People on board

MURPHY, William

The original military records for William Murphy are not available so transcripts are being relied on. These state that William Murphy was a Private in the Irish Guards and that his mother was Margaret Murphy of Cappamore, Co Limerick, where he was born. This would appear to be Margaret Murphy née Nealon who was married to Michael Murphy, a Labourer. It has not been confirmed that these were William’s parents, as no personal information has been identified.

Michael, from Oola in Co Tipperary, and Margaret from Cappamore in Co Limerick were married in 1896 and according to the details in the 1911 census they had six children, all of them living. However only five were present in the census, and this did not include William. Their first recorded child was Ellen in 1899, born at Limerick Junction near Oola, where Michael was employed as a ‘Railway Servant’. Thomas was born in late 1901 in Oola and then the family moved to Cappamore where James was born in 1904. It is possible that William was born during the move from Oola to Cappamore and the birth not registered. It is also possible that he was born prior to the marriage, but no birth certificate has been identified to support either theory.

The military record transcripts state that William Murphy enlisted at Limerick in the Irish Guards, but not when. The sole original document, Army Registers of Soldiers’ Effects, notes that the War Gratuity was ‘Not Admissible’, which indicates that he had not been in the army for the required six months. In October 1918 he was with the 3rd Reserve Battalion in Warley Barracks in Essex. Presumably returning from leave, he travelled on the 10th on RMS Leinster but did not survive the sinking, nor was his body recovered. His name is recorded on the Hollybrook Memorial in Southampton.