Private Matthew Joseph McCann
Number: 11300
Company: 61st (South Irish Horse) Company (Dublin), attached to 17th Battalion medical staff
ENLISTMENT
Date: 22 January 1900
Place: Newbridge
Age: 29 years
Trade of calling: Gentleman
Place of birth: In the Parish of Longford, near the Town of Longford, in the County of Longford
Family: Father Harry McCann, Longford
Previous military service: No
Description: Height 5' 7 1/4". Complexion fair, eyes grey, hair fair. Scar on left side of neck and right cheek.
Religion: Roman Catholic
ACTIVE SERVICE
Date to South Africa: 5 April 1900
Campaigns: South Africa 1899-1901
Service medal, clasps and other awards: Queen's South Africa Medal; Rhodesia clasp.
DEATH
Date: 12 June 1900
Place: Umtali (Mutare)
Cause: Dysentery
Buried/ commemorated: Umtali Cemetery.
The evils of Bamboo Creek did not spare the Irish Squadrons, and they had not been encamped at that place many days before half the men were in the fell grip of dysentery and fever, the fatal effects of which were shown a little later in the Umtali hospitals. Six young lives were claimed as the dread toll for their stay in the Portuguese swamps. - Trooper McCarron of the 60th and Troopers Franklin, Stone and McCann of the 61st died at Umtali; while Troopers Walters and McNally of the 60th were invalided, but died on their way home. (Sharrad H. Gilbert, Rhodesia - And After: Being the Story of the 17th and 18th Battalions of the Imperial Yeomanry in South Africa, 1901.)
Longford Journal, 23 June 1900
This page last updated 24 July 2024.