Lance Corporal John McShane was a postman in Dowdallshill, Dundalk, Co. Louth, Ireland before WWI. He was born in 1879, he was single and the eldest child in the McShane family and lived in Dowdallshill with his parents Robert and Mary Ann McShane (mother's maiden name Carroll) and his younger sisters and brothers. He was a very popular person and postman.
He volunteered in Dundalk for service in the special battalion raised for Post Office officials (Post Office Rifles, 1st/8th Battalion London Regiment) along with the following post office workers in Dundalk: Bernard Carolan, James Matthews, James McEvoy, John Green and Joseph Callaghan and they left Dundalk on the train on Monday, 29th March 1915 and there was a big send off at the train station. Before they left the Post Office held a function in their honour on Saturday, 27th March 1915. Some of them came home to Dundalk on leave at the end of April 1915 and in September 1915 John went to France.
On 21st December 1915 he was in charge of a digging party in the trenches. One of the men, a Yorkshire man, needed a break, so John took the tools himself and was working in the trench. An officer came up and wished to speak to John so John handed the tools back to the Yorkshire man and got into conversation with the officer. They were both shot by a German sniper seeing them standing over the men. Poor John was hit in the spine and was dead in 5 to 10 minutes.
On 22nd December 1915 Captain Webster wrote a letter of condolence to John's mother Mrs. Mary Ann McShane. In it he said that although John had not been in the battalion long: "he had already made his mark. He was liked by everyone and was looked upon as one of our smartest NCO's. His death is a great loss to all of us". We don't have the original letter but it was reported in the Dundalk Democrat on 1st January 1916. On the 8th April 1916 the Dundalk Democrat reported that they got a letter from a Mr. Tom Johnston who was convalescing in the Glasgow Red Cross Hospital with the Yorkshire man above, who had lost an eye, and who had been beside John when he died and he recounted the details above about John's death to Tom.
The extracts from the Dundalk Democrat and Dundalk Herald which detail the above events were published by Donal Hall in his book "The Unreturned Army: County Louth Dead in the Great War 1914-1918". I do not know the name of this Yorkshire man unfortunately but he was probably in the Post Office Rifles also and maybe someone else may know him.
On 18th January 1921 a letter from Major G. F. Barttelot was addressed and sent to Mrs. M. A. McShane along with the medal, the 1914-1915 Star, which would have been conferred had he lived according to the letter and two other medals: The Victory Medal and the British War Medal. Sadly John's mother had passed away in 1920, survived by her husband and his father, Robert. John's picture of him in uniform used to hang on the wall of the house in Dowdallshill and he was very much missed by his family who loved him and sadly this photo got very faded with the sunlight. I attach another postcard photograph of him in uniform sitting down. I don't know the name of the other soldier standing beside him but maybe someone might recognise who this is. He was probably in the same regiment and battalion. I think this photograph was taken in France.
Lance Corporal John McShane is commemorated in France at the War Memorial in Loos, Pas-de-Calais (Panel 131).
And as for the other Post Office workers from Dundalk who volunteered in March 1915: Bernard Carolan and John Green were also killed in action in WWI, James Matthews was badly wounded, and James McEvoy and James Callaghan spent time as German POWs and survived. I have counted at least another thirteen Post Office Workers from Dundalk and Co. Louth Post Offices who volunteered and fought in WWI.
May they All Rest In Peace.
