2nd Battalion, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers (British Army)
Died:
21/03/1918 (Died of Wounds)
Age:
22
Summary
Thomas McIlroy was born in Maghera. Prior to enlisting Thomas lived in Upperlands and worked at William Clark & Sons Ltd. In 1917 he was awarded the Military Medal (M.M.) as a result of his bravery during the Battle of Cambrai. Lance Corporal Thomas McIlroy M.M. was serving with the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers when he died on the 21st March 1918 as a result of being gassed. He was 22 years old.
Further Information
Thomas McIlroy was born in Maghera.
Prior to enlisting Thomas lived in Upperlands and worked at William Clark & Sons Ltd.
Thomas enlisted at Finner Camp, Donegal.
In 1917 he was awarded the Military Medal (M.M.) as a result of his bravery during the Battle of Cambrai.
From the Belfast Newsletter dated 11th January 1918: The Military Medal
Lance Corporal Thomas McIlroy, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, of Upperlands, has been awarded the Military Medal for good work in the recent fighting. It appears that, with a number of others, he was on patrol when they walked into a German stronghold. A fierce struggle, lasting over two hours ensued, and through the good work and devotion to duty of Lance Corporal McIlroy and two other members of the party, the Germans were held up and the patrol saved from capture. Corporal McIlroy was amongst the first batch of volunteers from Upperlands to join the Ulster Division at its formation. He has been at the front ever since the 36th Division went out. Before joining the colours he was a member of Upperlands Company of the U.V.F., and was connected with Upperlands L.O.L. He is a respected member of Maghera Presbyterian Church. He was employed on the clerical staff of Messrs. W Clark and Sons Ltd.
From the Mid Ulster Mail dated 2nd March 1918: South Derry Heroes – How They Won Military Crosses
Here is the story of how four South Derry soldiers won the Military Medal during the Cambrai push in November last. The facts were related by Lance Corporal William Shanks and Lewis Gunner Jack Harte, two of the heroic four, and both natives of Castledawson. Their companions in the gallant exploit were Private Malcolm Magill (Magherafelt) and Lewis Gunner T McIlroy (Upperlands). On the day following the Cambrai battle these for formed part of a fighting patrol of fifteen, which included an officer. Their duty was to explore a large triangular area uncrossed by the British in the advance, and lying along the hollow of the Du Nord Canal.
We were quietly jogging along, says Lance corporal Shanks, with our rifles slung over our shoulders, and though we could hear the tick-tock of a German machine gun, it sounded so far away to our right we imagined the enemy were at least a mile away. Jack Harte was just in front of me, and he and I were laughing over something, when suddenly the officer jumped back from a corner in a trench we had reached, exclaiming as he ripped out his revolver:- ‘Look out boys! There’s a machine gun in action just around the corner.’
At this point there was a lock on the canal; surmounted by a ruined lock house and the canal, now a dry bed, had two branches separated by a high embankment. Jack and I jumped up on the embankment to peep over, and instantly a beetle bomb was thrown at us, but fortunately it buried itself in the bank. Connecting the main course of the canal with one of its branches was a deep gully and on looking up this, the officer perceived that it was full of Germans with a machine gun. Our officer, and the rest of our comrades, now rushed off to bring up reinforcements from the 14th Battalion (Y.C.V.’s) on our left, and as he said nothing to us four, we decided to stop where we were.
Going back into the bed of the canal, where we could command a view of the mouth of the gully, we built up a barricade of stones and put McIlroy behind it with the Lewis gun, and Magill beside him to fill magazines. Harte and I went forward, one on each side, to a depression in the embankment. To get at us in this position, the Germans had to expose themselves at the mouth of the gully, and when they did so we opened up and drove them back, each time with some casualties. You would scarcely believe it, but we never laughed so much in our lives.
Imagine four of us dodging around that old canal bottom, chucking rifle grenades, rapid fire and Lewis gun fire at a force of the enemy who, if they had not thought us at least a hundred strong from the row we were keeping up, must have come out and eaten us up. We would dodge up to the mouth of the gully and rip up a few volleys and then back to our places, from where we slung over the grenades.
Private Grumbley, from Coleraine, who had lost his company, blundered along our way at a quiet moment, and we could not convince him that he was sitting at one of the early doors for the Kingdom Come, until the Germans made another rush down the gully and appeared almost at his side. The look of surprised incredulity on his face as he involuntarily brought up his rifle and banged into them, with a ‘Good ___ Billy’, was so ludicrous that I rolled over laughing, and for fully two minutes was unable to put a bullet in a rifle. He got wounded on the throat with a ricocheting bullet.
Then along came another doubting Thomas in the shape of a young lieutenant, who persisted in walking backwards and forwards across the mouth of the gully to show us what he thought of our ‘yarn’. When the Germans did again show themselves he was so flabbergasted that he should stood and pointed his cane at them and then dropped, shot through the chest, dying later.
There was yet no sign of our reinforcements, and we knew from the sounds in the gully that the Germans had been reinforced. Jack rushed the Lewis gun to the mouth and let her rip just as they came out with an officer at their head. Back they went helter skelter and back came Jack out of direct range. Our ammunition was now almost exhausted, and we got off our packs preparatory to making a scoot for it when our last round had been fired.
Just them McIlroy and Magill drew our attention to what was happening overhead. Talk about laughing! It just reminded us of sodding someone at home and dodging around a corner. There were the Germans bayonet charging the old lock house, ten yards above us to the right, thinking it held the main garrison.
From half past two until nearly five, the four of us held them up without receiving a scratch, and when the reinforcements came up later, from the Young Citizens, they had seven killed and a number wounded. They held the position for some time, but ultimately were driven out. We had only half a magazine left when we were relieved.’
Private Harte distinguished himself on the previous day also, when the battalion was held up by an enemy machine gun, by rushing forward his Lewis gun and wiping out the death dealing obstruction. Lance Corporal Shanks is the same ‘Wee Billy’ who carried the message through the shell inferno of Thiepval Wood in March 1916, which probably saved the lives of hundreds, and which was ‘the talk of the whole Ulster Division at the time’, according to comrades who were there.
In March 1918, there was the German Spring Offensive. The Allies were driven back to within eight miles of Amiens.
Lance Corporal Thomas McIlroy M.M. was serving with the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers when he died on the 21st March 1918 as a result of being gassed. He was 22 years old.
From the Mid Ulster Mail dated 11th May 1918: Upperlands
Mr David Graham, Ternageeragh, has received notification that his son, Private Stewart Graham, Inniskillings, has been missing since 21st March. The relatives of Corporal Thomas McIlroy, Inniskillings (Upperlands), have also received official intimation that he is missing since 21st March. Corporal McIlroy, it will be remembered, is one of the four gallant South Derry heroes who, in November last, were the Military Medal for the valiant action in holding up about 900 Germans for over four hours in the river bed in Cambrai. Hopes are entertained that Corporal McIlroy and Private Graham may be prisoners of war.
From the Belfast Newsletter dated 18th October 1918:
Corporal Thomas McIlroy, M.M., Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, Upperlands, is officially reported missing since 21st March. A letter has been received from a prisoner of war in Germany stating that Corporal McIlroy died on 21st March from the effects of gas poisoning. In civil life he was a member of the clerical staff of Messrs. W Clark and Sons Ltd, Upperlands. He was connected with Upperlands L.O.L. and the local company of the U.V.F.
From the Mid Ulster Mail dated 24th October 1918: Upperlands
Corporal Thomas McIlroy, of the Inniskillings, has been reported missing since 21st March, and until now all efforts for information as to the fate of the gallant young soldier proved futile. However, a few days ago Mr John Porter, Culnady, received a letter from his son, Corporal Robert Porter, Inniskillings, who is a prisoner of war in Germany, stating that he has been informed by Sergeant Pierce Turkington, also a prisoner of war, that on the 21st March, Corporal McIlroy died from the effects of being gassed. Last November Corporal McIlroy was awarded the Military Medal when he, in the company of three other gallant South Derry lads, held up a force of over two hundred Germans for over four hours in the river bank at Cambrai. He was amongst the first contingent from Upperlands in September 1914 to join the Ulster Division and was…
Before joining the colours he was a member of Upperlands U.V.F. and also of the Upperlands Purple Marksmen L.O.L. 817, and was a respected member of Magherafelt Presbyterian Church. Needless to say that the intelligence of this bright young lad’s end fate has caused genuine regret amongst his numerous friends.
Lance Corporal Thomas McIlroy M.M. is buried in St Souplet British Cemetery. The village is about six kilometres south of Le Cateau, a small town approximately 20 kilometres south-east of Cambrai.
The grave photo above was taken by the Friends of the Somme Mid Ulster Branch on their visit in 2012.
Thomas McIlroy M.M. is commemorated on the WJ Clark Roll of Honour in Upperlands
