Pte 54115 John Patrick Kavanagh

John Patrick Kavanagh was born in Liverpool on 21st April 1892, the son of William Kavanagh and his wife Mary (née Cogley).  His parents were both born in Wexford, Ireland, and by 1881 had come to Liverpool, where eight children were born, three of whom sadly died young. John had older siblings Catherine and Matthew, and younger sisters Bridget and Mary.

 

He was baptised on 2nd May 1892 in Our Lady of Reconciliation de la Salette.

 

Unfortunately the family has not been found on the 1901 census.

 

In 1911 John, with his parents and two sisters, is living in two rooms at 76 Gildart’s Gardens.  According to the Housing Handbook (1903), Gildart’s Gardens, off Vauxhall Road, were “cheap tenements for the very poor”.  His father, 50, is a dock night watchman, his mother is 46.  John is 18, a labourer, Bridget 15, is a dressmaker, and Mary is 8.  They state that five of their eight children are still living.

 

When he was 21, John married Margaret Sealey in St. Bridget’s Church, Liverpool, on 13th June 1913.

 

A daughter Mary was born March 1916, but sadly died at 13 months old.  She was buried in Ford Cemetery, her parents living at 32 Travers Street.

He enlisted in Liverpool and was serving in the 19^th Battalion, The King’s Liverpool Regiment as Private No 54155 when he was killed in action on the 18^th April 1918 during the German Spring Offensive, just three days before his 26th birthday,.

The Battalion diary entry for the day reveals that 10 Other Ranks were killed during heavy shelling of the area.  

18^th April 1918

No aggressive action on either side. The activity being confined to artillery. The French had come up in great force and  assisted our artillery with the famous “75s”. The Battn came under heavy shell fire at one period. 10 O.R. being killed and 3 wounded.

The weather, which up to this time had been quite good, turned and snow, rain and hail fell.

John Patrick was one of the 10 Other Ranks refereed to in the diary entry. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial.

Those United Kingdom and New Zealand servicemen who died after August 16th 1917 are named on the Tyne Cot Memorial, a site which marks the furthest point reached by Commonwealth forces in Belgium until nearly the end of the war.

The Tyne Cot Memorial now bears the names of almost 35,000 officers and men whose graves are not known. The memorial, designed by Sir Herbert Baker with sculpture by Joseph Armitage and F.V. Blundstone, was unveiled by Sir Gilbert Dyett on 20 June 1927.

The memorial forms the north-eastern boundary of Tyne Cot Cemetery, which was established around a captured German blockhouse or pill-box used as an advanced dressing station.

His wife Margaret was notified on 03rd May 1918. Nevertheless, an enquiry was made with the British Red Cross on 20th November 1918. 

 

His widow Margaret, at 32 Travers Street, off Soho Street, Liverpool, received John’s Army effects and a War Gratuity of £7. The pension card shows Margaret received a widow’s pension of 13/9d a week from November 1918.

 

John is commemorated on the following memorials -

Liverpool’s Hall of Remembrance, Panel 68

Our Lady of Reconciliation, Liverpool