28th June 1915,James Donnelly, 17, 1/8th Cameronians(Scottish Rifles)

[Baird]

Born in Parnie Street Glasgow, 24th July 1897. Killed at Gully Ravine, Gallipoli, 28th June 1915 as were 25 Officers and 448 O.Rs. of the 1/8th Battalion The Cameronians in their first action.
James has no known grave but is listed on the Helles Memorial.
Baird

[gingerbit]

This is from the Cameronians Roll of Honour. I hope it may be of some interest.

[Baird]

Cheers for that Gingerbit. I have seen that before but unfortunately it has the wrong date of death for Private 9946 James Donnelly , 1/8th Cameronians.
The date given on the roll is actually  prior to the Battalion landing at Gallipoli. I actually have a letter written by him after that date.
The correct date (28/06/1915)is as given on the CWGC website and in the book " With the Eighth Scottish Rifles 1914-1919" by Colonel J.M. Findlay. He was the only officer of the Battalion to survive from 1914 to 1919.

Thank you again for your response.

Baird

[Robert]

Hi Baird,

My great grandfather was in the same battalion and was also killed at Gully Ravine on the same day.

He has no known grave and is listed on the Helles memorial. Due to this I believed he was never buried at the time and his remains buried much later if at all, as I seen many men of the battalion were officially listed as 'missing' for a long period of time before being confirmed as killed.

However, I recently found a newspaper article in Aug 1915 which confirmed that he and around 20 others of the battalion were killed in action(no info, just a list of names). On the same page was a list of over 200 other men in the battalion listed as missing.

Since he is confirmed as killed while so many are listed as missing, I believe this suggests that his body was recovered and buried at the time, but maybe the site was later lost. Do you know of any such incidences with the 8th Battalion where this was the case? I did see that some bodies were later reburied at Twelve Tree Copse, so I guess maybe he was reburied there, but maybe at that time there was nothing left to identify him. Would be grateful to read your thoughts on this.

Coincidentally while looking for articles on the 8th battalion I seen one that mentioned a James Donnelly 9946 of the battalion as missing, with a photo of him. Have you already seen that, if not I can try and send it.

Many thanks,

Rob

[Baird]

Hello Robert,
                     great to hear from you with your information.
I'll have a look through my notes regarding burials post the attack on 28th June 1915.
I have a copy of the Battalion War Diary and Colonel J.M.Findlays' Book.

I would be absolutely delighted if you could forward a copy of the photograph of James Donnelly as none of his surviving family have one.
I'll try and forward the info to you tomorrow if you can send me your e mail address.
^(*)

(*) Moderator Comment: e-mail removed in accordance with RootsChat policy, to avoid spamming and other abuses.
Please use the Personal Message (PM) system for exchanging personal data.

[Robert]

Hi Baird,

That's great, thank you for having a look for me, much appreciated.

No problem, glad to e-mail the article and photo to you. Fantastic that a photo of him appeared in the newspaper. Will send it just now to the e-mail address you provided.

Rob

[Treetotal]

Hi Baird....You need to remove your email address as it's against Rootschat policy to protect you from spam.
Carol