People on board

ELLIOTT, James

James Elliott was born on the 25th of December 1876 in Glenalla, Co Donegal to James Elliott and Margaret Wallace. Glenalla is on the Fanad peninsula in north Donegal, divided from the Inishowen peninsula by Lough Swilly. James was the fourth of their six children. James Snr was a Labourer and both he and Margaret were from Glenalla.

From Pension Records it appears that James enlisted in the Royal Artillery in 1897, aged nineteen but no further record has been found to date. On the 15th of November 1906 he married Margaret (Maggie) McPherson in the Milford Reformed Presbyterian Meeting House. Maggie was from nearby Gortnatraw and James’s siblings Samuel and Margaret Jane were the witnesses to the marriage. On the marriage certificate James gave his occupation as Labourer. In the 1911 census Maggie was at home with her widowed mother, declaring herself married with no children, but James was not there. Only index records of James’s later military career are available and they show that he joined the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers and his medal card indicates that he was in France from early October 1915. He had enlisted in Ramelton in Donegal and gave the address of his residence as Kerrykeel on the Fanad peninsula. He was subsequently transferred to the Labour Corps, possibly after injury in France. When his younger brother Samuel was married in 1917 he indicated on his marriage certificate that he was also in the Inniskilling Fusiliers.

James Elliott was probably returning to duty after leave at home when he travelled on RMS Leinster on the 10th of October 1918. He did not survive the sinking nor was his body recovered. His name is recorded on the Fanad Presbyterian Roll of Honour.