Thomas McKenna (1875-1916)
Cornsay Colliery man served with 3rd Tyneside Irish, won the Military Medal
Awards for gallant conduct in the trenches started to be made and the first Military Medal to the Brigade, was awarded to 26/474 Lance
Corporal Thomas McKenna, from Cornsay Colliery. He won the award for good patrol work between the 20th of February
and the 5th of March.
Lamentably, Lance Corporal McKenna was killed at 4.20 a.m. on the 8th of April, the day the award was announced. The
news of his death was conveyed to Captain Falkous, serving with the Reserve Battalion, by Jack Fleming, in a letter written on the 21st
of April,
‘Did you know Mckenna of D company, a fine big-hearted chap. He was one of the best men and did some excellent patrol work – so excellent
that he received the Military Medal the first man in the Army to gain the distinction. The news came too late as poor McKenna got caught by
a sniper’s bullet while sitting in a fire bay, a most extraordinary thing. How the hell it got him I don’t know, but it did.’
See also:
http://www.newmp.org.uk/article.php?categoryid=99&articleid=1115&displayorder=5
Civil Parish: Cornsay
Birth date: 1875
Death date: 1916-Apr-09
Armed force/civilian: Army
Residence: 158 Chadwick St Cornsay Colliery (1911 census)
1 Chadwick Street (1914)
Religion: Roman Catholic
Organisation membership: D Company 26th (Service) Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers (3rd Tyneside Irish)
Employment: Coal Miner
Family: Wife: Margaret McKenna 41
Father in Law: Martin Gannon 68
Brother in Law: Martin Gannon 34
Thomas Rowan 15 (Grandson of Martin Gannon) Thomas McKenna 36
Military service:
D Company 26th (Service) Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers (3rd Tyneside Irish), 1914 - 1916
Medal(s): Military Medal, War Medal & Victory Medal
Memorial(s): Brewery Orchard Cemetery, Bois-Grenier, France
Cornsay Colliery United Methodist Church, plaque (now demolished)
Church of Saint John the Baptist, Front Street, Quebec, plaque
Gender: Male
Contributed by John Sheen