Tag: South Lancashire Regiment

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2/Lt. George Gordon Greene-Kelly

George Gordon Greene-Kelly was born on July 11, 1886 in County Dublin, Ireland. By 1901 he was attending school and living at 24 Belgrave Square, Monkstown Dublin with his widowed mother Elizabeth, his older brother Frederick William (attending Medical School) and a domestic servant.

In January 1915 he applied for a commission stating that he had been a member of his School Cadet Corps and the Planters Volunteer Mounted Corps, Malacca. He was accepted and commissioned on February 4, 1915 as a temporary Second Lieutenant with the 10th Battalion, The Prince of Wales’s Volunteers (South Lancashire Regiment).

He deployed to Gallipoli, and on October 7, 1915 was attached to the 1/9th Battalion, Manchester Regiment along with 4 other junior officers from the Essex and South Lancashire Regiments. There is no official mention of his movements or activities at Gallipoli with the 9th Manchesters and on December 8, 1915 he was transferred and attached to the 10th Manchesters along with another subaltern, 2/Lt. Laird Kirwan, who had arrived with him on October 7.

2/Lt. Greene-Kelly remained with the 10th Manchesters as they evacuated the Gallipoli Peninsula and moved to Egypt. On March 14, 1916 he was transferred to the 126th Brigade, 42nd Division Machine Gun Company at Shalufa. He spent a week in hospital at Suez in April and on May 20th was made temporary Lieutenant. In October he was granted 5 weeks leave in England and departed Port Said on the SS Caledonian on October 13th. After his leave was over, he embarked the Indulgence in Marseilles on November 13th rejoining the Machine Gun Company in Al Mazār, Northern Sinai, on November 27th. The pursuit of the Turkish forces across the Northern Sinai proceeded without incident and the 42nd Division marched into El Arish in January 1917. After a relaxing two weeks by the sea, they were ordered back to the Suez Canal in preparation of deployment to France.

The Machine Gun Company embarked for Marseilles, at Alexandria on February 2, 1917 sailing on the HT Huntspill, disembarking on March 6th. Lt. Greene-Kelly fought with the Machine Gun Corps in France throughout 1917 taking home leave from July 8-20 and again from January 11-27, 1918. Immediately upon his return he was recalled to England leaving the Machine Gun Company on January 29, 1918. He spent the remainder of the war in England.

On November 18, 1918 he returned to France and reported to Terlincthun Chateau, Boulogne for duty as War Workers Conducting Officer with the Military Inter Allied Commission of Control. Two weeks later he was granted the rank of temporary Major while so employed. The disarmament provisions of the Armistice, in November 1918, and of the Treaty of Versailles fourteen months later were primarily carried out by the Military Inter Allied Commission of Control. He remained with them until October 21, 1921 when he resigned his commission, retaining the rank of Major, but by this time he was based in Berlin.

He remained in Berlin and started his own import / export business, Gordon Kelly Export House. On September 20, 1923 he married Paula Gertrude Karla Marie Kuhlewind and they remained in Berlin after the marriage. In May 1924 their son, Ronald Gordon Greene-Kelly was born and around that time  he applied for an educational sponsorship from the Army for former officers who wanted to attend a business course at a London university but was rejected as he had not served in the regular forces. By 1926 the family had moved to Hendon, London and they remained there until he died in December 1932.

Major George Gordon Greene-Kelly was just 46 years old. He was survived by his wife, his son, his mother and his older brother.

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2/Lt. Laird Kirwan

Laird Kirwan was born on April 14, 1894 in London to John William Kirwan, a successful wholesale Jeweler, and Caroline Marian Kirwan (née Colins). He was the youngest of six children although his older brother Howard had died shortly after birth when he was just 7 months old. In 1911 he was living with his parents and four older sisters in Islington.

One month after the outbreak of war, on September 5, 1914, Laird joined the Honorable Artillery Company as a Private (#1931) and was assigned to Number 2 Company, 2nd Battalion. He was granted a commission as a temporary Second Lieutenant with the 10th Battalion, The Prince of Wales’s Volunteers (South Lancashire Regiment) on January 26, 1915.

He deployed to Gallipoli, and on October 7, 1915 was attached to the 1/9th Battalion, Manchester Regiment along with 4 other junior officers from the Essex and South Lancashire Regiments. There is no official mention of his movements or activities at Gallipoli with the 9th Manchesters and on December 8, 1915 he was transferred and attached to the 10th Manchesters along with another subaltern, 2/Lt. George Greene-Kelly, who had arrived with him on October 7.

2/Lt. Kirwan remained with the 10th Manchesters as they evacuated the Gallipoli Peninsula and moved to Egypt. On March 30, 1916 he was transferred and attached to the 6th Battalion, South Lancashire Regiment who were in Mesopotamia and formed part of the 38th (Lancashire) Infantry Brigade of the 13th (Western) Division. 2/Lt. Kirwan embarked at Port Suez on April 9th and disembarked at Basra on April 24th. This was 5 days before the fall of Kut Al Amara which no doubt delayed his passage up river to join his new battalion. Consequently, he spent some time at Basra before joining the Battalion at Sheikh Sa’ad on June 19th where he was immediately put in command of a company, relinquishing command 5 days later. On July 9, 1916 he went sick to hospital where he stayed for a week before rejoining the battalion.

After the debacle of Kut-Al-Amara, Lieutenant-General Sir Stanley Maude, formerly commander of the 6th South Lancs’ own 13th (Western) Division, was made commander of all Allied forces in Mesopotamia in late July 1916. He embarked upon a 7-month period of re-organizing and re-supplying his forces while steadily improving the lines of communication and medical and port infrastructure at Basra. In December 1916 he launched a new campaign whose goal was to capture Baghdad, which he did on March 11, 1917.

Shortly after the start of the campaign, on January 11, 1917, 2/Lt. Kirwan was transferred to “G” Stokes Mortar Battery and periodically served as second in command of the battery throughout his time with the battalion, temporarily assuming the rank of Lieutenant during those periods. Over the next 3 months the battalion took part in a series of minor battles including the capture of the Hai Salient, the capture of Dahra Bend, the Second Battle of Kut, the passage of the Diyala River and the fall of Baghdad. A month after it was all over, on May 16, he proceeded to Basra to commence home leave to England sailing on the transport Sofala. While in England, the War Office extended his leave and so he did not return to Basra until September 26, 1917 sailing from Bombay to Basra on the transport Torilla.

By this time the battalion was north of Baghdad at a small town called As Sindiyah, on the East bank of the Tigris and it took 2/Lt. Kirwan two weeks to reach them, rejoining the “G” Stokes Mortar Battery on October 9th at Tuwair (an even smaller town on the West side of the Tigris). As was not uncommon, a few weeks after returning from leave the change of climate and harsh living conditions caused him to report sick to hospital on November 25th and after a month in a field hospital went to an Officers’ Convalescent Hospital in Baghdad where he remained until December 28, 1917, rejoining the battalion at As Sindiyah. The commander of the Mesopotamia Expeditionary Force, Lt.-General Sir Stanley Maude was not so lucky, he contracted cholera around the same time and died in Baghdad on November 18.

2/Lt. Kirwan remained with the battalion until August 1, 1918 when he was attached to the 31st Wing of the Royal Air Force as an “Observer” joining the 30th Squadron at Baqubah, North West of Bhagdad. Three weeks later, on August 20, 1918, his Army service record states that he was “Accidentally Killed” on flying duty but his RAF record was subsequently amended to state that he in fact died of wounds sustained on flying duty, and was designated a “Battle Casualty”.

2/Lt. Laird Kirwan was 24 years old. He is buried in the Baghdad (North Gate) War Cemetery, Iraq which is also the final resting place of Sir Stanley Maude.