Five WWII heroes to get names on war memorial

Five WWII heroes to get names on war memorial

23 June 2021

FIVE new names are to be added to Killyleagh War Memorial.

Newry, Mourne and Down Council’s Strategy, Policy and Resources Committee agreed the move at its monthly meeting last week.

The names of First World War Privates John Morgan, of the Cameron Highlanders, John Henry McBratney, 14th Royal Irish Rifles, John Kinkead, 1st Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers and Daniel Atkinson, 44th Machine Gun Company, will be added along with that of Fusilier John Henry McNeilly, who fought during World War Two.

The local authority is responsible for all the district’s war memorials, including the one in Killyleagh adjacent to the town’s castle.

Members of the council committee were told that the cost of adding the five names will be no less than £500, with money from the organisation’s maintenance budget used to fund the work.

The request for the names to be added was made by the Killyleagh and Killinchy Royal British Legion branch and the Killyleagh Remembers the Great War group.

It was confirmed at last week’s council meeting that the local authority has traditionally carried out repair works to war memorials and replaced missing names, alongside adding additional names of soldiers when requested to do do so. General maintenance work is also carried out by council staff.

Councillors were told that it is not common practice for councils to include on war memorials the names of those killed whilst serving elsewhere than in international conflicts such as the two great wars and Korean war.

The practice is for the names of soldiers and others killed in other conflicts to be added to the Roll of Honour of their individual army regiment or organisation.

Council officials confirmed that they had been provided with evidence in support of the request to have the five names added to the Killyleagh memorial which included extracts from army roll index cards, memorial records and Commonwealth War Graves information.

It is proposed that the names will either engraved on the war memorial itself or by the addition of a plate, dependent on the amount of available space.

The Killyleagh memorial attached to the flank tower of the castle was erected in 1924, after the end of the Great War, with additional names of those who made the supreme sacrifice added after the Second World War.

The Sloanes local history group, led by Ann Fee, carried out research in 2013 which led to seven names being added.

Now an additional five names — four from the Great War and one from the Second — will be added including that of John Henry McNeilly, with the mystery around his death finally recognised after 75 years.

Months before the end of the Second World War, Fusilier McNeilly was robbed and stabbed to death as he prepared to travel home from London. He was aged 25.

The unusual circumstances of his death led to Scotland Yard being called in to investigate his stabbing in the doorway of Clerkenwell Magistrates Court in central London in April 1945. 

Mr McNeilly’s body was brought back to Killyleagh for burial at St Mary’s Catholic cemetery by his parents, Thomas and Mary Ann.

Two other soldiers, both brothers aged 25 and 20, were charged with his killing. Eventually one of the brothers pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Fusilier McNeilly and the other was convicted of being an accessory in the killing.

The brutal killing was largely forgotten and his wartime service as a member of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers is remembered only by members of his extended McNeilly and Salmon family in the Killyleagh area.

However, late last year an appeal for information from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission led to Chris Quinn, of St Mary’s Church, asking for help and information from the Killyleagh Remembers the War group.

A subsequent appeal through its Facebook page tracked down surviving family members, unearthing the story of Fusilier McNeilly’s mystery death.

Rowallane councillor, Billy Walker, has welcomed the council committee’s decision to add the five names to Killyleagh war memorial, commending Mr Cheevers for his research which has paved the way for the names to be added.

“The full council has to ratify the committee’s decision which will be pretty straightforward and after that I hope that officials will be able to tell us when the names will be added,” said Cllr Walker.