Mullarchy, John Edmund (Jack)
Private
No. 49802, 109th Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps
Died of disease on Sunday 25 August 1918 (aged 44)
Buried:
Middletown Presbyterian Churchyard, Tynan, Co Armagh (Special Memorial)
Commemorated:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
BIOGRAPHY
In some records his surname is spelt Mullarkey.
John Edmund Mullarchy has only recently been accepted by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) as a casualty of the Great War. He was identified and put forward for commemoration by the Armagh War Memorial Project.
In the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website it is recorded that Private John Edmund Mullarchy (No. 49802) was 44 when he died.
John Edmund Mullarchy enlisted on 15 January 1915 in County Cavan. He made his will on 2 October 1915 and left everything to his wife, Mary Jane; he added a clause that, in the event of Mary Jane’s death, everything was to be divided between his children, William, Annie, and Thomas.
John Edmund Mullarchy went to France on 5 October 1915.
In January 1916, whilst a night orderly in the Field Ambulance, John experienced dizziness and then became unconscious for a short time. A Medical Board report dated 3 July 1916, stated that he had lost power in his right arm and legs and left side of face, and was unable to stand or walk without assistance. He was also unable to see with his left eye, although he could see with his right eye, and the angle of his mouth was drawn to the left side.
The report concluded that, although the precise origin of his symptoms was uncertain, they were due in part to the strain and exposure experienced during active service.
Private John Edmund Mullarchy (No. 49802) was discharged from the Army on 24 July 1916 as being no longer fit for war service. He applied for a Silver War Badge, and this was issued in September 1917.
His wife, Mary Jane Mullarchy (nee Bothwell), was living in Middletown, Co. Armagh.
A medical report dated 25 February 1918 stated: “Total incapacity through cerebral haemorrhage; fifty percent incapacity through eyesight; constant attendance required.”
In civil marriage registration records it is recorded that John Edmund Mullarchy was working as a carpenter when he and Mary Jane Bothwell were married on 20 January 1896 in Newtownards Methodist Church. John Mullarchy, a carpenter from Ballyhalbert, was a son of Denis Richard Mullarchy, a schoolteacher. Mary Jane Bothwell from Ballyhalbert was a daughter of William Bothwell, a farmer.
John Edmund and Mary Jane Mullarchy (nee Bothwell) had at least three children:
Thomas Wilson (born 22 January 1898 at 15 Windsor Street, Belfast when his father was working as a librarian)
Annie (born 13 December 1901)
William James John Bothwell (born 8 May 1903 at 6 Ventry Street, Belfast when his father was working as a librarian)
John Edmund Mullarchy was a son of Denis and Ellen Mullarchy (nee Dunne) who were married on 22 December 1866 in St Mary’s Church of Ireland Church, Dublin. John was born on 13 April 1874 at Tinahask School, Arklow, Co Wicklow.
Retired schoolteacher Denis R. Mullarchy died of heart disease in Mountmellick, Co Laois, on 1 September 1913 (aged 70). His daughter Alice was with him when he died; Alice Mullarchy and Benjamin Stephenson were married on 11 January 1916 in St Mary’s Church of Ireland Church, Dublin.
Civil registration records also show that:
John Edmund Mullarchy’s sister, Hortense Helena Mullarchy, died of phthisis in Mountmellick, Co Laois on 27 November 1895 (aged 25).
John Edmund Mullarchy’s sister, Maria Jane Mullarchy, was born on 24 August 1872 in Arklow.
John Edmund Mullarchy died on 25 August 1918 in Middletown, Tynan, Co Armagh. The cause of death recorded on his death certificate was ‘cerebral haemorrhage from shell shock two and a half years, softening of brain one year’. It was reported that he was buried in Middletown Presbyterian Churchyard, Tynan, Co Armagh.
There is an inscription on his CWGC headstone:
BELIEVED TO BE BURIED IN THIS CHURCHYARD