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In memoriam

Private Patrick Sheridan

Patrick Sheridan was born in January or February 1896 at Drummullan, County Cavan, the second of four children of agricultural labourer James Sheridan and his wife Anne (nee McGahern). By the outbreak of war in 1914 he was working as an assistant groom on the estate of Lord Farnham.

Sheridan enlisted in the North Irish Horse at Cavan on 11 March 1915 (No.1466). He embarked for France with F Squadron on 17 November that year.

In June 1916 F Squadron came together with C Squadron and the 6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons Service Squadron to form the 2nd North Irish Horse Regiment, serving as corps cavalry to X Corps. In August 1917 orders came that the regiment would be dismounted and its men transferred to the infantry. Sheridan was one of 70 men given the job of conducting the regiment's horses to Egypt. They embarked from Marseilles on board HMT Bohemian on 25 August. After a month at Alexandria they returned to France, via Italy. On 5 October 1917 they arrived at the 36th (Ulster) Division Infantry Base Depot at Harfleur for infantry training. After just a few days they were posted to the 9th (Service) Battalion, Royal Irish Fusiliers – renamed the 9th (North Irish Horse) Battalion – joining it in the field at Ruyaulcourt on 12 October. Sheridan was issued regimental number 41581.

Sheridan saw action with the battalion during the Battle of Cambrai in November and December 1917. On 16 December they were holding the line south of Marcoing. According to the battalion war diary:

German post stormed by our patrol at 5 pm, gunner bayoneted & machine gun captured, identification secured.

Three men of the battalion were wounded that day, one being Private Sheridan, who received a gunshot wound to his chest. He was evacuated to No.48 Casualty Clearing Station and then to No.10 General Hospital at Rouen. Soon after his father James Sheridan received the following official notification:

Regret to report War Office wire 41581 Pte Patrick Sheridan 9th Irish Fus dangerously ill in 10 General Hospital, Rouen 18th [sic] Decr Gunshot wound chest. Regret permission to visit cannot be granted.

It wasn’t until 18 January that Sheridan’s family was told that he was ‘out of danger’, but they also knew by then that the bullet had severed his spinal column, leaving him a paraplegic. The following month he was brought home to Ireland, where he was admitted to St Vincent's Hospital in Dublin. His condition improved following an operation in March, but later he developed a bed sore that became septic.

Private Sheridan died at the hospital of septacaemia on 9 December 1918. He was buried in the Drumcor Catholic Churchyard, County Cavan, Ireland, grave in south-west part of the grounds. His gravestone inscription reads:

41581 PRIVATE
P. SHERIDAN
ROYAL IRISH FUSILIERS
9TH DECEMBER 1918 AGE 22