McChesney, John
Ex-Rifleman
No. 18215, ‘B’ Company, 13th Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles
Died of disease on Tuesday 19 November 1918 (aged 41)
Buried:
Newtownards (Movilla) Cemetery, Co. Down (Grave 1. 195)
Commemorated:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Newtownards and District War Memorial
Presbyterian Church in Ireland (PCI) Roll of Honour 1914 – 1919 for
Greenwell Street Presbyterian Church Newtownards
BIOGRAPHY
John McChesney was born on 31 May 1877 in John Street, Newtownards and he was a son of John and Rachel McChesney (nee Gibson) who were married on 31 October 1868 in Newtownards Parish Church of Ireland Church (St Mark’s).
The McChesney family lived in Newtownards, in Greenwell Street; John Street; Windmill Row; Victoria Avenue and East Street.
John McChesney worked as a labourer and he and Rachel McChesney (nee Gibson) had five children:
Ellen Jane (born 19 August 1869 in Greenwell Street, Newtownards)
Charles (born 26 May 1873 in Greenwell Street, Newtownards; died 26 January 1874)
Catherine Mary (born 10 December 1874 in John Street, Newtownards)
John (born 31 May 1877 in John Street, Newtownards)
Robert James (born 20 April 1881 in John Street, Newtownards)
All of these children were baptised in Greenwell Street Presbyterian Church Newtownards.
Their father, John McChesney Senior, died of tuberculosis on 2 October 1886 (aged 41)
Their mother, Rachel McChesney, died of cardiac failure on 22 December 1915 (aged 70). Her son John was with her when she died.
Before the outbreak of the Great War John McChesney Junior worked as a heckler (flax comber) and general labourer. He was 37 years old when he enlisted on 17 September 1914 in Newtownards but he declared his age to be 30 years 3 months. He was posted to the 13th Battalion Royal Irish Rifles on 17 September 1914 and was discharged from the Army on 16 March 1915 because of Valvular Disease of the Heart (VDH).
Ex-Rifleman John McChesney (No. 18215) died on 19 November 1918 as a result of hemiplegia (two years) and bronchitis (one month). He died at East Street, Newtownards and his sister-in-law, Ethel McChesney, (Robert James’s wife) was with him when he died.
Robert James McChesney and Ethel Geddis Massey were married on 18 May 1907 in Greenwell Street Presbyterian Church Newtownards.
Ex-Rifleman John McChesney (No. 18215) was buried in Movilla Cemetery, Newtownards and he is commemorated on Newtownards and District War Memorial and in the Presbyterian Church in Ireland (PCI) Roll of Honour 1914 – 1919 for
Greenwell Street Presbyterian Church Newtownards.