Sapper 193198 Francis Jerome Toolan

• Age: 22
• From: Bootle
• Regiment: ROYAL ENGINEERS
• Died on Sunday 26th August 1917
• Commemorated at: Nieuport Memorial

Francis Jerome Toolan was born on 30th September 1894 and baptised on the same day in St. Patrick’s, Liverpool. His parents Michael Paul Toolan and his wife Alice (nee Traynor), both from Ireland, were married in Liverpool in 1892. 

His father had been previously married to Susan Sophie McAlister but was sadly widowed. They were married at Blessed Sacrament Church, Liverpool on 11th May 1881. They had a son Edward James who was born in the March quarter of 1883. Susan died on 23rd May 1885, aged 22 whilst in Newry. Her brother Patrick was present when she died of Phthisis (pulmonary T.B.

His father was born in Kiltimagh, Co. Mayo on 29th September 1856, and his mother in Co. Monaghan on 26th December 1867. They had eight children, four of whom died in infancy.  Francis was the eldest of the four surviving children; his siblings were Monica, Imelda, and Owen. Francis was raised with his half brother Edward, twelve years his senior.)

In 1901 the family is living at 19 Warwick Street, Toxteth Park.  His father is a licensed victualler.  Half brother Edward, 18, is a barman, Francis is 6, Monica is 3. They have two boarders and a domestic servant. Edward emigrated to the U.S. in 1903 (and had to register for the draft in 1917).

The census of 1911 finds them living in nine rooms at 178 Marsh Lane, Bootle.  His father is a brewer’s manager of a public house. His mother, unusually, is listed as a household and family manager. Monica, 13, Imelda, 11, and Owen 7, are at school.  Francis aged 16 is a college student. Also in the household are two boarders and a domestic servant.  178 Marsh Lane is the address of the Alexandra Hotel, known locally as Toolan’s. His father was still the publican in 1914.

Francis was educated at St Francis Xavier's College and Liverpool University.

The full details of Francis’ military service are not known as his record has not survived, but we do know that he enlisted in Liverpool as Private 21633, joining the 19th (Pals) Battalion of The King’s Liverpool Regiment. He arrived in France on 07th November 1915.

At some point he was transferred to the Royal Engineers, and was serving as Sapper 193198, 49th Division Signal Company when he was killed in action on 26th August 1917, aged 22.

His body was never recovered from the battlefield, or was subsequently lost, as he is commemorated on the Nieuport Memorial, Belgium.

The Nieuport Memorial commemorates 552 British officers and men who were killed in Allied operations on the Belgian coast during the First World War and have no known grave. Twenty of those commemorated served with the Royal Naval Division and were killed or mortally wounded during the siege of Antwerp in October 1914. Almost all of the remainder fell in heavy fighting in the region of Nieuport in the summer of 1917. The memorial is constructed of Euville limestone and stands eight metres high. It was designed by William Bryce Binnie, an Imperial War Graves Commission architect who served with The Black Watch during the war and was twice decorated for bravery. The lions standing at each point of the triangular platform were designed by Charles Sergeant Jagger, a celebrated British sculptor and decorated veteran of the Western Front. The memorial was officially unveiled by Sir George Macdonogh in July 1928.

He was reported killed in the Weekly Casualty List on 02nd October 1917.

Francis earned his three medals, but sadly his Victory Medal and British War Medal were returned. (This happened because next of kin could not be traced. Francis’ parents had moved to Windsor Road in the 1920s.)  His parents received his effects, including a War Gratuity of £14, (a pension card cannot be found).  His father died in 1929 aged 73.

His mother appeared on the 1939 register at 8 Osborne Road.

His mother in 1947, at age 83.

He is remembered on his parents’ gravestone in Ford Cemetery, Liverpool:

”Also Francis Jerome, son of the above, lost in the war, August 26, 1917, aged 23 years. R.I.P.”  (Based on the birthdate on his baptism he was 22, which is the age supplied to CWGC.)

Francis is commemorated on the following memorials:- 

Bootle Civic Memorial 

St. Francis Xavier’s R.C. School, Woolton 

Liverpool University 

Bootle Swimming Club

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