- See John Strachan Kelly’s entry on the Board of Trade’s Ancestry public tree.
- This information updates the group’s previous research published on the former DTI website (now archived by the National Archives).
- Do you have any more information about John Strachan Kelly? If so the War Memorial Research Group would love to hear from you.
Name recorded on Board of Trade Memorial: J. S. Kelly
Born: 1886
Date of Death: 22 October 1917
Age at death: 31
Service, Regiment, Corps, etc: Surrey Yeomanry
Unit, Ship, etc: “A” Squadron
Enlisted: Clapham
Rank: Private or Lance Corporal (Service No. 1309 and 45038)
Decorations: WW1 Service Medals (Victory Medal, British War Medal and 1915 Star)
War (and theatre): WW1
Manner of Death: Killed in action
Family Details: Son of Timothy and Agnes Kelly. Husband of Laura M Kelly of 6 Benedict Road, Brixton, London
Residence: Brixton, London
Home Department: Board of Trade – Seaman’s Registry
Civilian Rank:
Cemetery or Memorial: Struma Military Cemetery, Greece (Grave Ref. II. H. 8.); Stockwell War Memorial; and the Board of Trade War Memorial;
Biography:
John Strachan Kelly was born in about 1886 in Aberdeen, as the eldest child of Timothy and Agnes Kelly (nee Strachan) who was herself from Aberdeen. His father was also a civil servant, a customs and excise officer, orginally from County Roscommon, Ireland. Working for the civil service ran in the family, as we know, thanks to the 1939 Register, that like their father and John, two of his sisters, Alice Kelly and Eleanora Kelly also worked for the civil service.
John had nine siblings in total, six of whom survived infancy including five sisters – Mary Kelly (born 1888), Agnes Emily Kelly (born 1890), Edith Kelly (born 1891), Eleanora N Kelly (born 1893), Alice Kelly (born 1900) and one younger brother Charles Edward Kelly (born 1904).
We can track John’s life through censuses. He moved around a lot with his family, presumably as a result of his father’s work or due to family connections. We therefore know that in 1891 the family was living in Preston, Northumberland and then in 1901 in Edinburgh. In 1911, John is recorded with his family in the census living at 13 Dunbar Road, Forest Gate, West Ham. By 1911 he is aged 25 and working as an assistant clerk at the Board of Trade.
In 1914 he married a Laura Mary Waggott (1890 – 1979) who came from Durham.
In terms of his war service, we know that John enlisted in Clapham, serving as a Private in the “A” Squadron of the Surrey Yeomanry (Queen Mary’s Regiment). This information tallies with what we know about the history of the regiment generally.
According to the Long Long Trail website, “A” Squadron was headquartered at Melbourne House, King’s Avenue, Clapham Park (with a drill station at Aldershot). The Surrey Yeomanry was mobilised in August 1914 and moved to Kent. In November 1914 the regiment was then split up with “A” Squadron which came under the orders of the 27th Division to Winchester on 21 November 1914. The squadron landed at Le Havre on 22 December 1914 (as confirmed by John’s WW1 Medal Index Card). The squadron subsequently embarked from Marseilles for Salonika on 26 January 1916 arriving on 11 February 1916 where the squadron remained for the rest of the war. In Autumn 1916, the squadron was reorganised and formed into new XVI Corps Cavalry Regiments.
Why was the Surrey Regiment posted to Salonica during WW1? During the war, this theatre of war was known as the Macedonian Front. It was in this region that the tinderbox of WW1 had started when Crown Prince Ferdinand was assassinated by a Bosnian Serb. This led to Austria-Hungary attacking Serbia in August 1914 (followed by old Serbian enemy Bulgaria also mobilising for war) who were an ally of Britain.
The Allies initially posted a small expeditionary force of troops to the region in October 1915 to help Serbia against a combined attack from Germany, Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria. However, Serbia fell to the force of this triple attack, which was clear but incomplete, and was occupied (with Germany setting up a railway supply line between Berlin and Constantinople).
The Allies subsequently established a front in Macedonia (which was officially neutral territory) which proved crucial in later winning the war three years later. The front ran from the Albanian Adriatic coast to the Struma River and was largely stable until the Allies pushed through with offensive victories in September 1918, ending with the Allies liberating Serbia.
John was a member of a regiment with a long and proud military history. According to a basic background, posted on the Great War Forum, the first yeomanry units were formed in the 18th century and organised by country in the 1790s. They grew rapidly during the French revolutionary wars. By 1803, there were some 44,000 yeoman whose officers were mainly local gentry and troops who were local farmers.
Based on information on a forum post about “Yeomanry in Salonika” published on the Great War Forum, we can piece together the likely wartime experience of John Strachan Kelly. He is likely to have seen service patrolling and gathering intelligence about the Bulgarian army. Typically such patrols started at 4am until 11am and would then resume in the evening, avoiding the heat of the day. In August 1916, “A” Squadron (in which John served) were ordered to cover a Royal Engineers unit whilst blowing up bridges on the railway at Angista station. At end August 1916, “A” Squadron was moved to Kucos and patrolled along the shore of Lake Tahinos. The squadron continued to patrol throughout 1916 and into 1917 in the region.
Then in October 1917, the biggest operation that the XVI corps had been involved with took place. This involved the Surrey Yeomanry troops crossing the Gudeli bridge to go against Kakaraska and in support of the 82nd Brigade. The enemy however learnt about the attack and managed to capture 107 prisoners and kill 60 men. The corps troops lost 1 officer, 1 other rank (OR) killed and 3 other ranks (ORs) wounded. This is most likely the incident in which John Strachan Kelly died on 22 October 1917, aged only 31 years old.
John Strachan Kelly is buried in grave plot number II. H. 8. at the Struma Military Cemetery in Greece. There are 947 Commonwealth soldiers buried in this particular Commonwealth War Grave Cemetery (51 men who are unidentified). There are also 15 men of other nationalities buried in the cemetery. His name is also one of 574 names remembered on the Stockwell War Memorial, as well as the Board of Trade War Memorial.
Board of Trade War Memorial 