Patrick McBrien (McBreen)

Patrick was born on 26/27 March 1878 in Corglass, Co. Longford, but later moved to Darlington in England. There he married Elizabeth Martin in 1909 and they had two sons and two daughters together. Prior to the war, it would appear that Patrick worked for the Darlington Corporation in their graveyard(s). 

Patrick enlisted for war service in Darlington in August 1914. He served with the 3rd Battalion, Prince of Wales's Own West Yorkshire Regiment. This was a reserve Battalion, based initially in York and later in Whitley Bay - it was never deployed to the front. From May 1915 until November 1917, he was based in Edinburgh. From there he was transferred to Kinsale. It is likely that Patrick was returning from furlough visiting family in Ireland, when the ship he was travelling on, the R.M.S. Leinster was torpedoed in the Irish Sea. Patrick's body was sadly never recovere/identified, and he is commemorated on the Hollybrook Memorial in Southampton.

Elizabeth came to Longford and was resident in Corglass either at or after the time of Patrick's death, according to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) details and the Irish Calendar of Wills. She died in Corglass in 1921. Both of their sons became priests and are buried in St Osmund's Cemetery, Gainford, Durham, where their sisters also lie.

Link to CWGC entry; Calendar of Wills - date of death given as April 1920; link to Find A Grave entry; the RMS Leinster website; possible link to Marriage index; Irish Calendar of Wills;