William Kenealy
Recipient of the Victoria Cross
title: "William Kenealy" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1886-births", "1915-deaths", "military-personnel-from-county-wexford", "people-from-county-wexford", "people-from-ashton-in-makerfield", "irish-gallipoli-campaign-recipients-of-the-victoria-cross", "lancashire-fusiliers-soldiers", "british-military-personnel-killed-in-world-war-i", "british-army-personnel-of-world-war-i", "irish-soldiers-in-the-british-army", "british-army-recipients-of-the-victoria-cross", "british-coal-miners", "burials-at-lancashire-landing-commonwealth-war-graves-commission-cemetery"] description: "Recipient of the Victoria Cross" topic_path: "history" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Kenealy" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Recipient of the Victoria Cross ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox military person"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | William Stephen Kenealy |
| birth_date | 26 December 1886 |
| death_date | 29 June 1915 (aged 28) |
| birth_place | Wexford, County Wexford, Ireland |
| death_place | near Cape Helles, Gallipoli, Ottoman Turkey |
| placeofburial | Lancashire Landing Cemetery, Gallipoli Peninsula |
| image | William Kenealy VC.png |
| allegiance | |
| serviceyears | 1909–1915 |
| servicenumber | 1809 |
| rank | Lance Sergeant |
| branch | [[File:Flag of the British Army.svg |
| unit | Lancashire Fusiliers |
| battles | World War I |
| awards | Victoria Cross |
| laterwork | Coal miner |
| :: |
|name= William Stephen Kenealy |birth_date=26 December 1886 |death_date=29 June 1915 (aged 28) |birth_place= Wexford, County Wexford, Ireland |death_place= near Cape Helles, Gallipoli, Ottoman Turkey |placeofburial= Lancashire Landing Cemetery, Gallipoli Peninsula |image=William Kenealy VC.png |caption= |nickname= |allegiance= |serviceyears= 1909–1915 |servicenumber= 1809 |rank= Lance Sergeant |branch=[[File:Flag of the British Army.svg|23px]] British Army |commands= |unit=Lancashire Fusiliers |battles=World War I
- Gallipoli campaign
- Landing at Cape Helles |awards= Victoria Cross |laterwork=Coal miner Lance Sergeant William Stephen Kenealy VC, (26 December 1886 – 29 June 1915) was an Irish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.
Biography
Born in Wexford, his father JohnKenealy, William, Commonwealth War Graves Commission was a colour sergeant in the Royal Irish Regiment. When his father retired from the army, the family moved to the district of Ashton-in-Makerfield, Lancashire where his father worked as a check-weigher at Bryn Hall Colliery. Kenealy became a coal miner at age 13. Ten years later, he enlisted into the army, signing up for 7 years. He joined the 1st Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers, British Army as a private in during the First World War.
Citation
On 25 April 1915 west of Cape Helles, Gallipoli, Ottoman Turkey, Kenealy was 28 years old when he performed an act of bravery for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross.
::quote
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::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d5/William_Kenealy's_grave_at_Lancashire_Landing_Cemetery.jpg" caption="William Kenealy's grave at [[Lancashire Landing Cemetery]], Gallipoli Peninsula"] ::
Kenealy was one of the six members of the regiment elected by their colleagues in the regiment for the award, and described in the press as "six VC's before breakfast". Lieutenant-General Sir Ian Hamilton, the overall Allied army commander at Gallipoli ordered that the beach be renamed Lancashire Landing because of his conviction that "no finer feat of arms has ever been achieved by the British Soldier – or any other soldier – than the storming of these beaches".
The other five members of the regiment who received the award as a result of the landing were Cuthbert Bromley, John Elisha Grimshaw, Alfred Joseph Richards, Frank Edward Stubbs and Richard Raymond Willis.
Shortly afterwards he was promoted to corporal and then lance-sergeant. He was seriously wounded in the Battle of Gully Ravine on 28 June 1915 and died the next day. Kenealy is buried at Lancashire Landing Cemetery on the Gallipoli Peninsula.
References
References
- {{London Gazette. (24 August 1915)
- [http://www.1914-1918.net/lancsfus.htm Lancashire Fusiliers at 1914-1918.net]
- [http://www.army.mod.uk/fusiliers/the_regimental_and_traditional_days/gallipoli_day.htm UK Ministry of Defence website, Gallipoli Day] {{webarchive. link. (28 July 2006)
::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::