Friends of the Somme - Mid Ulster Branch  
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Updates for Private Alexander Michael
Date Information
12/03/2017
12/03/2017 From the Belfast Newsletter dated 10th November 1917:
12/03/2017 Private Alexander Michael, Australian Forces, Reastown, Kilrea, killed in action.
19/12/2016 Michael, Private W J, Derry Volunteers, Kilrea, wounded.
19/12/2016
19/12/2016 From the Belfast Newsletter dated 15th July 1916: County Derry (brother of Alex Michael)
25/04/2016 Alexander Michael was born on 27th September 1891 in Kilrea. He was the second of ten children, eight surviving.
25/04/2016 On 1st May 1916, the Battalion left by Train from Farley Station for the Showground in Sydney. The following morning, 2nd May 1916 the men embarked on the transport ship HMAT A20 HORORATA and sailed at 4:00pm for Egypt. Alexandria was reached on 11th June 1916.
25/04/2016 Alexander enlisted with C Company of the 34th Battalion of the Australian Infantry. He went into camp at Maitland before being marched to Rutherford in March.
25/04/2016 Alexander Michael enlisted in West Maitland, New South Wales on 14th January 1916. He listed his father, James Michael, of Reastown, Kilrea, as his next of kin.
25/04/2016 Prior to enlisting, Alexander was working as a coal miner and worked at the Pelaw Main Colliery. Pelaw is a hamlet a few kilometres south-west of Kurri Kurri, in the Hunter Region of New South Wales.
25/04/2016 Alexander Michael emigrated to Australia in October 1914. Before leaving he was presented with a Bible by the W.D.M. of Boveedy L.O.L. 175.
25/04/2016 The 1911 census lists Alexander as age 19 living with the family at house 28 in Drumane, Hervey Hill. They were a farming family.
25/04/2016 The 1901 census lists Alexander as age 9 living with the family at house 10 in Drumane, Hervey Hill, Kilrea, County Londonderry. His father was a farmer.
25/04/2016 Private Alexander Michael was serving with the 34th Battalion of the Australian Infantry when he was killed in action on 13th October 1917 at Passchendaele.
25/04/2016 Alexander Michael was the second son of James and Margaret Michael. James Michael married Margaret Mark on 10th January 1889 in the district of Magherafelt.
25/04/2016 Family: James Michael, Margaret J Michael, James Michael (born 3rd June 1889), Alexander Michael (born 27th September 1891), Jane Jeanie Michael (20th December 1893), William Michael (born 3rd June 1896, died 12th October 1897), William John Michael (born 16th June 1898), Margaret Ann Michael (born 11th December 1900), Elizabeth Mary Michael (born 20th July 1903), Robert Michael (born 8th February 1906), Sarah Michael (born 8th August 1908, died 26th September 1908), Sarah Michael (born 26th November 1909).
25/04/2016 Sir Knight Alex Michael, a member of Boveedy Rising Star R.B.P., was presented with a bible by brother Samuel McIlrath W.D.M., prior to leaving for Australia last Thursday
25/04/2016
25/04/2016 Here the Battalion transferred to the S.S. Aragon and the landed in Plymouth on 23rd June, for further training.
25/04/2016 From the Northern Constitution dated 15th July 1916:
25/04/2016 The battalion arrived at Le Harve on the 22nd November 1916. They moved on to Bailleul by the 24th November 1916.
25/04/2016 From the Coleraine Chronicle dated 24th October 1914:
25/04/2016 Alexander was a member of Boveedy L.O.L. 175 and R.B.P. 726.
25/04/2016 Private Alexander Michael is commemorated in 1st Kilrea Presbyterian Church.
25/04/2016 Private Alexander Michael has no known grave and is commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial in Ypres, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium.
25/04/2016 In the battalion diary from 13th October 1917, the commander reports that the German bombardment was the heaviest he had ever experienced. He notes that with the very soft ground smothering the shell bursts, very few men would have got through it.
25/04/2016 Private Alexander Michael paid an unexpected visit to this father, Mr James Michael, Drumane.
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