McCullough, James
Rifleman
No. 3728, 8th Battalion attached 17th Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles
Died of wounds on Tuesday 2 May 1916 (aged 54)
Buried:
Grangegorman Military Cemetery, Co. Dublin (Grave CE 810)
Commemorated:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Donaghadee Parish Church of Ireland Church
Father of McCullough, James (No. 6846)
BIOGRAPHY
Rifleman James McCullough (No. 3728) was born on 8 October 1861 in Poona, India. He was a son of Private Francis McCullough, 95th Foot Regiment and Mary Ann McCullough (nee Wallace) who were married on 25 September 1849 in Newtownards Parish Church of Ireland Church (St Mark). Both of James McCullough’s parents came originally from Newtownards.
Francis and Mary Ann McCullough had at least two children:
Frances Anna (born 1857 in Belfast)
James (born 8 October 1861 in Poona, India)
Their mother, Mary Ann, died in Poona in 1869 and two years later Francis returned to Ireland. On 1 July 1881 (aged 48) he was run over by a train and killed at Ballymacarrett Station.
James McCullough worked as a shipyard labourer and he and Sarah Ann Reid were married on 10 December 1888 in St Mary’s Parish Church of Ireland Church Belfast.
They lived at several different addresses in Belfast including Finmore Street, 39 Central Street and 6 Connswater Street. Sometime after 1912 the McCullough family moved to Donaghadee where they lived at several different addresses including Back Street and 29 Manor Street.
James and Sarah Ann McCullough had at least fifteen children, nine of whom died in infancy. The six that survived were:
James (born 29 March 1895 in Finmore Street, Belfast)
John (born 9 May 1897)
Frances (born 8 July 1898)
Janet (Ginny, born 4 December 1902)
Henry (Harry, born 3 November 1908)
William (Willie, born 6 April 1911)
James McCullough joined the Army and during the Great War he was posted to Dublin. Rifleman James McCullough was shot in the right arm on 27 April 1916 during the Easter Rising and he died on 2 May 1916 as a result of the wound. Initially he was buried in the grounds of the King George V Hospital in Dublin and then in 1920 his body was exhumed and re-interred in Grangegorman Military Cemetery. Rifleman James McCullough was 54 when he died and he is commemorated in Donaghadee Parish Church of Ireland Church. In the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) Debt of Honour Website his age at death is recorded as 38.