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Hi Daddysgirl,

I think we are third cousins once removed! 

Your grandmother, Catherine McEvoy was my Dad's second cousin. 

Her father and your great grandfather, James McEvoy (1870-1922 killed tragically) was the son of Michael McEvoy and Catherine Craven (b 1836) of Balriggan, who were your great great grandparents. 

Catherine Craven was a sister of my great grandfather James John Craven (1844-1929), and their
parents were Hugh Craven (1805-1888) and Mary McGuinness (1815-1887) who married in Dundalk in 1833 and who are your great great great grandparents and my great great grandparents. 

I have loads of information and marriage and baptism and birth certificates about my paternal grandmother's family, the Cravens and their descendants going back to Hugh Craven and Mary McGuinness and at least three of their children and a grandchild who was a sister of James McEvoy, emigrated to Baltimore in the US where you also have loads of cousins.

Do message me and I can share more.

Best regards from an Irish cousin from Dundalk (but living in Dublin)
McShane01 :-D

Your welcome Munch,

I haven't found Shiel's Yard, Dundalk but I did find Shiel's Court and this was just off Bridge Street where it runs into Church Street, and Shiel's Court is now called Patrick's Street. I think Shiel's Court may have originally been the entrance lane to Shiel's Yard, or maybe Shiel's Court was also known as Shiel's Yard.

You can look it up on the 1854 Griffith's Valuation map of Dundalk on http://www.askaboutireland.ie/griffith-valuation/  and do a search for any surname in Dundalk and open the map in the middle of the town of Dundalk.  You will see Sheil's Court is east off Bridge Street which runs from the bridge over the Castletown River in the north of Dundalk and runs south down into Church Street.

Gallowshill is also on this map and if you follow Church Street south down to Clanbrassil Street, down Earl Street, south east down Park Street and Anne Street, east into Dominick Place and then Gallowshill which continues as the Carrickmacross Road. On this map Gallowshill is just to the west of the Ard Easmuinn junction with the R178 Carrickmacross Road.

I hope this helps.

Regards, McShane01.

On a map of Dundalk dated 1766 by Mathew Wren (RIA) published in 2006 in the Dundalk Irish Historic Towns Atlas series, Gallowshill is clearly written on the map as being at the north side of the modern day R178 Carrickmacross Road between the current day Mount Avenue and Ard Easmuinn junctions with the R178.

Back in 1766 there was no Ard Easmuinn, no trains, no Dundalk railway or railway station which is nearby, and the Mount Avenue road used to bend and join the Carrickmacross Road closer to where the Ard Easmuinn Road junction is today.  It was at this junction on a hill that Gallowshill used to be.  People approaching Dundalk on the Carrickmacross Road would see gibbets hanging from the gallows on Gallowshill up to the early 1800s.

It is not to be confused with Gallowshall Dundalk which is also called Sportsman's Hall north of Dundalk and the Castletown River.

I am not sure about Shiels Yard but if I spot something I will let you know.

Your welcome Westy11,

And thank you.  I think it is important to remember them and to ensure the generations after us can remember also.  These are all sad, but important, stories from that war. 

Maybe others might recognise some of the names and faces of the other soldiers who served alongside John and this adds to their stories and history.

I would like to find out who the other soldier was in the photo, someone might recognise the face from other photos, and the name of the wounded Yorkshire soldier who originally told the story of John's last day to Tom, which is how we know it now. 

Regards, McShane1 

Lance Corporal John McShane was a postman in Dowdallshill, Dundalk, Co. Louth, Ireland before WWI.  He was born in 1879, he was single and the eldest child in the McShane family and lived in Dowdallshill with his parents Robert and Mary Ann McShane (mother's maiden name Carroll) and his younger sisters and brothers.  He was a very popular person and postman.

He volunteered in Dundalk for service in the special battalion raised for Post Office officials (Post Office Rifles, 1st/8th Battalion London Regiment) along with the following post office workers in Dundalk: Bernard Carolan, James Matthews, James McEvoy, John Green and Joseph Callaghan and they left Dundalk on the train on Monday, 29th March 1915 and there was a big send off at the train station.  Before they left the Post Office held a function in their honour on Saturday, 27th March 1915.  Some of them came home to Dundalk on leave at the end of April 1915 and in September 1915 John went to France.

On 21st December 1915 he was in charge of a digging party in the trenches.  One of the men, a Yorkshire man, needed a break, so John took the tools himself and was working in the trench.  An officer came up and wished to speak to John so John handed the tools back to the Yorkshire man and got into conversation with the officer.  They were both shot by a German sniper seeing them standing over the men.  Poor John was hit in the spine and was dead in 5 to 10 minutes.

On 22nd December 1915 Captain Webster wrote a letter of condolence to John's mother Mrs. Mary Ann McShane. In it he said that although John had not been in the battalion long: "he had already made his mark.  He was liked by everyone and was looked upon as one of our smartest NCO's.  His death is a great loss to all of us".  We don't have the original letter but it was reported in the Dundalk Democrat on 1st January 1916.  On the 8th April 1916 the Dundalk Democrat reported that they got a letter from a Mr. Tom Johnston who was convalescing in the Glasgow Red Cross Hospital with the Yorkshire man above, who had lost an eye, and who had been beside John when he died and he recounted the details above about John's death to Tom. 

The extracts from the Dundalk Democrat and Dundalk Herald which detail the above events were published by Donal Hall in his book "The Unreturned Army: County Louth Dead in the Great War 1914-1918".  I do not know the name of this Yorkshire man unfortunately but he was probably in the Post Office Rifles also and maybe someone else may know him.

On 18th January 1921 a letter from Major G. F. Barttelot was addressed and sent to Mrs. M. A. McShane along with the medal, the 1914-1915 Star, which would have been conferred had he lived according to the letter and two other medals: The Victory Medal and the British War Medal.  Sadly John's mother had passed away in 1920, survived by her husband and his father, Robert.  John's picture of him in uniform used to hang on the wall of the house in Dowdallshill and he was very much missed by his family who loved him and sadly this photo got very faded with the sunlight.  I attach another postcard photograph of him in uniform sitting down. I don't know the name of the other soldier standing beside him but maybe someone might recognise who this is.  He was probably in the same regiment and battalion.  I think this photograph was taken in France.

Lance Corporal John McShane is commemorated in France at the War Memorial in Loos, Pas-de-Calais (Panel 131).

And as for the other Post Office workers from Dundalk who volunteered in March 1915: Bernard Carolan and John Green were also killed in action in WWI, James Matthews was badly wounded, and James McEvoy and James Callaghan spent time as German POWs and survived.  I have counted at least another thirteen Post Office Workers from Dundalk and Co. Louth Post Offices who volunteered and fought in WWI.

May they All Rest In Peace.