Pte 26171 Philip Duffy

Philip Duffy was born in Bootle in the fourth quarter of 1896, the son of John Duffy and his wife Amelia (née Pitts).  John was born in Ireland and Amelia in Bootle.  Some records show the name as Duffey.

 

In 1891 Amelia, 19, single, is living at home with her widowed mother Elizabeth Pitts and brother John. John Duffey, (age given as 24, but this is inconsistent with other records) is a boarder, with daughter Mary E. Duffy, 10 months, mother’s maiden name Pitts. 

 

John and Amelia married later that year, in the last quarter of 1891, in West Derby Register Office, and had seven more children: John, twins Michael and Patrick (Michael appears to have died young), Thomas, Philip, Louisa, and James.

 

In 1901 the family is at 6 Conway Street, Seaforth. His father, 40, is a general labourer, his mother is 29, Mary E. is 10, John 9, Patrick 7, Thomas 5, Philip 3, and Louisa 1.  

 

His mother died in childbirth in July 1904 at Mill Road Infirmary, at the age of 32. The two girls went to live at their grandmothers but the 5 boys were probably sent to homes.

 

The 1911 census shows a John Duffy, age 50, born in Dublin, a dock labourer, who is an inmate in Walton Prison in 1911, which may explain why the family was split up after Amelia died.  The youngest daughter Louisa is living at 433 Stanley Road, Kirkdale, with her widowed maternal grandmother Elizabeth Pitts, 66, and uncle John, 36, also widowed.  The eldest, Mary, 20, a dining room waitress, is living with her aunt, her mother’s sister, Louisa Kirby in Othello Street.  

 

The boys apparently went into boys’ homes or industrial schools and are difficult to identify on the 1911 census.  There is a Philip Duffy, age 13, in the Refuge for Roman Catholic Boys, St. Anne Street, Liverpool, and a Thomas Duphy [sic] age 15, which matches the age of his brother (there are no birth records for a Thomas Duphy).  However, there is also a Philip Duffy, age 14, in St. George’s Industrial School, West Derby Road. Family information records that Philip was in St George's RC industrial school for boys on West Derby Road.

 

His brother Patrick enlisted in the Manchester Regiment in 1913, giving his father’s and brothers’ address as 16 Ascot Street, Liverpool, and sister Elizabeth at 94 Rosalind Street, but later he states the whereabouts of brothers John, Thomas, and Philip are unknown. Patrick served until 1919.

 

Philip enlisted in the 17th (Pals) Bn, King’s (Liverpool) Regiment, as Private 26171, in about September 1915 (based on the amount of the War Gratuity).  Extrapolating from his age on the 1901 census, he would have been 18 or 19 years old.  As his service record has not survived, the details are not known.  The medal roll shows that Philip disembarked in France on 16th December 1915.  At some point Philip was transferred to the 2/7th Bn K.L.R. (which arrived in France in February 1917). 

 

The 2/7th Battalion War Diary shows that the battalion arrived in Belgium from France on October 21st, and entered front line trenches at  Elverdinghe (northwest of Ypres) during the Third Battle of Ypres (also known as Passchendaele).  On 6th November they moved to Parroy Camp, with the battalion providing working parties for the Royal Engineers.  On 9th November working parties were supplied by ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C’ companies;  Two O.R. were wounded, and one killed.

Private Philip Duffy was killed on 9th November 1917. He was 20 or 21 years old.  The offensive at Passchendaele ended the next day.

 

Philip now rests in Cement House Cemetery, Flanders. 

 

Langemark has given its name to the Battles of 21-24 October 1914 and 16-18 August 1917. The village was in German hands from April 1915 to August 1917 and from April to September 1918. Commonwealth, French and Belgian forces have in turn defended and attacked it. "Cement House" was the military name given to a fortified farm building on the Langemark-Boesinghe (now Boezinge) road. The original Cement House Cemetery (now Plot I, an irregular group of 231 graves) was begun here at the end of August 1917 and used by the 4th and 17th Division burial officers, by field ambulances and by units in the line until April 1918. In the years immediately following the Armistice, most of Plots II - XV were added when Commonwealth graves were brought in from the battlefields and small burial grounds around Langemark and Poelkapelle, mostly dating from the Autumn of 1917.

 

Plots XVI, XVII and XVIII originally contained some 500 French graves, but these were removed in 1922. The space vacated has been filled in over the intervening years by graves brought in from communal cemeteries and churchyards in the area, when their maintenance in these locations could no longer be assured. The cemetery is still used for the burial of remains that continue to be discovered in the vicinity, and a number of plots have been extended to accommodate these graves. There are now 3,592 Commonwealth servicemen of the First World War buried or commemorated in the cemetery, 2,425 of the burials are unidentified. Of the 22 Second World War burials in the cemetery, five are unidentified. The cemetery was designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield.

 

He earned his three medals. 

 

Philip’s effects, including a War Gratuity of £11-10s, went to his brothers James, John, Thomas, and Patrick and sisters Mary E. and Louisa. 

He was reported killed in Liverpool Daily Post 10th December 1917

King's (Liverpool Regiment) -  Duffy 26171, P.

His sister Mary Elizabeth had a son she named Philip, born in late 1917, who sadly died at age 2.

 

Philip is commemorated on St. Anthony’s R.C. Church, Liverpool.