Photo: James Pasby
63291 L.Cpl.
A. Walsh
Yorkshire Regiment
6th October 1919 Age 21.
Colin Boyd has provided the following:
Andrew was born in Newburn, Northumberland in 1898. By the time of the 1911 Census he was living with his parents, Michael and Margaret Walsh, two brothers and two sisters at 19, Moore Street, South Moor, Stanley.
After unknown war service Andrew was serving with the Yorkshire Regiment in Ireland.
On 6th October 1919 he was a member of a guard at Castlecomer Colliery watching over the explosives used in the mine. At the end of the day the explosives were loaded on to a lorry to be transported to Kilkenny for safety. Andrew was one of five soldiers left behind to tidy up the site which included burning of any rubbish left behind. Unfortunately two barrels which were assumed to be empty did in fact contain gunpowder. The resulting violent explosion threw one of the soldiers a distance of 300 yards and all of them were seriously wounded.
Andrew Walsh is remembered in Stanley on S13.03
