William Kenealy

Lance Sergeant William Stephen Kenealy VC was born on 26 December 1886 in Wexford, Ireland. The son of Colour-Sergeant John Kenealy of the Royal Irish Regiment, he later moved with his family to Ashton-in-Makerfield, Lancashire. Like many young men in the district, Kenealy entered the coal mines early, working from about the age of thirteen before choosing a soldier’s life.

He enlisted in the British Army in 1909 and served with the 1st Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers. During the First World War, the battalion formed part of the 29th Division and took part in the Gallipoli landings on 25 April 1915. Kenealy was then serving as No. 1809 Private William Keneally, 1st Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers.

At W Beach, west of Cape Helles, the Lancashire Fusiliers came ashore under devastating machine-gun fire. The survivors pressed forward through wire entanglements and up the cliffs, capturing and holding the position despite heavy losses. Kenealy was one of three men named in the official Victoria Cross announcement for that action, having been selected by his comrades as one of those who had shown the most outstanding bravery and devotion to duty. The battalion’s gallantry became famous as the “Six VCs Before Breakfast,” one of the most celebrated episodes of the Gallipoli campaign.

Kenealy survived the landing but was mortally wounded during the Battle of Gully Ravine on 28 June 1915. He died of wounds the following day, 29 June 1915, aged 28 or 29 depending on source reckoning. He is buried at Lancashire Landing Cemetery on the Gallipoli Peninsula.

William Stephen Kenealy’s Victoria Cross stands as part of the collective story of the Lancashire Fusiliers at Cape Helles: ordinary soldiers, many drawn from mining and industrial communities, who forced a landing under conditions of extreme danger and paid a terrible price for it.