Friends of the Somme - Mid Ulster Branch  
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Updates for Private John Boyle
Date Information
14/02/2017
14/02/2017 William John Boyle was born in the townland of Clintycracken, Mountjoy (now Brocagh), near Coalisland, County Tyrone, on 31st January 1885. John was the oldest one of 7 children, six surviving.
14/02/2017 Family: James Boyle, Mary Martha Boyle, William John Boyle (born 31st January 1885), Catherine Boyle (born 28th December 1886), James Boyle (born 30th September 1888), Henry Boyle (born 7th February 1892), Joseph Boyle (born 19th May 1894), Martha Boyle (born 7th April 1896).
14/02/2017 John’s father, James Boyle, died on 24th January 1897 from pneumonia. He was 41 years old. John was just twelve years old.
14/02/2017 The 1901 census not list John as living with the family at house 5 in Magheralamfield, Mountjoy, County Tyrone. His mother Mary Martha was with her four youngest children, James, Henry, Joseph and Martha.
14/02/2017 The 1901 census lists John, aged 16, and his sister Kate, aged 14, working as servants for farmer Francis Macartney at house 30 in Mullalelish, Richhill, County Armagh.
14/02/2017 It is not known when John emigrated to Australia, but Kate emigrated to the United States in 1905, so it is possible that John also emigrated around this time.
14/02/2017 James died at home in 1910, aged 21 years. He had contracted a lung disease due to his occupation as a brass worker in Belfast.
14/02/2017 By 1913, Henry, Joseph and Martha had followed Kate to America.
14/02/2017 Prior to enlistment, John Boyle worked as a fireman.
14/02/2017 John Boyle enlisted on 29 July 1915 in Sydney, Australia. He listed his next-of-kin as his mother, Mrs Mary Martha Boyle of Mountjoy, Coalisland, Tyrone, Ireland.
14/02/2017 John Boyle joined the newly formed 18th Infantry Battalion, which was being raised in Liverpool, New South Wales, some 30 miles west of Sydney.
14/02/2017 John Boyle was the eldest son of James and Mary Martha Boyle. James Boyle married Mary Martha waters on 16th August 1882 in the district of Dungannon.
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14/02/2017 Many thanks to the Ardboe Heritage website (see references below), from which most of the information here was obtained.
14/02/2017 Following initial training with the 4th Reinforcement Regiment of the 18th Battalion of the AIE, Private John Boyle was posted to Tel El Kebir in Egypt. Private Boyle embarked with his unit from Sydney on 30th September 1915.
14/02/2017 Tel El Kebir was a huge training camp for the Australian Army, a tented city with up to 40,000 troops stationed there at times.
14/02/2017 On 18th March 1916 his unit travelled to Marseilles. C Company duly disembarked at Marseilles on 25th March and proceeded to the front in France.
14/02/2017 The 18th Battalion then took part in its first major battle at Pozières between 25th July and 5th August.
14/02/2017 Private John Boyle was serving with the 18th Battalion of the Australian Infantry when he was killed in action on the last day of the Battle of Pozieres on 5th August 1916.
14/02/2017 Private J Boyle has no known grave and is commemorated on the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial in the Somme Department, France. The memorial is the main memorial to Australian military personnel killed on the Western Front during World War 1. It contains the names of 10,773 soldiers of the Australian Imperial Force with no known grave who were killed between 1916 and the end of the war.
14/02/2017 Private John Boyle’s brother, Henry Boyle, also served. Henry served in France with the American Expeditionary Force from August 1917, returning to America in April 1919.
14/02/2017 The CWGC record Private John Boyle as the Son of James and Mary Martha Boyle of Mountjoy, Coalisland, County Tyrone, Ireland.
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