bangor; died of convulsions 17 May 1914)
Annie Josephine (born 30 December 1913 at 26 King Street, Bangor)
Edith (born 20 May 1917)
The McAlorum family lived at 26 King Street, Bangor.
Daniel McAlorum re-joined the colours at the outbreak of the Great War and he served with the 6th Battalion Prince of Wales’s Leinster Regiment (Royal Canadians). In May 1916 he was treated for gas poisoning in Netley Hospital in England.
[This hospital was built in 1885 on Southampton Water on the instructions of Queen Victoria to treat men wounded in the Crimean War. During the Great War more than 50,000 patients were treated at Netley and during the Second World War it was used as an American Military Hospital. It was demolished in 1966 after a fire.]
After he had recovered, Lance Corporal Daniel McAlorum (No. 3216) returned to active service and he was 37 when he was killed in action at Salonika on 15 May 1917.
Captain Brabazon wrote to Daniel’s widow to express his sympathy. He explained that Daniel had died ‘whilst gallantly leading his section in a raid on the advanced posts of the enemy’ and he also said that Daniel ‘had just been promoted lance-corporal although at first, he was reluctant to accept non-commissioned officer’s rank. He was one of the best NCOs in my Company’.
Daniel’s widow, Annie, placed a notice in the 22 June 1917 edition of the County Down Spectator and it contained the verse:
On whose soul, Sweet Jesus, have mercy – RIP
As in life we fondly loved him,
We’ll forget him not in death,
But before God’s holy altar
Pray his soul may be at rest.
In a distant land a volley rings,
The bugles sound farewell;
A little cross, a passing flower,
Mark where a soldier fell
Lance Corporal Daniel McAlorum (No. 3216) was buried in Struma Military Cemetery in Greece and he is commemorated on Bangor and District War Memorial; on the Royal British Legion (Bangor Branch) Memorial Plaque and in the Comrades of the Great War (Bangor Branch) Album in North Down Museum.