Private. 1st Battalion, Duke of Wellington’s West Riding Regiment, Service number: 14106.
(Previously served with the 8th and 2nd Battalions.)
Note: There are two different spellings of his story, Connelly and Connolly, depending on which record you look at. We are sure they are of the same man.
Early life:
Joseph’s parents were John Connolly and Catherine Connolly née Blayney who were married in Sheffield in late 1881. They were both born in Ireland.
In the 1891 census the family were living at 60, Oakworth Road in Keighley. John was employed as a gardener and Catherine was looking after the family home. They had four children at the time who were Annie E., aged eight and Ada aged six who were both attending school. The youngest were John (junior) aged three and Ellen aged two. This house was probably fine at the time, but was one of the many poor quality houses which were in a poor state of repair and were demolished under the Keighley slum clearances in the 1950s/60s.
Joseph was born on the first of December 1893 and baptised as Joseph Connelly* at St. Anne’s Roman Catholic Church on the 17th of that month. His name appears in their baptismal records with the sponsors Samuel Wademan and Anne Gallagher. Keighley St. Anne’s Church is part of the Catholic Diocese of Leeds.
*note the slight spelling difference in Joseph’s surname.
In the 1901 census Joseph was aged seven and attending school, he was living at 15, Burlington Street at the South West side of Keighley, very close to where the Brown Cow public house is still located today. His father John was 47 and still employed as a Nursery gardener and mother Catherine was 37 and a House Keeper. Living with them were Joseph’s siblings Annie, aged 18 and a yarn twister; Ada, aged 16 and a worsted spinner; John junior aged 13 and a worsted Mill doffer. The siblings at school were Elizabeth aged nine and Eliza aged five and the youngest was Thomas aged two.
By 1911 the family were living at 3, Jay Street at Eastwood in Keighley, part of the ‘Birdcage’ area of town in which all the streets are named after birds.
Father John was working as a nursery gardener. He and Catherine had been married for 29 years and had produced 11 children born alive, seven of whom were still living and four had sadly died. Living with them at Jay Street were John junior aged, an iron turner making textile (worsted) machinery, Elizabeth aged 19, a worsted yarn spinner, Joseph was a machine painter (for Prince Smiths) and the two youngest were Arthur aged nine who was at school and the baby of the family was Walter aged three.
The two eldest girls were Annie E. and Ada who were aged 18 and 16 in the 1901 census were no longer living at home.
Annie Elizabeth had married Harry Ward Peacock in 1905 and moved out of the family home. They were living at Utley in the 1911 census and after Harry died in 1938, Annie was living at The Walk in Keighley in 1939.
Ada married Nimrod Ackroyd in 1909 and moved out of the family home. In the 1911 census they were living at Coney Lane and till there in 1939.
We found four Connelly children who had died in Keighley and they were:
Ellen, born 1888 and died aged seven in 1895.
Eliza, born 1896 and died aged eight in 1904.
Thomas, born 1898 and died aged four in 1903.The coroner held an inquest at Keighley Police Station in June 1903 and determined that Thomas’s death was due to convulsions.
Robert, born 1903 and died aged one in 1904.
There is another possible infant death but the connection is by name only and does not appear in any other records. He was Eric Wilfred Connelly, born in 1906 and died aged one in 1908.
War service:
Joseph appears in Keighley’s Gallant Sons as he was an early volunteer in the war. His details were, Name: Joseph Connelly of 3, Jay Street, Keighley. Regiment: 3rd Battalion West Riding.
He enlisted at Keighley and served with the 8th Battalion West Riding,
Ancestry family tree – The family story is that Joseph died by way of a tragic accident as he fell down a well and drowned.
Keighley News dated 2nd February 1918:
Private Joseph Connelly, of the West Riding Regiment, whose parents reside at 3, Jay Street, Keighley, has been accidentally drowned in India. Before enlisting in September, 1914, he was employed in the painting department of Messrs Prince Smith & Son, Keighley. He had seen a good deal of service both in France – where he was wounded and lost his power of speech through shell-shock, and the Dardanelles, where he contracted dysentery.
His medal records show that he first entered the Balkan war theatre (2b) on 17th September 1915 and this would have been with the 8th Battalion West Riding Regiment and he probably visited the island of Lemnos before landing at Suvla Bay and was infected with dysentery along with many others. He would also have served with the 8th in France where he was wounded. We have no service records for Joseph so we have to assume that the newspaper account stating he was wounded meant that he was struck off strength and hospitalised before recovery.
His name appears in the casualty list in the 15th November 1915 issue of the Halifax Evening Courier as wounded. (this report also appears in the Leeds Mercury, Sheffield Daily Telegraph and Darlington North Star newspapers on the same date.)
Halifax Evening Courier 15th November 1915, page 3:
Duke of Wellington’s Casualties:
MEDITERRANEAN FORCE.
Under various dates:
Wounded.
Connelly, J., 3/14106.
At that time the 8th Battalion was located at Suvla Bay and it appears to have been a fairly quiet period with intermittent casualties. There were two casualties wounded on the 9th November and three wounded on the 11th, but the newspaper records appears to include several weeks worth of casualty reports.
It’s likely that Joseph travelled with the 8th Battalion to Egypt before sailing to Marseilles and eventually to the Western Front in France and may have even taken part in the Battle of the Somme, although they weren’t in the front line on the first day of this major battle. He was later transferred to the 1st Battalion and it’s possible that this was after being wounded again, this time in France.
He was transferred to the 1st Battalion West Riding Regiment and posted overseas to serve in their Garrison Battalion at Rawalpindi. We have no dates for his transfer and posting to India, but he was serving there when he died in the accidental drowning on 1st January 1918.
Memorial card:
Joseph’s family has a black edged memorial card, from a memorial service for Joseph and the wording implies it was from a service in India.
It reads:
In Affectionate Remembrance of Private Joseph Connelly.
Who was accidentally drowned at Burhan Camp on 1st January 1918. Age 21 years. Interred at Rawalpindi, India. 3rd January 1918.
We have to mourn the loss of one
We did our best to save;
Beloved on earth, regretted, gone.
Remembered in the grave.
The midnight stars are gleaming,
Upon his silent grave;
Where sleepeth without dreaming
The one we could not save.
Both sure and sudden was the blow,
That death on him did lay;
How short a time to him it gave,
And summoned him away.
Joseph was buried in Rawalpindi War Cemetery in India and the grave was number 42 of row A in plot Y. His grave along with several others was exhumed and reburied in the same cemetery in 1966 and this was probably to create a separate area for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission burials. This region is now in Pakistan. His grave is now number 18 in row B of plot 3. There are 357 war graves in this cemetery.
His mother Catherine was his next of kin and sole legatee in his will and she received payments from his Army pay account. These were £21 9s. 7d on 25th June 1918; £13 4s. 10d on 20th August 1918; War gratuity payment of £15 on 20th December 1919.
She would also have received his service medals which were the 1914-15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal and probably a bronze war memorial plaque and King’s certificate. Generally speaking, these were issued in early 1920 or 1921.
Catherine also received a dependant’s pension of six shillings per weeks dated from 6th August 1918. Her home address at that time was still 3, Jay Street in Keighley.
In the 19th June 1921 census, father John aged 64, employed as a road labourer for Keighley Corporation and Catherine aged 56 were living at 3, Jay Street along with their son Arthur aged 20, employed as an Iron Foundry Fitter for Prince Smith & Son; daughter Elizabeth aged 29, employed as a ring twister by Messrs Clifford and Co. and their son Walter aged 13, employed as a doffer by the worsted spinners C. N. Jennings.
John and Catherine were still living at 3, Jay Street in the 1939 register. John was now retired from work and was aged 82 and Catherine was aged 72.
John died later that year, recorded at Keighley Registry Office in the last quarter of the year. Catherine died aged 91, recorded at Worth Valley in the first quarter of 1955.
Remembrance
Joseph is named in the Borough of Keighley roll of honour book at Keighley Library.
He is also the Joseph Connolly(sic) named on the St. Anne’s Roman Catholic Church war memorial.
Information sources:
England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1837-1915.
1891 England Census.
England & Wales Births 1837-2006.
England Roman Catholic Parish Baptisms.
1901 England Census.
1911 Census For England & Wales.
Keighley’s Gallant Sons.
Ancestry family tree.
Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
Soldiers Died in the Great War, 1914-1919.
Army Registers of Soldiers’ Effects, 1901-1929.
World War I Pension Ledgers and Index Cards, 1914-1923.
British Army World War I Medal Rolls Index Cards, 1914-1920.
World War I Service Medal and Award Rolls, 1914-1920.
Army Registers of Soldiers’ Effects, 1901-1929.
1921 Census Of England & Wales.
1939 England and Wales Register.
England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007.
British Newspaper Archive.
Keighley News archives at Keighley Library.
National Archives W0-95 War Diaries.
