James BERRY from Tullamore, in Casement's Irish Brigade

[corisande]

I doubt that I can make much more progress on this man who came from Tullamore area, joined the British Army, became a prisoner of war in Germany, joined the Irish Brigade that Casement recruited from among the Irish pow's.

The information I have on James Berry

Behind the Wire website gives Berry in Leinsters, 2nd Battalion from WO files. His is the medal card shows him as  Private   6858 in Leinsters

Keogh (Sgt Major of Irish Brigade) says he comes from Tullamore

6902 Scanlan of Leinster Regt (note this is not the Scanlon in Irish Brigade and who was in Royal Irish Rifles) in a POW debrief, described Berry as "a boy crying with hunger ... who was never seen in Brigade uniform"

There is a James Berry aged 13 in the 1911 census living at Brachnagh, which is 12 miles from Tullamore, and could be him. Or a James Berry aged 18 in the 1911 census living at Durrow, 4 miles from Tullamore

He appears to have stayed in England after the war, as the address given for his medals was at Ellerton, Yorkshire. Ellerton is a village in the East Riding of Yorkshire, 8 mi south west of the market town of Pocklington. Together with Aughton it forms the civil parish of Ellerton and Aughton.

I cannot find a record of the death of a James Berry there. Nor the death of any James Berry of the right sort of age in East Yorkshire.

Anybody any ideas on getting any further with him?

[bluecate]

Hi I have just registered because I was looking for James Berry and you came up first in google. He was my Grandfather . He died in 1937 aged 50 in Leeds West Yorks. He joined up in Tullamore aged 16, his mother was enraged and eventually bought him out, so he joined up again when he was 18. We were shocked to hear about his Irish Brigade connections.My son has been researching him, but couldnt find any army records so you have helped us there thank you. He was dead before I was born so all I know about him was from the family. He married my grandmother in 1920 in Leeds and my mum was born the following year.He never lived in East Yorks,he had a sister living in Leeds who he stayed with, which is how he met my gran i presume. How can I check if he did marry a German girl.. youve got me wondering now!

[corisande]

Hi

The Yorkshire address is the one he gave the Army to get his medals after he returned from Germany

I don't think I have a date for his return, the Irish Brigade made their way back usually as individuals rather than as a group.

O'Toole, who was in the Irish Brigade, certainly said he married  a German girl, and a number of them did. Afraid I have no idea how you could find anything on that. Self evidently, records in Germany in that time were not kept as a rule, or were destroyed.

Again I could not say if she died, or he just left her and went back to UK.

If you have a photo of him, it would be useful to me when I am trying to identify photos
.

[bluecate]

Hi, thanks for your reply. I don't know why he gave an address in East Yorks, but I am convinced that he was the James Berry you were talking about. He was in the 1901 census in Tullamore, Crow street as a 14 year old boy. Yes I do have a photo, James is the one on the left but we don't know who the other one was. I have also attached a clipping from the Leeds Mercury, 1937 after he died. I also found out that he left the army without a pension! He apparently appealed and it was eventually granted. A different story to what he seemingly told everyone at work and his family. I know from my Mum and other family members that he said that he could never go back to Ireland or he would be killed, and he never did go back. He was also an accomplished clarinet player but no one seems to know where he learned this, in Germany maybe? Thank you again and I hope this stuff is useful to you.

[corisande]

Thanks very much for all that.

I will update his page with that info and photos later on today