TOPIC:

Following on from previous post.



To be continued.

Following on from previous post.



To be continued.

Following on from previous post.




THE END.

For more on the conflict from the Irish perspective:




If you can find a copy....

In 2021 Donal McCracken gave an excellent lecture on the Irish Brigade which can be viewed on YouTube here:

MacBrides Brigade: Irishmen in the Boer War by Professor Donal McCracken

..

Thanks Neville – I enjoyed watching the video last night. Donal McCracken is trying to identify all the estimated 500 men who served in the Boer Irish Brigade. Not sure whether I can help him?

Towards the end of the article I replicated above it says “Mr Owen O’Kelly who journeyed from Ireland to South Africa to join the Brigade, and Captain Oates also made brief speeches”. A search on Ancestry for an Owen O’Kelly born in Ireland in the 1870’s and died in the USA came up with an Owen Aloysius O’Kelly born in Ballinasloe, County Galway on 27 December 1878 and died in New York early 1946. He appears on a Public Family Tree created by his grand-daughter and she has added the following anecdote to his profile:

“Donald O'Connor, my brother, in conversation with "Poppa" (my grandfather - Owen Aloysius O'Kelly) was told that ‘I had an opportunity to shoot Winston Churchill and sorry I didn't’ - This would be during his service in the British Army during the Boer War. It was also believed Poppa was a member of Sinn Fein.”

I have found Donal McCracken’s email address.