Leebody, Andrew

Private

No. 13053218, Pioneer Corps

Died in service on Sunday 4 October 1942 (aged 32)

Buried:

Ballygowan Presbyterian Churchyard, Co. Down (Section G Row 1 Grave 1)

Commemorated:

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

BIOGRAPHY

Andrew Leebody was born on 28 March 1910 at 28 Cable Street, Belfast and he was a son of Isabella Leebody and a grandnephew of Hannah Leebody.

In 1911, Hannah, Isabella and Andrew Leebody, along with Andrew’s older sister Esther, were living at 46 Cable Street, Belfast.

Isabella Leebody worked as a domestic servant and Esther was born on 16 September 1907 in Belfast Workhouse Infirmary at 51 Lisburn Road, Belfast – now the site of Belfast City Hospital.

Isabella, Esther and Andrew Leebody moved to the Ballygowan area when Isabella married Thomas McCrudden from Saintfield.  Thomas McCrudden was a soldier who served during the Great War, first with the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers (No. 28403) and then with the Royal Engineers (No. 130265).  After the war he worked as a gardener and he and Isabella Leebody were married on 3 March 1919 in St. Anne’s Church of Ireland Cathedral, Belfast.  Thomas McCrudden (aged 37) was a son of William McCrudden, a gardener.  Isabella Leebody (aged 36) was a daughter of Andrew Leebody, a carrier.

Andrew Leebody (Isabella’s son) joined the Pioneer Corps, served in the Home theatre of war and was 32 when he died on 4 October 1942.  His death was registered in Skipton, Yorkshire and he was buried in Ballygowan Presbyterian Church graveyard.

There is an inscription on his CWGC headstone (where his age is inscribed as 33):

HE DIED THAT WE MAY LIVE