Courtney, Stewart
Private
No. 2699016, 4th Battalion, The Parachute Regiment, Army Air Corps
Killed in action on Friday 21 January 1944 (aged 30)
Buried:
Bari War Cemetery, Italy (Grave VI. D. 20)
Commemorated:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
BIOGRAPHY
Stewart Courtney was born on 30 April 1913 at 7 Collingwood Avenue, Belfast and he was a son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Lizzie, sometimes Eliza) Courtney (nee Ferguson) who later moved to Princetown Road, Bangor. Thomas Courtney was a master plumber and gas fitter and later a water inspector.
Thomas Courtney and Elizabeth Ferguson (born in Bolton, Lancashire) were married on 11 July 1898 in Crescent Presbyterian Church, Belfast. Thomas Courtney from Belfast was a son of John Courtney, a builder. Lizzie Ferguson from Belfast was a daughter of James Ferguson, a mechanic.
Thomas and Elizabeth Courtney (nee Ferguson) had at least seven children:
James Ferguson (born 26 May 1899 at 78 Melrose Street, Belfast)
John (born 22 October 1901 at 6 Magdala Street, Belfast)
Thomas Carlisle (born 20 June 1905 at 29 Ravenhill Road, Belfast)
William (born 19 June 1907 at 62 Palestine Street, Belfast)
Charles Kevin (born 29 November 1910 in Greencastle)
Stewart (born 30 April 1913 at 7 Collingwood Avenue, Belfast)
Ellen Gray (born 4 May 1915 at 15 Curzon Street, Belfast)
Stewart Courtney was the husband of Annie (Anne) Courtney (nee Johnson) of Old Trafford, Manchester. Their marriage was registered in the third quarter of 1934 in Manchester and they had two children:
Anne (her birth was registered in the first quarter of 1937)
Brian (his birth was registered in the fourth quarter of 1937)
In the 19 February 1944 edition of the County Down Spectator there was a report under the headline Killed in Action which stated that Guardsman Stewart Courtney, Scots Guards, son of Thomas C. Courtney, Princetown Road, Bangor (formerly of the Water Office, Belfast) had been killed in action on 21 January 1944. His wife and two children lived in Old Trafford, Manchester and he was a brother of Charles Courtney, Secretary of Bangor Football Club. Private Stewart Courtney (No. 2699016) was 30 when he died.
The Allied invasion of the Italian mainland began on 3 September 1943 near Reggio Calabria in the south followed by the Gulf of Salerno. The invasion coincided with an armistice made with the Italians who then re-entered the war on the Allied side. The town of Bari on the Adriatic Sea was an important supply base and hospital centre.