Two new online additions for those researching #Cork family history were announced recently. Cork City and County Archives have added burial records for Rathcooney 1941-61 and Curraghkippane 1896-1962 to their current resources.
Several Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) memorials can be found in both graveyards, one of which is the final resting place of Private Maura O’Callaghan. Maura, the daughter of Cornelius and Annie O'Callaghan and a member of the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS), is buried in Curraghkippane.[1]
Several Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) memorials can be found in both graveyards, one of which is the final resting place of Private Maura O’Callaghan. Maura, the daughter of Cornelius and Annie O'Callaghan and a member of the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS), is buried in Curraghkippane.[1]
The ATS was founded in 1938 and provided vital services during the Second World War. Amongst the initial recruits were former members of the Queen Mary’s Army Auxiliary Corps (QMAAC). However, whilst members of the QMAAC were volunteers, ‘the ATS was granted full military status from April 1941’. [2] Nevertheless, the women were not allowed to undertake combat roles, instead working as clerks, drivers or cooks, the position Maura held. [3] By the end of the Second World War, around 250,000 women had served in the ATS.
Maura lived at 14 Orrery Road, Gurranabraher, Cork, with her parents and siblings. She died at St Joseph’s Hospital, Mount Desert, from tuberculosis aged just twenty-one years.[4] Perusing the new online burial records, the details for Maura’s interment can be found on page fifty-four and provide additional information; she was single, and the person responsible for managing the internment was ‘C. O’Callaghan’.[5] Her CWGC ‘headstone was incorporated into the O’Callaghan plot, which is still tended and maintained.’[6]
Given recent Level 5 Covid restrictions, the addition of two new online resources is very welcome and enhances the existing online resources for the research of #Irishancestors.
[1] https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2701346/MAURA%20O'CALLAGHAN/#&gid=1&pid=1 [2] https://www.nam.ac.uk/explore/auxiliary-territorial-service [3] https://civilrecords.irishgenealogy.ie/churchrecords/images/deaths_returns/deaths_1947/04577/4209885.pdf [4] Evening Echo, 16 July 1947. [5] https://publications.corkarchives.ie/view/542622377/54/ [6] http://irishgarrisontowns.com/war-graves-homemade-and-official/
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