L/Cpl 269892 Roger Rooney

• Age: 28
• From: Liverpool
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 17th Btn
• D.O.W Thursday 15th August 1918
• Commemorated at: Berlin South West Cem
  Panel Ref: IX.C.4

Roger was born on 08th September 1891 and was baptised 26th June 1892 at St Peter's Church, Liverpool. He was the son of William and Isabella Rooney (nee Pringle) who had married in 1876 at St Peter's Church, Liverpool. His mother born 12th Sep 1859 in Hutchesontown, Glasgow. 

His father died in the September quarter of 1890, aged 34.

The 1891 Census finds the family at 74 Abbot Street, Everton. his mother Isabella is a widow aged 30 born in Scotland, she lives with her children who were all born in Liverpool, William Henry 14, Edward 13, Henry 4, Isabella 8 and Roger 2mths.

Isabella re-married on 18th September 1892 to William Henry Moffitt at St Peter's Church, Liverpool.  His step father's surname is confused but he was born MOFFITT.

The 1901 Census shows the family are living at 15 Sykes Street, Everton - William 36 is a bricklayer born in Liverpool, and Isabella Moffitt aged 40, with children Edward Rooney 14 and Roger Rooney 10, and Edith 7, Louisa 5, Walter 3 and Francis Moffitt aged 2 months.

The 1911 Census shows the family have moved and are living at 29 Denman Street, Kensington - William 48   isa general house repairer, and Isabella Moffitt is now 49. They have been married for 26 years and have had 6 children all of whom have survived. The children living in the household are listed as; Isabella Rooney 28 a packer, Edward Rooney 24 a labourer for steeplejack, and Roger (recorded as Moffitt) aged 20 and employed as a confectioner's horse driver and Edith 18 packer, Louisa 16 fish market assistant, Walter 13 at school, Francis 12 at school and Arthur Moffitt 9 at school.

Roger married Anne McKetterick Thomas on 02nd June 1912 at Christ Church, Kensington and they had two children Elizabeth born in 1912 and Lily born in 1913.

A newspaper report dated the 09th January 1914 says a light wagon driver, Roger Rooney, witnessed an accident on Walton Breck Rd in which a child was badly injured by a tramcar. Rooney made a statement that the driver was not to blame.

He enlisted in the 17th Battalion of The King's Liverpool Regiment as Private 269892 and was promoted to Lance Corporal.

He was reported wounded in Liverpool Daily Post 01st June 1917

He was part of a Lewis Gun team,  and was wounded by a shot in the thigh and was declared missing on 28th May 1918. He had been captured and taken POW. ICRC record states he went missing on 28th March 1918 and was with C Coy, 9 Platoon, Lewis Gun Section.

Roger died of heart failure on 15th May 1918 aged 28 at the reserve Hospital at Magdeburg.

He was reported missing in the Weekly Casualty List on 28th May 1918.

He now rests at Berlin South West Cemetery, Germany, where his headstone bears the epitaph: 

"THY WILL BE DONE"

In 1922-23 it was decided that the graves of Commonwealth servicemen who had died all over Germany should be brought together into four permanent cemeteries. Berlin South-Western was one of those chosen and in 1924-25, graves were brought into the cemetery from 146 burial grounds in eastern Germany. There are now 1,176 First World War servicemen buried or commemorated in the Commonwealth plot at Berlin South-Western Cemetery. The total includes special memorials to a number of casualties buried in other cemeteries in Germany whose graves could not be found. The following cemeteries are among those from which graves were brought to Berlin South-Western Cemetery:- ALTDAMM PRISONERS OF WAR CEMETERY, 8 kilometres East of Stettin, in the Province of Pommern (Pomerania), contained the graves of 46 soldiers from the United Kingdom, three from Newfoundland and two from Canada, who died in 1915-1918. BUDEROSE PRISONERS OF WAR CEMETERY, near Guben, in the Province of Brandenburg, contained the graves of 18 soldiers from the United Kingdom, one from Canada and one from Australia, all of whom died in 1918. CROSSEN PRISONERS OF WAR CEMETERY, 3 kilometres East of Crossen, on the river Oder, in the Province of Brandenburg, contained the graves of 66 sailors and soldiers from the United Kingdom, one from Australia and one from South Africa all of whom died in 1918. DOBERITZ PRISONERS OF WAR CEMETERY, about 19 kilometres West of Berlin, in the Province of Brandenburg, contained the graves of 38 sailors and soldiers from the United Kingdom who died in 1914-1918. HASENHEIDE GARRISON CEMETERY, on the South side of the city of Berlin, contained the graves of 369 Russian, 125 French, and 58 Belgian, American, Italian, Rumanian, Portuguese or Serbian soldiers; 63 sailors, soldiers and Marines from the United Kingdom; and one Indian soldier. HEILSBERG PRISONERS OF WAR CEMETERY, in Ostpreussen (East Prussia), contained the graves of 50 soldiers and one Marine from the United Kingdom, who died in 1917 and 1918. Only twelve of which were found when the graves were being recovered; the remainder are still buried at Heilsberg. KLEIN WITTENBERG OLD CEMETERY, 3 kilometres West of Wittenberg, in the Prussian province of Saxony, contained the graves of 23 soldiers, one Marine and eight civilians from the United Kingdom and one soldier from India, all of whom died in 1915; the NEW (or PRISONERS OF WAR) CEMETERY, those of 71 soldiers and three civilians from the United Kingdom, two soldiers from Canada and one from Australia, who died in 1915, 1917 and 1918; and WITTENBERG OLD SMALL CEMETERY those of two soldiers from the United Kingdom who died in 1914 and 1915. The first and third of these cemeteries are associated with the outbreak of typhus at the Wittenberg camp in December 1914. LAMSDORF PRISONERS OF WAR CEMETERY, in Schlesien (Silesia), contained the graves of 81 soldiers from the United Kingdom, one from Australia and one from New Zealand, who died in 1917-1919 (it was used for French burials in 1870-71). MAGDEBURG MILITARY CEMETERY, in Prussian Saxony, contained the graves of 24 soldiers and one Marine from the United Kingdom who died in 1915-1918. MERSEBURG TOWN CEMETERY, in Prussian Saxony, contained the graves of 12 soldiers from the United Kingdom who died in 1914-1917, and the PRISONERS OF WAR CEMETERY those of 33 soldiers from the United Kingdom who died in 1917-1918. OPPELN TOWN CEMETERY, in Upper Silesia, contained the graves of 41 soldiers from the United Kingdom who died in 1921-22. They belonged to the British force stationed in Upper Silesia during the Plebiscite. Thirty of them, who died after the legal termination of the war, were left buried at Oppeln. SCHNEIDEMUHL PRISONERS OF WAR CEMETERY, in Posen, West Prussia, on the borders of Poland, contained the graves of 76 soldiers from the United Kingdom, five from Australia, three of the Royal Guernsey Light Infantry, and one from Canada, who died in 1915-1918. Eighteen of the graves could not be recovered. STARGARD PRISONERS OF WAR CEMETERY, in Pomerania, contained the graves of 37 soldiers and one Marine from the United Kingdom, two soldiers from New Zealand and one of the Royal Guernsey Light Infantry, who died in 1917-1918. STENDAL PRISONERS OF WAR CEMETERY, in Prussian Saxony, contained the graves of 140 soldiers from the United Kingdom, two from Canada and one from Newfoundland, who died in 1917-1918. ZERBST (HEIDETOR) CEMETERY, in Anhalt, contained the graves of two soldiers from the United Kingdom who died in 1914-1915, and the PRISONERS OF WAR CEMETERY those of 45, who died in 1917-1918.

Soldiers Effects to his widow Annie McKintick and pension to Annie and children Elizabeth and Lily.

His widow Annie was living at 4 Rockwood Street, West Derby Road, Liverpool. She remarried in the summer of 1919, to Charles Birmingham, does not appear to have had any more children, and died in 1941 aged 49.

Roger is commemorated on the following Memorials:

Hall of Remembrance, Liverpool Town Hall, Panel 44 Left
 
Christ Church, Kensington.

His mother died in the December quarter of 1934, aged 75.

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