James J. Gilchrist/ Gilchrest

James Joseph was born in Naud's Yard, c. 1886. He was married to Ann (later O'Connor), and by 1911 they had one daughter, Mary-Kate. Ann lived at 54 St. Michael's Road, Longford during the war. James left his property and effects to Ann** after his death, (link below).

The Longford Leader dated the 25 Sept 1915, (below), printed a letter Gilchriest sent to his father, which talks about his leisure time, but is especially noteworthy as it mentions other men from Longford town with him in a Longford Section of the 2nd Leinsters at the Yser Canal, (Ieperlee). It reads:

"I am enjoying a day's eel fishing, but my tackle is not the best; I have a safety pin for a hook, and a telephone wire for a line, but still I am catching some good ones. We are on the bank of the Yser Canal, and there is plenty of bream.
"I may tell you we are not strong enough for the firing line, so if you see any stragglers, you might send them to the old "109 Royal Canadians", or the "Mad Mullahs", as we are called since the last engagement, for we want Irishmen and nothing else.
"We have Dick Healy, here, another of the Gods; that is the sort we want. I have a fine selection in my section, the Longford Section - Shiels, Reilly, Lenehan, Cowan, Hayden, Healy, and myself. We are game for anything; nothing cows us, and we live high as far as poaching goes. I was expecting a few more of the boys, but they are gone to the Dardanelles."

And he then breaks into rhyme on the subject of the "Charge of the 2nd Leinsters" and at the end adds "feeling thirsty, but no relief," and by postscript he writes: "Tell Jim McNally there is plenty of hides and skins here"

James died during the Battle of the Somme, and is buried with a number of others from the 2nd Leinsters that died on the same day.

Link to CWGC entry;  Link to his will / Longford Leader article