John Sullivan Kelly

Lance Cpl 1st Btn Leinster Regiment 10277

Died: 04-05-1915 age 21

John was the son of Patrick and Ann Mary Kelly, nee Swindley of Boughton, Chester, who had married at St Werburgh's on 14 May 1890.

John was born on 2 July 1893 and baptised on 16 July 1893 at St Werburgh's. He was also confirmed here in 1905. His elder sister, Elizabeth Mary, and younger brother, Leo Joseph, were also baptised here in 1892 and 1895 respectively.

From 1896 onwards John's father Patrick was no longer residing with the family. He may have died or was permanently resident in a hospital. After this the family lived in Fosbrook Street with their maternal grandfather, who was a shoemaker. Ann Mary herself worked as an upholsteress. Later she lived in Kearsland Place, Bridge Street.

In the 1911 census, John, aged 17, is resident at a boarding house for working boys, in Preston. His work is listed as that of a painter. John probably stayed in Preston, because it is here that he enlisted, most likely at the beginning of the war, with the 1st Battalion Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment.

He arrived in France on 17 March 1915 and was killed in action on 4 May 1915.

He was entitled to the 1914-15 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.

His name is on Panel 44 of the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium. It is also listed on the memorials in the Town Hall and St Werburgh's Church, Chester.