One of the most poignant wartime stories
Some of those who attended the dedication of the headstone for Private James Neill at Seagoe Cemetry. INPT4412-121gc
IT was perhaps one of the most poignant stories of wartime – but with a fitting ending under the circumstances - as Pte James Neill was finally honoured at Seagoe Cemetery this week.
Tragically, he drowned in the notorious sinking of the RMS Leinster by a German U-Boat in October, just a month before World War I ended – it was hit 16 miles off Kingstown (now Dun Laoghaire) as it sailed towards Holyhead, thus ending brave military service for the young man, who was born at Drumcree on September 16, 1873.
But it wasn’t until a week ago that a Service of Remembrance was held in his honour at Seagoe Cemetery, and a headstone dedicated, due to an amazing coincidence – more of that later.
James, who stood at just 5’5”, enlisted in the 1st Battalion of the Royal Irish Fusiliers in the Military Barracks, Armagh, in August 1890, and after training in Aldershot, found himself posted to India two years later.
He succumbed to tropical disease in India, but recovered to fight in the Boer War at the turn of the 19th-20th century, fought through the siege of Ladysmith and helped clear the way to Ladysmith to aid the release of 5,000 British troops imprisoned there.
Pte Neill was wounded in attacks on Peter’s Hill and Irish Hill, but recovered and returned to action remaining in South Africa until the war ended in 1902.
That same year, he married Elizabeth Hurst in Lurgan, and he used his wartime gratuity to emigrate with her to Philadelphia – they lived with relatives at the start – and by all accounts they forged a good life for themselves in the New World.
And there they would prospered, but when war came again in August 1914, James was liable for service once again, so he, wife Elizabeth and their three children (he was 38 at this stage) returned to Portadown, where their address was 28 Fowler’s Entry – aka as ‘The Oranghe Cage’, long since demolished to make way for the present-day Magowan Buildings.
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Wednesday 22 May 2013
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