Cpl 22751 John Kirby

A baptismal record has not been found for John Kirby, but he appears on censuses as James.  A James Kirby was born in the summer of 1892 in Listowel, County Kerry;  he was the son of John Joseph Kirby and Maria Frances (née Sullivan).  

 

His father was born in Mohill, Leitrim and his mother in Ballinasloe, Galway. His father was a policeman with the Royal Irish Constabulary.  They married in Ballinasloe in 1886 and had five children, one of whom died young.  John (James) had an older sister Mary Josephine, born in Ballinasloe, and younger siblings Aileen Helena, and Daniel, born in Listowel.

 

In 1901 the family is living at 51 William Street, Listowel, with four children and a servant.  His father, 43, is a Sergeant with the R.I.C., his mother is 35.  Mary J., 11, James, 8, and Helena, 5, are at school, and Daniel is 4.

 

By 1911 his father has retired and they have moved to Liverpool and are found at 110 Dacy Street, with four children at home. His father, 54, now a police pensioner, is employed as a customs watcher for H.M. Customs, his mother is 43.   Their three older children are shorthand typists:  Mary Josephine is 20, working for a chartered accountant, James, 18, for a printer and stationer, and Aileen, 16, is out of work.  Daniel is 14, at school.  

 

James enlisted in Liverpool, using the name John, on 07th November 1914, as Private 22751, 20th Bn, King’s Liverpool Regiment.  He gives his age as 22 years and 4 months and his occupation as tram guard.  He is described as being 6’ tall, weighing 153 lbs, with a fresh complexion, hazel eyes and brown hair.  He has three tattoo dots on his left forearm.  He gives his mother at 110 Dacy Street as next of kin and his religion as Roman Catholic. 

Formed in November 1914 the 20^th Battalion were originally billeted at Tournament Hall, Knotty Ash before on 29^th January 1915 they moved to the hutted accommodation purposely built at Lord Derby’s estate at Knowsley Hall. On 30th April 1915 the 20th Battalion alongside the other three Pals battalions left Liverpool via Prescot Station for further training at Belton Park, Grantham. They remained here until September 1915 when they reached Larkhill Camp on Salisbury Plain. 

 

His service record survives and shows -

 

19th April 1915 appointed unpaid Lance Corporal 

 

John shipped to France with his battalion from Folkestone, disembarking at Boulogne on 7th November 1915.

 

08th November 1915 appointed paid L/Cpl.

29th March 1916 reverted to Pte. and “placed under stoppages of pay for losing by neglect his rifle”.

 

On the second day of the Battle of the Somme, on 02nd July 1916, John was wounded in action, suffering a  gunshot wound to the left hand.  He was sent to No.36 Field Ambulance, then to No.5 Casualty Clearing Station.  After being treated at 5th General Hospital, he was evacuated to England on 6th July and the next day admitted to the Lord Derby War Hospital in Warrington.  

 

His name was published in the list of K.L.R. Wounded, published in the Liverpool Post and Mercury on 14th August 1916.

 

He was discharged from hospital on 14th September 1916 and returned to France on 19th December 1916, posted initially to the  1st Bn K.L.R. and  subsequently to the 13th Bn K.L.R. on 23rd December 1916.

 

In April 1917 John attended the 3rd Army anti-gas school.

02nd May 1917 he was promoted Corporal. 

The battalion diaries give an insight into the action that John experienced as part of 13th Btn when on 1st May 1917 they moved from Arras.

"Throughout the night of 1st /2nd May the Bosche had placed a heavy gas shell, shrapnel and high explosive barrage,on the whole area West of Monchy and the ground South of it. The Barrage threw the back area into confusion.

At 3.45 a.m. on 3 May 1917 commenced The Third Battle of The Scarpe our 3rd Barrage in spite of the Gas and lachrymatory fumes which hung about our batteries near Monachy, opened up punctually, it was followed almost immediately by the Enemy's barrage. Two Companies of the 13th moved out of the front trench. Strong Lewis Gun Fire was maintained on the Enemy's front line to prevent his escaping the barrage by leaving his trenches.

A hostile counter attack was launched at the leading Companies from the North and North  East.
It was beaten back..........A second and strong hostile Counter attack which was delivered from the Northern flank, was met very gallantly, but the line was by this time so thin, no support having come up, that a withdrawal was necessary to prevent the troops being cut off."

The Kingsmen consolidated their position, though constantly under heavy fire.

The Battalion lost 10 Officers in that attack but the Battalion Diary does not give other Ranks Casualties. However, the Brigade HQ Diary for May 1917 records total losses of the 13th King's from 2nd to 12th May 1917 as 12 Officers and 46 Other Ranks Killed in Action with 32 Missing  and 139 Wounded.

John Kirby was one of those statistics whose body was never found, his name is recorded on the Arras Memorial in France.

 

The ARRAS MEMORIAL commemorates almost 35,000 servicemen from the United Kingdom, South Africa and New Zealand who died in the Arras sector between the spring of 1916 and 7 August 1918, the eve of the Advance to Victory, and have no known grave. The most conspicuous events of this period were the Arras offensive of April-May 1917, and the German attack in the spring of 1918. Canadian and Australian servicemen killed in these operations are commemorated by memorials at Vimy and Villers-Bretonneux. A separate memorial remembers those killed in the Battle of Cambrai in 1917. Both cemetery and memorial were designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, with sculpture by Sir William Reid Dick. The memorial was unveiled by Lord Trenchard, Marshal of the Royal Air Force on the 31 July 1932 (originally it had been scheduled for 15 May, but due to the sudden death of French President Doumer, as a mark of respect, the ceremony was postponed until July).

 

John was declared Wounded and Missing on 03rd May 1917.  

 

His father, at 34 Admiral Street, Princes Park, wrote to Infantry Records on 11th July 1917:
 

 

He wrote again on 24th July 1917:  

“Sir, I beg to state I have got no reply to my letter to you re the address of my son, Lce Cpl J. Kirby 22751, which I wrote to you some time ago.  I also wrote to the Officer in Command of 13th Battalion in France, to which my son was attached.  I received a letter from C.S.M. Gill of C Company who informed me my son was wounded in the shoulder on 3rd May last, in action. He went to the rear in the direction of the dressing station but he does not know anything further as regards his whereabouts.  I suppose I will have to apply to the War Office if I get no reply from you. I remain, Yours truly, John J. Kirby.”

 

Shockingly, it was not until 01st July 1919, two years and two months after John was declared Missing, that his death was accepted, for official purposes, as having occurred on or since 3rd May 1917. One can only imagine the prolonged torture his loved ones went through. 

 

His brother in law (Mary Josephine’s husband), Matthew J. Kelly, at 4 Bankburn Road, Tuebrook, made enquiries with the International Red Cross but was notified on 13th July 1919 that they held no information on John.

 

His father received John’s Army effects, including a War Gratuity of £12.

 

His mother, at 110 Dacy Road, received a pension of 15/- a week from May 1918. She placed the following details when registering with the CWGC, indicating her pride in her son:

Son of Maria F. Kirby, of 110 Dacy Road, Everton, Liverpool, and the late J. Kirby. Enlisted in 1914. Proceeded to France Nov.1915  

 

In 1919 his mother provided information on John’s living relatives.  His father was not in the household, and she provided no address, “separated, not at home for years”. Aileen, 24, and Daniel, 22, are living at home, Mary Josephine is married, living in Tuebrook.

 

On 05th March 1921 his father provided a change of address, now 5 Gannock street, and reminded the authorities that he was John’s father and next of kin. 

 

His mother appears to have died in 1929 and his father in 1931, aged 74.

 

His brother Daniel served as a gunner in the R.G.A., 193rd Siege Battery.  He received a pension from January 1919 for one year.

 

John earned his three medals.  Sadly, his 1914-15 Star was sold at auction in London in 2000, one of a lot of 7 K.L.R. 1914-15 Stars that sold for £110.  (Including that of another Pal, Pte. 15748 Frederick G. Williams, 17th K.L.R., KIA 12/7/1916.)

 

John is commemorated on the following Memorials:
 

Ireland’s National Roll of Honour 

Liverpool’s Hall of Remembrance, Panel 65 Left (20th Batt.)