Pte 8852 John Michael Welsh

John Michael Welsh was born in Liverpool on 21st August 1885, the son of Patrick Welsh and his wife Margaret (née Kelly). Patrick, born in Ireland, and Margaret, from Liverpool married in 1882.  They had at least five children. John had older sisters Mary and Margaret, and younger brothers Patrick and Thomas. John was baptised in St. Francis Xavier on 31st August, as John Walsh, with no middle name. His civil birth registration likewise gives no middle name.  The last name is spelled variously on records as Welsh, Welch, or Walsh.  Certain military records also show his first name as James. 

 

In 1891 the family, listed as Walsh, are living in court housing in Jenkinson Street. His father is a dock  labourer, Mary, 11, Margaret, 8, and John, 5, are at school, and Patrick is 10 months old. 

 

In 1901 they are again listed as Walsh, in court housing in Wakefield Street. His father, 49, is a dock labourer, his mother is 46, Mary, 21, is a fruit hawker working from home, John is 16, no occupation listed, Patrick is 12 and a Thomas 8.

 

On 24th January 1903 John enlisted, using the middle name Michael, as Private 9005, in the 3rd Loyal North Lancs Regiment, giving his age as 17 years and 5 months, his occupation as labourer, and his address as 10 Mansfield Street, Liverpool. He gives his employer as Mr. Bibby, Formby Street. He is described as being 5’ 2 and a half inches tall, weighing 108 lbs, with a fresh complexion, grey eyes, and brown hair.  He has scars on the right side of his scalp, both elbow tips, the back of his left hand, and his right knee. He gives his parents and sister Mary, at 10 Mansfield Street, as his next of kin. 

 

John completed 49 days “Drilled on enlistment”, and was present for annual training on 8/6/1903 and 13/6/1904, and on 22/7/1904 joined the Liverpool Regiment as Private 8852.  Later details are not known.  John served in the 1st Bn. King’s (Liverpool) Regiment.

 

John (with no middle name) married Elizabeth Murphy in St. Francis Xavier on 2nd October 1908, giving his address as Bidder Street. The civil registration shows his name as John Michael.  They had two daughters:  Hannah (or Annie), was born in 1908, followed by Elizabeth in early 1911. 

 

The 1911 census shows John, 25, and Elizabeth, 24, living at 34 Rose Hill, with daughters Hannah age 2, and Elizabeth 2 months, John is a general labourer.  He signed the census form John Welsh.

 

They had two more children: another daughter Mary in 1913, and a son John in 1915.

 

John would have been recalled at the outbreak of war. He shipped to the front, disembarking in France on 12th August 1914 as one of the “Old Contemptibles”.  At some point John transferred to 4th Bn K.L.R. and later to 20th (Pals) Bn K.L.R.

 

John’s name appeared in the list of Wounded published in the Liverpool Post & Mercury on 16th August 1916 (when the battalion would have been on the Somme) and again on 29th November 1916.

 

John died of his wounds on 10th December 1916, cause of death given as fractured fibula, appendicitis, and general peritonitis.

 

According to Soldiers’ Effects, John (listed as James) died of appendicitis at the war Hospital in Bradford, but  the burial record at Ford Cemetery states that he died at the war hospital in Horton, London.  John received a military funeral on 14th December, 1916.  He is commemorated on grave #RD267 (screen wall). The burial record shows his age as 30, but based on his baptism record, he would have been 31. 

 

John’s children were 8, 5, 3, and 1 year old when he died.  Elizabeth, living at 53 Holly Street, off St. Anne Street, Liverpool, received his effects, including a War Gratuity of £13-10s, and a pension of £1-8-9d a week for herself and four children.

 

His medal card (showing his name as James) shows that John earned his three medals: The British War Medal, Victory Medal, and 1914-15 Star with Clasp (a narrow horizontal bronze clasp sewn onto the ribbon, bearing the dates '5th AUG. - 22nd NOV. 1914' showing that the recipient had actually served under enemy fire during that period).  

 

His widow Elizabeth remarried in 1920 to Thomas Malloy but sadly, was again widowed when Thomas died, aged 39, in 1923.

 

In 1939, Elizabeth, now 53, widowed, a cinema cleaner, is still living at 53 Holly Street, with daughter Mary, a barmaid, son John, a painter’s labourer, and daughter Josephine Molloy, 18, a pools clerk.  Elizabeth died in 1966, at the age of 80.

 

 

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