Mulholland, Neil McLean (Neil)
Rifleman
No. 11471, 6th Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles
Killed in action on Wednesday 11 August 1915 (aged 39)
No known grave
Commemorated:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Helles Memorial, Gallipoli, Turkey (Panel 177 and 178)
Family grave headstone in Whitechurch Cemetery Ballywalter
BIOGRAPHY
In some records his first forename is spelt Neilly and in others Cornelius.
There is a headstone in Whitechurch Cemetery, Ballywalter on which Rifleman Neil McLean Mulholland is commemorated:
WILLIAM MULHOLLAND
MASTER MARINER
IN MEMORY OF HIS BELOVED WIFE
AGNES HERON
WHO DIED 22ND MARCH 1890
AGED 73 YEARS
ALSO, THE ABOVE NAMED
CAPTAIN WILLIAM MULHOLLAND
BORN 16TH MARCH 1819
DIED 14TH APRIL 1899
HIS SON
NEIL MCLEAN MULHOLLAND
KILLED IN ACTION AT GALLIPOLI 1915
AGED 39 YEARS
ALSO, MARY J, WIFE OF ABOVE
WHO DIED 17TH MARCH 1918
AGED 32 YEARS
Research has found that, in fact, William Mulholland, Master Mariner, and Agnes Mulholland (nee Heron) were Neil McLean Mulholland’s grandparents.
Close beside this headstone erected by Master Mariner William Mulholland, on which Neil’s name is inscribed, there is another headstone erected by the same William Mulholland:
ERECTED BY
WILLIAM MULHOLLAND OF BELFAST
MARINER IN MEMORY OF HIS MOTHER
MARY ANN MULHOLLAND ALIAS ADAIR
WHO DIED THE 6TH NOVEMBER 1848 AGED
62 YEARS. ALSO, ELLEN MULHOLLAND HIS
SISTER WHO DIED THE 14TH DECEMBER 1861
AGED 50 YEARS. ALSO, HIS FATHER JAMES
MULHOLLAND WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE THE
26TH JANUARY 1863 AGED 75 YEARS
GONE TO THAT GLORY WORLD LET FRIENDS BELIEVE
WHERE NEITHER SINS NOR SORROWS REIGN
AND THE PURE DEAD FOR WHOM THE LIVING GRIEVE
HEAVEN SHALL REVEAL IN LIGHT AGAIN
ALSO, HIS SON WILLIAM WHO WAS DROWNED IN DINGLE
BAY IN A STORM ON THE NIGHT OF 16TH OCTOBER 1889 AGED
42 YEARS. AND HIS BODY LIES IN CAHIRCIVEEN CHURCH
YARD. ALSO, HIS GRANDDAUGHTER ELIZABETH
WHO DIED 12TH MARCH 1890 AGED 1 YEAR 3 MONTHS
ALSO, HIS SON THOMAS WHO DIED ON BOARD THE STEAM SHIP
MOHAWK ON THE 29TH MAY 1892 ON HER PASSAGE FROM NEW
YORK TO LONDON AGED 52 YEARS
ALSO, HIS GRANDDAUGHTER ELEANOR MAUD
WHO DIED 10TH NOVEMBER 1892 AGED 1 YEAR 8 MONTHS
Some parts of the inscription are becoming difficult to read but enough is clear to provide the basis for establishing the following family details.
The casualty’s paternal great-grandparents were James (a weaver) and Mary Ann Mulholland (nee Adair) who had at least two children:
Ellen (born around 1811; died 14 December 1861)
William (the casualty’s grandfather, born 16 March 1819; died 14 April 1899)
Mary Ann Mulholland died on 6 November 1848 (aged 62), James Mulholland died on 26 January 1863 (aged 75), and both were buried in Whitechurch Cemetery, Ballywalter.
The casualty’s grandparents were William and Agnes Mulholland (nee Heron) who had at least two children:
William (the casualty’s father, born around 1847; died 6 October 1889 – drowned in Dingle Bay when the vessel Zuleika was wrecked in a storm)
Thomas (the casualty’s uncle, born around 1860; died 29 May 1892, aboard the steam ship Mohawk enroute from New York to London)
Agnes Mulholland (nee Heron) died of apoplexy at 28 Princes Street, Belfast on 22 March 1890 (aged 72). Her son Thomas was with her when she died. Her widowed husband, William Mulholland, and Margaret Jordan (nee Cochrane) were married on 15 January 1895 in the Albert Bridge Independent Church, Belfast. William Mulholland, a widowed sea captain from Princes Street Belfast was a son of James Mulholland, a weaver (deceased). The widowed Margaret Jordan (nee Cochrane) from Albert Bridge Road, Belfast was a daughter of John Cochrane, a farmer.
It was Margaret who put a notice of William’s death in the 15 April 1899 edition of the Belfast Newsletter newspaper. Retired Sea Captain William Mulholland died of influenza and bronchitis at 28 Princes Street, Belfast on 14 April 1899 (aged 80). His brother-in-law, James Grant, was with him when he died.
Both Agnes and William Mulholland were buried in Whitechurch Cemetery Ballywalter.
The casualty, Neil McLean Mulholland, was born on 23 February 1876 at English Street, Annan, Dumfries, Scotland and he was a son of William Mulholland (then a ‘travelling draper’) and Christina Mulholland (nee Lackie, sometimes Leckie, sometimes Lackey) who were married on 6 August 1873 at Rose Street, Annan, according to the form of the Independent Church. William Mulholland (a bachelor aged 25) was a travelling draper from Rose Street, Annan, and he was a son of William Mulholland (a master mariner) and Agnes Mulholland (nee Heron). Christina Leckie (a spinster aged 21, born 24 May 1850) from Rose Street, Annan was a daughter of James Leckie (a master tailor, deceased) and Helen Leckie (nee Carruthers).
William and Christina Mulholland (nee Leckie) had six children:
William (born 1874 in Scotland)
Neil McLean (born 23 February 1876 at Annan, Scotland)
Thomas (born 1878 in Scotland)
Mary Ann (born 16 January 1879 at 7 Independent Street, Belfast)
John Lackey (born 30 July 1886 at 14 Pitt Place, Belfast)
James Lackey (born 24 April 1889 at 14 Pitt Place, Belfast)
Their father’s occupation changed from ‘tailor’ to ‘sailor’. Master William Mulholland (aged 42) from 14 Pitt Place, Ballymacarratt, Belfast drowned when the brigantine Zuleika was smashed to pieces on a reef in Dingle Bay during a storm on 6 October 1889. All hands were lost. Master William Mulholland’s body was washed ashore and buried in Kilvarnogue burial ground, subsequently exhumed and re-interred in Caherciveen graveyard. The incident was reported widely in the Press and other lives lost included John Mulholland, Hugh Bell, and Duncan McVicker. It was reported that William Mulholland left a wife and six children.
The widowed Christina Mulholland died from dysentery at 7 Belmont Street, Belfast on 5 June 1893 (aged 36). William Fullerton from 19 Pitt Place, Belfast was with her when she died.
Neil McLean Mulholland and Mary Jane McDade were married on 5 February 1907 in St Anne’s Church of Ireland Church Belfast. Neil (Neilly) Mulholland (aged 27) from 7 Meadow Street, Belfast was a son of William Mulholland, who was described as ‘a seaman’. Mary Jane McDade (aged 23) from 23 Nelson Street, Belfast was a daughter of William McDade, who was also described as ‘a seaman’.
Neil Mulholland worked as a labourer and he and Mary Jane had at least five children:
Margaret (born 20 July 1908 at 53 Saunders Street, Belfast)
Christina (born 31 July 1910 at 70 Saunders Street, Belfast)
Agnes (born 29 January 1912 at 70 Saunders Street, Belfast)
William (born 15 April 1913 at 38 Pitt Street, Belfast)
Neal (Neil, born 25 February 1915 at 21 Finmore Street, Belfast)
Neil McLean Mulholland enlisted in Belfast, served with the 6th Battalion Royal Irish Rifles in 29th Brigade of the 10th (Irish) Division and he was 39 when he was killed in action at Gallipoli on 11 August 1915.
Rifleman Neil McLean Mulholland is commemorated on the family grave headstone in Whitechurch Cemetery Ballywalter, as is his wife Mary Jane, who died of pneumonia at 21 Finmore Street, Belfast on 17 March 1918 (aged 36).
Guardians were appointed for Mary Jane’s children, and three names appear in Army pension records – Mr E. Curran (21 Finmore Street, Belfast), L. Wilson and Annie Shannon.
Neil McLean Mulholland’s uncle, Thomas Mulholland, and Sarah Jane Ross were married on 24 September 1885 in Greyabbey Presbyterian Church. Thomas Mulholland, a sailor from Belfast, was a son of William Mulholland, a sailor. Sarah Jane Ross from Ballywalter was a daughter of William Ross, a sailor.
Thomas and Sarah Jane Mulholland (nee Ross) had at least three children:
Wilhelmina (born 10 November 1886 at 28 Princes Street, Belfast; father’s occupation recorded as sailor)
Elizabeth (born 28 December 1888 at 28 Princes Street; Belfast father’s occupation recorded as sailor; died of bronchitis at 28 Princes Street, Belfast on 13 March 1890 aged one year three months; her father Thomas was with her when she died and his occupation was registered as ‘tinsmith’)
Eleanor Maud (born 28 March 1891; died of whooping cough 10 November 1892 at 28 Princes Street Belfast, her father Thomas was deceased – Mohawk; her grandfather William Mulholland was with her when she died)