Patrick Ohearn

[Andrew Hesketh]

Patrick Ohearn (this is the spelling I've been given, though it looks to me like their ought to be an apostrophe in it...) died in the war, possibly 1916 and is known to have served in the King's (Liverpool) Regiment. He is not recorded on SDGW or CWGC.

A long shot, but has anyone ever come across him?

[Promenade]

Andrew,

Your man is John Patrick O'Hearns. Born, enlisted and associated Manchester. His was No 19446 and was killed with 13 KLR on 12/7/16. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial. To F&F 26/9/15. He was part of a large batch of men from the Manchester area who enlisted in Manchester on 9/9/14 and who were drafted to the Liverpool Regt.

Could I ask your interest?

Joe

[Andrew Hesketh]

Joe,

Brilliant. I was rather hoping that you would pick up on this one!! (but to do so within half an hour is beyond the call of duty!)

I'll contact you off forum as to why I'm interested.

[Promenade]

Andrew

Taking into account information from your e-mail I would like add the following to my original posting. In the first week of Sept 1914 about 300 men from Manchester enlisted there and were posted to 13 (Service) Battalion KLR when it was formed in October 1914 in Seaforth Liverpool – making up about 1/3 of the fighting strength of the Battalion. Almost to a man all of these men left the UK for France with the Battalion on 26 September 1915. On 12 July 13 KLR was in trenches near Carnoy in preparation for an attack on the German lines on 14 July. Unfortunately the Battalion War Diarist chose not to include casualty figures but my records show that on 12 July 7 men were killed in action, on 13 July 1 man was kia and on 14 July 127 men were lost in the attack. O’Hearns number was 19446 and it is interesting to note that four others who were also killed on 12 July with the Battalion were also from the Manchester area their numbers were 19452, 19512 and 19538 and 25024. It is possible that they all knew each other and were killed by enemy shellfire having been allocated to the same company/section. The bodies of five of the seven men killed were not recovered and identified after the war – they are all commemorated on the Thiepval memorial – again this could suggest that their remains could have been destroyed by shellfire. However all this is hypothesis – but it may shed some light on the information that you have. I am sure you know that the only other option which could settle the point once and for all is to check whether his papers have survived at the NA. For what it is worth my money is that he was kia on 12 July.

Joe

[Andrew Hesketh]

This is an outstanding response Joe and very much appreciated. Thanks.