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Ireland (Historical Counties) => Ireland => Kilkenny => Topic started by: trevalyn on Thursday 16 November 23 22:22 GMT (UK)
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PERCY KENNEDY died on 16 March 1918 after serving with the Royal Army Medical Corps.He died in Kilkenny where his death was registered by his cousin Mary (or perhaps Margaret) Sixsmith. There is very scant information on his service records. It seems likely that he was born in Roscommon but was gone from there by the time of the 1911 census. I am told that his name appears on the war memorial ay Kilkenny's McDonagh Station.
Percy Kennedy is one of WW1's Forgotten Soldiers. Does anyone know where he may have been buried?
I would be very grateful for any help.
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Could this be him in 1901?
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Roscommon/Strokestown/Elphin_Street/1673171/
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai003859372/
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Still no sign of his father in 1911 on the return form but transcription shows him as Michael
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Roscommon/Athleague_West/Athleague_Town/766421/
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai003205858/
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Hi CaroleW. That is almost certainly the right family. But so far I have failed to find any record of births or deaths - apart from Percy in Kilkenny.
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See the note about form H
So this is likely to be Michael in 1911
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Roscommon/Athleague_West/Athleague_Town/766422/
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai003205860/
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So just for the record, Percy's birth, mother Johanna Slattery:
https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/birth_returns/births_1891/02375/1886250.pdf
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The Percy Kennedy who died 16.3.1918 was 29 & had parents James & Maria??
https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/75464775/percy-kennedy/
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Exactly, so something wrong.
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Trying from a different angle a Mary Phelan married a William Sixsmith in Kilkenny in 1906
https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/marriage_returns/marriages_1906/10137/5688503.pdf
If it’s the correct cousin his mother might be Phelan.
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There is very scant information on his service records. It seems likely that he was born in Roscommon but was gone from there by the time of the 1911 census. I am told that his name appears on the war memorial ay Kilkenny's McDonagh Station.
Percy Kennedy b 1888 - Service record on Ancestry. Service number 101878. He was a mental nurse at the soldiers home in Dublin. Single - attested 28.9.1915 Belfast aged 27yrs 60 days
No next of kin shown. Diagnosed with TB - discharged Dec 1915 - no service
Why would he be commemorated at Berkshire?
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There is another earlier attestation record for a Percy Kennedy which I think might refer to the same man, RAMC, signed up in 1911 at Naas, reg. no. 5971, it states his next of kin as his father and mother James and Maria of unknown address and that he was born in the parish of Kilkenny (near the town of Kilkenny in Co. Kilkenny).
Added: Another document for 5971 Percy Kennedy says that he died from Pthisis on 16.3.18, so it looks like the same man.
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MRI for Percy Kennedy 5971 shows him discharged unfit 22.2.1915. Also shows Theatre of War date 17.8.1914
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... I am told that his name appears on the war memorial ay Kilkenny's McDonagh Station.
You can see for yourself here in the bottom left photo, he's listed under RAMC reg. no. 5971:
http://www.irishwarmemorials.ie/Memorials-Detail?memoId=1143
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Very grateful to all of you. I'm absorbing all these bits of information and will respond later.
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The Percy Kennedy with father Michael in Roscommon looks to be this Percy
Irish Guards 3982
http://soldierswills.nationalarchives.ie/reels/sw/1918_22/KennedyP_E203521.pdf
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It does indeed look as if Roscommon is a red herring. The limited information as seen so far points increasingly to Kilkenny. However, i have been unable to find a birth registration for him nor does he appear in either the 1901 or 1911 census. Still looking!
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No family details but in pieces about Kilkenny men in WWI, 2012 and 2022 in the Kilkenny People, says Percy Kennedy of the RAMC 9571 was the first Kilkenny man to disembark in France on 10 Aug 1914.
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Just discovered that his service records include an address at Aubrey Street, Everton, Liverpool - later replaced by Soldiers' Home, Parkgate Street, Dublin. In light of lack of birth/census records in Ireland he may well have been born and spent his early years across the water.
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There's a concise summary of information from his military records below (page 227), the whereabouts of his parents being unknown (as I mentioned) is picked up in the following, it's all a bit odd:
https://testprephome.files.wordpress.com/2019/04/kilkenny_families_in_the_great_war.pdf
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Hi gaffy, As you say, all a bit odd. Looks like he had no immediate family in the area when he died .
Died in Kilkenny - death registered by his Sixsmith cousin. In 1911 they were the only Sixsmith family in Kilkenny. William Sixsmith married Mary Anne Sheehan (presumably Percy's cousin) in St Canice RC Church, Kilkenny on 18 July 1906. In the absence of Kennedy relations it is likely that the Sixsmith family will have arranged a funeral. St Canice must be a strong contender?
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William Sixsmith’s death notice 1939 gives his burial to St.Kieran’s Cemetery
I think this William is William and Mary’s son, need to check the death certificate for his age.
BTW Mary’s maiden name was Phelan , she died 1955 at her daughter’s house, also to St. Kieran’s.
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Great stuff! I will investigate St Kieran's.
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Re death of William Sixsmith. Looks like father and son William both died in 1939 - William Sen. on 29 June and William Jun on 9 July - aged 66 and 30.
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In that 1906 marriage of William Sixsmith and Mary Ann Phelan, the bride's occupation was recorded as nurse and her father William's as publican, so I'm guessing that this was her in the family household in 1901:
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Kilkenny/Kilkenny_Urban/New_Park/1450260/
Tracking births for the children in the above census return point to this couple being William Phelan and Bridget Murphy, who were married in 1869:
https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/marriage_returns/marriages_1869/11422/8195636.pdf
So if Mary Anne really was a cousin to Percy (I'm always wary of this word in the likes of census returns), then Murphy is another potential connection point.
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Disappointingly, St Kieran's (which looked most likely) didn't open until 1926. Also, St Canice has no records before 1921. There is still work to be done!