Pte 51777 Joseph Edward Plunkett

Joseph Edward was born on 23rd March 1897, the only surviving child of Joseph Edward Plunkett and his wife Eliza Jane (née McCombe). Joseph was baptised on 04th April in St. Mary’s Church, Walton, his parents’ residence 3 James Terrace, and his father’s occupation given as mariner.  His parents, both from Liverpool, married on the 06th September 1894 at All Saints Church, Liverpool. Joseph was a 22 year old sailor of 29 Seacome Street, father Joseph a carpenter(deceased), whilst Eliza was aged 21, same address, father John a fireman. They had two children after Joseph. 

Ernest, born in 1899, died at 10 weeks, and Eliza Jane, born on 05th December 1900, was buried on 26th December, and days later his mother Eliza died, aged 29, and was buried on 05th January 1901 when Joseph was just 3 years old.

 

By 1911 Joseph is living with his father and stepmother at 35 Edinburgh Street, Everton.  His father 37, is a marine fireman, merchant service, his stepmother Alice is 30, Joseph is 14, at school, half brother Thomas is 5 and Henry 3. His half sister Jessie, 7, is an inmate at the Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb, Liverpool.

 

Twins Edward and Alice were born in 1913 (but Alice died in infancy), followed by John in 1919.

 

He enlisted in Liverpool as Private 51777 joining the 20th Battalion of The King’s Liverpool Regiment. The amount of the War Gratuity suggests that he served for nearly two and a half years, enlisting in about October 1915, when he would have been 18 years old. At some point he was transferred to the 19th Bn K.L.R., most likely when the 20th Bn was disbanded in February 1918.

 

Joseph was declared Missing between 22nd-30th March 1918.

 

 

His name appeared in the list of the Missing in the Weekly Casualty List on 4th June 1918.

His death was later assumed for official purposes to be 30^th March 1918 during the German Spring Offensive.

As Graham Maddocks points out in his book The Liverpool Pals, the CWGC records 38 men of the 19^th Bn of The King’s Liverpool Regiment as killed in action on 30^th March 1918 when as the Battalion diary below, shown in bold type, records that the men were actually out of the line and safely on the way to St Valery- sur- Somme.

The composite battalion moved off from ROUVREL at 8.30 am at 50 yards interval between companies, arriving at SALEUX at 3.20 pm where they entrained, detraining at ST. VALERY-SUR-SOMME the same night. The night was spent at ST. VALERY-SUR-SOMME.

Apart from those whose bodies were not found and are commemorated on the Pozieres Memorial all but two have burial sites at Savy British Cemetery, which itself is within a couple of miles of Roupy and contains most of the identified men killed on 22^nd March 1918. Therefore, it would appear that the date of death for these men shown as 30^th March 1918 is purely an arbitrary one and that they were in fact killed on 22^nd March.

He was reported as still Missing in the Liverpool Evening Express on Tuesday 31 December 1918 in an appeal for information from returning Prisoner's of War and also in the Liverpool Football Echo: 

MISSING EVERTON SOLDIER.   

Missing since March 22 to 29 last, Private Joseph E. Plunkett (51777),  A company, No.2 Platoon, 19th K.L.R. News from returning prisoners of war will be welcomed by his parents at 35 Edinburgh-street, Everton. 

Joseph has no known grave and is commemorated on the Pozieres Memorial.

The POZIERES MEMORIAL relates to the period of crisis in March and April 1918 when the Allied Fifth Army was driven back by overwhelming numbers across the former Somme battlefields, and the months that followed before the Advance to Victory, which began on 8 August 1918. The Memorial commemorates over 14,000 casualties of the United Kingdom and 300 of the South African Forces who have no known grave and who died on the Somme from 21 March to 7 August 1918.

The cemetery and memorial were designed by W.H. Cowlishaw, with sculpture by Laurence A. Turner. The memorial was unveiled by Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien on 4 August 1930.

He would have celebrated his 21st birthday on 23rd March, the day after he was killed.

 

 

His documents were received in the pension office in October 1918, perhaps giving an indication of when he was officially declared killed in action.

 

His father and Alice received his Army effects, including a War Gratuity of £13-10s.  The pension card, in the name of his father and stepmother, at 35 Edinburgh Street, Everton, shows that a pension of 8/6d a week was awarded.

 

His father, who died on the 24 September 1938 aged 68, was buried in Kirkdale Cemetery. He did not live to see another son killed in the Second World War. 

Probate:- 

PLUNKETT Joseph Edward of 35 Edinburgh Street Liverpool died 24 September 1938 Administration Liverpool 17 October to Alice Jane Plunkett widow. Effects £249 0s 8d. 

Joseph’s youngest half brother, John, served as Fusilier 3773880 Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers and No.11 Commando. The Battle of the Litani River took place on 09th June 1941 during the advance to Beirut from Palestine and was an Allied victory. A surprise night time landing by the British No.11 Commando was attempted in order to seize the bridge near the mouth of the river, but was delayed by rough seas on the proposed landing beach. This gave the Vichy French defenders enough time to destroy the bridge. When the commandos eventually landed in daylight, in three separate places, the initial landing was almost unopposed;  however, in the fighting that followed they took heavy casualties. John was killed in action on 9th June 1941, age 22, and is commemorated in Beirut War Cemetery, Lebanon.

Alice lived for another 24 years and died in 1963 aged 82, and was buried on 18th September in Kirkdale Cemetery. 

Joseph is commemorated in Liverpool’s Hall of Remembrance, Panel 53.

We currently have no further information on Joseph Edward Plunkett, If you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us.