Friends of the Somme - Mid Ulster Branch  
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Updates for Petty Officer Joseph Donnelly
Date Information
09/06/2020 Joseph Donnelly enlisted on 16th November 1915.
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09/06/2020 Petty Officer Joseph Donnelly served with the Royal Naval Air Service. He was a motor mechanic. He was with the Russian Armoured Car Division (R.A.C.D.).
17/07/2018 Many thanks to Keith Beattie, who sent through the high resolution newspaper report from the Larne Times.
17/07/2018
17/07/2018 Royal Navy Air Service (Armoured Car Section), accidentally drowned in Russia was a son of Mt Thomas Donnelly, 77 Alexandra Park Avenue, Belfast.
17/07/2018
17/07/2018 From the Larne Times dated Saturday 1st July 1916: Petty Officer Joseph Donnelly
10/12/2016 Mr Thomas Donnelly, 77 Alexandria Park Avenue, received official intimation from the Admiralty yesterday that his second son, Petty Officer Joseph Donnelly, Royal Navy Air Service, (R.N.A.S.) (Armoured Car Section), was accidentally drowned in Russia on 11th June.
10/12/2016
10/12/2016 From the Belfast Newsletter dated 23rd June 1916: Belfast Man Drowned in Russia
30/12/2015 Joseph Donnelly was a member of Moyola Good Templar Lodge No. 250, Castledawson.
30/12/2015
30/12/2015 DONNELLY - The Members of the above Lodge deeply regret the death of our esteemed Brother, Petty Officer Joseph Donnelly, Royal Navy Air Service, (R.N.A.S.) (Armoured Car Section), accidentally drowned in Russia on 11 June 1916.
30/12/2015 The CWGC record Petty Officer Joseph Donnelly as the son of Thomas and Margaret Donnelly, of 77, Alexandra Park Avenue, Belfast. They record that he is buried in Rostov (Bratski) Cemetery.
30/12/2015 Joseph Donnelly was the son of Thomas and Maggie Donnelly. Thomas Donnelly married Maggie Davison in Cookstown on 25th August 1884.
30/12/2015 Joseph Donnelly was born on 1st November 1888 in the Bellaghy area in the district of Magherafelt.
30/12/2015 Family: Thomas Donnelly, Maggie Donnelly, Frederick Donnelly (born 23rd June 1885), Annie Donnelly (born 27th October 1886), Joseph Donnelly (born 1st November 1888), Elizabeth Jane / Lillie J Donnelly (born 29th July 1890), Margaret Donnelly (born 5th December 1892), Sally / Sarah C Donnelly (born 24th July 1894), Gertrude E Donnelly (born 27th March 1897), Edith C Donnelly (born 10th February 1901).
30/12/2015 The 1901 census lists Joseph as age 12 living with the family at house 28 in Creagh, Castledawson, County Londonderry. Joseph was still at school. His father was a farmer and his mother was a dressmaker.
30/12/2015 The 1911 census lists Joseph as age 22 living with the family at house 77 in Alexandra Park Avenue, Duncairn, Belfast. Joseph was working as a grocer shop man. His father was a store keeper.
30/12/2015 A decision was made by the Royal Navy to send the Squadron (plus two others to make up a complete Division) of the Armoured Car Division to the Eastern Front in support of Britain's Russian ally.
30/12/2015 The RACD were sailors on dry land, fighting from armoured cars and trenches. They faced conditions ranging from the acutely freezing temperatures within the Arctic Circle, the extreme heat and dust of the desert terrain of Armenia, to the Flanders like mud of the Danube delta. They fought in Asia Minor, Rumania, Russia, and Austria, against Kurds, Turks, Bulgarians, Germans and Austrians.
30/12/2015 Petty Officer Joseph Donnelly was the first member of the RACD to lose his life in Russia. This occurred during the journey south through Russia in 1916.
30/12/2015 From the Mid Ulster Mail dated Saturday 1st July 1916: FOR KING AND COUNTRY – Moyola Good Templar Lodge, No 250, Castledawson
30/12/2015 Petty Officer Joseph Donnelly is buried Rostov (Bratski) Cemetery in Russia. However, the CWGC commemorate him on the Haidar Pasha Memorial in Turkey.
30/12/2015
30/12/2015 The HAIDAR PASHA MEMORIAL stands within the war graves plot of Haidar Pasha Cemetery and commemorates more than 30 Commonwealth servicemen of the First World War who died fighting in South Russia, Georgia and Azerbaijan, and in post Armistice operations in Russia and Transcaucasia, whose graves are not known. An Addenda panel was later added to commemorate over 170 Commonwealth casualties who are buried in cemeteries in South Russia and Transcaucasia* whose graves can longer be maintained. *Baku British Military Cemetery; Batoum British Cemetery; Batoum Russian CatholicCemetery; Erivan Armenian Cemetery; Krasnodar Officers' Cemetery; Novorossisk (Chaikovski) Old Cemetery; Novorossisk New Cemetery; Odessa British Cemetery; Rostov (Bratski) Cemetery; Sevastopol British Cemetery; Sevastopol Russian Cemetery; Shusha Armenian Cemetery; Tiflis British Cemetery; Vladikavkas Hospital Cemetery; Yalta Russian Cemetery.
30/12/2015 Petty Officer Joseph Donnelly drowned during general bathing parade, taking place at a railway stop on the River Don at Kisetirinta (near Rostov) on Sunday 11th June 1916.
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