Michael Early

Rank:	Lance Sergeant
Street:	9 St Mel's Road
Townland:
Town/Village:	Longford
Civil Parish:	Templemichael
Catholic Parish:	Templemichael
Country:
Alternative Address:
Census 1901:
Census 1911:	Resident at St Mel's Road http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Longford/Longford_No__1_Urban/St__Mel_s_Road/651618/
Regiment/Unit:	Irish Guards, 1st Battalion
Regiment Number:	5676
Date of Death:
Cause:	Survived WW1
Memorial:
Information:	Michael Francis Early was born 15 July 1894 in Temple Street, Sligo. His father was a bank porter, who was working in Longford in 1901: the remainder of the family joined him Longford c.1902. Prior to the Great War, Michael was working as a gas fitter. Pte Early enlisted in the Irish Guards on 12 October 1914, at the outbreak of the war. He served primarily at the Western Front but he received a gun shot wound to the head in October 1915, and wrote a letter to a Mr McKenna during this convalescence from the No. 7 Convalescent Depot, which was reproduced in the Longford Leader (see link below); in this letter he mentions the chaplain Rev. Gwynne who died in October 1915, as well as the comforts of the German trenches, with their spring beds and cooking stoves! He was wounded again in 1916 during the Battle of the Somme, (see link). His brother Jack also served with the Irish Guards. When
Parents Names:	Son of Martin Early and Annie (née Kelly), Longford
Notes:	Is likely the brother of John James (Jack) Early, of the Irish Guards (10355), who died in November 1917.
Links:	Letter from a Longford Man at the Front, Longford Leader 1915; Reference in the Longford Leader, 30 September 1916 "A Wounded Hero"; Longford Leader, A Longford Soldier Promoted, 1917;