House of McNally

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Five Generations of Soldiers in the Royal Artillery 1780-2010

©Compiled by Michael Russell FIPD 2003 - Updated and published On-Line January 2021

Introduction

This work is not intended to be a novel. It is simply an attempt to bring together and record known facts about the McNally family before they are lost to posterity. It is based upon a considerable amount of authenticated documentation ranging from genuine birth, death and marriage certificates from the General Registry Office, to local parish registers, war office records, newspaper articles and many others. A few have been added to the text to help illustrate particular points or add interest but the vast majority are held in a separate library of supporting documentation in my possession. The family Tree can be found on Ancestry.com.

As a serious work, which should stand the test of scrutiny, text has wherever possible been annotated in an attempt to point any future researcher to this source material. I have included some abridged accounts of battles that members of the family were involved in. Wherever possible I have looked for accounts written near the time of the event. That for the Boer War for example was written in 1900/1902 by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle the famous reporter and author of the Sherlock Holmes mysteries. Far more important he lent his medical skills to the Army and was therefore present in South Africa and gained first hand accounts from soldiers taking part. Whilst the accounts are abridged the words are theirs not mine.

The nature of genealogy however is that it is constantly changing as new information comes to light and new generations emerge. It is inevitable therefore that some parts of it will be out of date almost as soon as it is written. Every effort has been made to base all statements on provable fact and any errors or omissions are unintentional.

I started this research as long ago as the late 1970’s and was therefore able to draw on and record the knowledge of my mother and her brother Christopher McNally about family events and relationships at that time. Whilst their memories have not always proved to be entirely accurate, they pointed me in the right direction and Christopher passed onto me a few vital photographs and documents which otherwise would have been included in a fire which destroyed most of our family history.

Finally I would particularly like to thank Lisa McNally for her enthusiasm, interest and significant contributions which have finally forced me to draw everything together into this account.

Michael Russell

31st December 2003

Woolwich Arsenal

woolwich arsenal

    Woolwich Arsenal was the hub around which the McNally family was to rotate for over 150 years. It is the home of the Royal Artillery and closely linked to the barracks and gunnery ranges at Shoeburyness. It has for generations been the nerve centre, base depot and training ground of countless gunners but also the hub from which embarkation for overseas duty of soldiers who often would not return to the UK for in some cases as long as 16 to 20 years. In many ways it was to rule their lives & dictate their destiny - as it did that of my father who married into the family.

1. Henry McNally the Elder and Mary (Unknown)
My great x 3 grandparents


Henry McNally the Elder is my oldest known progenitor within the McNally Family and precious little has so far come to light about his life except that he was born in Ireland towards the end of the 18th Century. His name comes down to us from the baptism of his eldest son Henry McNally Senior in 1819 when we learn his wife's name was Mary. When his son later enlisted into the Royal Artillery in 1838 he states that he was actully born in 'Maralin near Lurgan' in Ireland. Maralin, better known today as 'Magheralin', lies just 3 miles N.E. of Lurgan in a prodominately protestant area the North. Henry and Mary however were Roman Catholic by pursuasion and chose to have Henry baptised 20k S. W. from Magheralin at the Roman Catholic Church of St Mary’s in Lisnagade.

Map Northern Ireland

[Note:- Above Map of Northern Ireland is an extract from an Atlas published in 1936
The blue arrow points to the location of Maralin near Lurgan whilst that below is a close up of current map in 2003]

Map Northern Ireland

They undoubtedly had other children but the only one we can be sure of is Nicholas McNally born at Seagoe just 6 miles west of Lurgan between 1824 and 1829. Unfortunately Catholic Baptisms in Seagoe are only available from 1836, but when Nicholas later married in Seagoe in 1848 he confirmed that his father was 'Henry McNally an Army Pensioner'.

    We know that the brothers Henry and Nicholas remained close, even living together at Woolwich when Henry McNally Senior and his family returned from 7 years duty in the West Indies. Henry landed back at Woolwich in January 1854 and moved into rented accommodation with Nicholas at 11 Hope Place, Sandy Hill, in Woolwich not far from the Artillery Barracks. Nicholas had also enlisted into the Royal Artillery in 1846, and still a gunner had been living in Red Lion Street at Woolwich where his wife Jane had lost their first child the year before. Henry however was already a Corporal and on 13th July 1854 was promoted to Sergeant so it made sense for them to share the house together. They were to remain together for a couple of years until Henry was posted to Dover early in 1856.

    Mary McNally nee Hoban, Henry's wife, fell pregnant at Hope Place with their 4th child in March and gave birth to a baby boy there on 25th November 1854. They named him Charles McNally and when he was 5 months old he became sick so on 19th April 1855 they quickly had him privately baptised at St Mary Magdalene Church in Woolwich. He died 3 days later and was buried in St Mary's churchyard. Both baptism and burial record his address as Hope Place.

    Eight days later on 30th April 1854 Henry's eight year old daughter Alice McNally, having survived the rigours of the West Indies, also died there from a fever with both the death certificate and burial record showing 11 Hope Place Sandy Hill as their address. The Birth Certificate of Nicholas & Jane's 2nd child named Nicholas McNally (Junior) also shows he was born at 11 Hope Place on 23rd July 1855.
1.2 Known Children of Henry McNALLY the Elder and Mary

As stated above there were probably more children, possibly a John McNally for example who was a witness at Nicholas McNally's wedding to Jane Rogers at Seagoe in 1848.

    (1.1) Henry McNALLY Senior (1819-1884) & Mary HOBEN (1826-1904). Link to a more detailed account of his life.

    Henry MCNALLY Senior was born in the tiny parish of Magheralin near Lurgan right on the border between the Counties of Armagh and Down in Northern Ireland. He was baptised 17km S.W. in the Roman Catholic Church of St Mary's at Lisnagade and when aged 18 enlisted into the British Army joining the Royal Artillery in 1838. After training at Woolwich he was posted to Toronto in Canada in 1841. Whilst there he was to appear twice before a Garrison Court Martial charged with habitual drunkeness, first in November 1841 and for a second time in Oct 1842. He returned to Woolwich with his Regiment in 1843 and went with them to Portobello Barracks Dublin in April 1845.

    Here he met and married Mary HOBEN (1826-1904) - born in Mountrath in the County of Laois in Southern Ireland they married c1846 and Mary accompanied Henry when his Regiment was posted to Charlemont in County Armagh in October 1846. Mary gave birth to Alice McNally there, the first of 13 children, in December 1846.

    Henry and his growing family were to spend 7 years on the Islands of Dominica and St Vincent in the West Indies and was to be promoted to Corporal in 1851 before returing to Woolwich with his Regiment in January 1854. By then his younger brother Nicholas McNally had also joined the Royal Artillery and was based at Woolwich so they rented a house together near the Barracks at 11 Hope Place. Henry was promoted again to Sergeant and transferred to the 3rd Co RA in July 1854 and the two families lived together for 2 years until Henry and his family transferred to the Heights Barracks at Dover in 1846 where Mary gave birth to twins. From May 1857 Henry was on duty with the Durham Militia and in August 1860 having completed 22 years and 5 months service with the colours he qualified for a Pension and was discharged from the Army. Initially after retirement they went back to Armagh in Ireland but by October 1866 they had finally settled to live in Leeds in Yorkshire. Henry died in Leeds on 8th Feb 1884 followed by Mary on Christmas day 1904.

    (1.2) Nicholas McNALLY (1824/29-1874) & Jane ROGERS (1825-1903). Link to a separate Section to be added

    Nicholas McNally was born at Seagoe in the County of Armagh between 1824 and 1829 and employed as a weaver prior to his enlistment into the Royal Artillery as a gunner/driver in 1846. He married in the parish church at Seagoe in 1848 to Jane ROGERS (1825-1903) the daughter of George ROGERS another weaver by trade. In the 1851 Census he is recorded as Nicholas McAnally but is with Jane in married quarters in the Royal Artillery Barracks Woolwich. Nicholas McNally junior, the first of 5 children, was born at Red Lion Street not far from the barracks at Woolwich on 10th Jan 1853 but only lived for 3 months. In 1854 as stated above they moved into rented accomodation in Hope Place with his brother Henry & his family. With Mary, Henry's wife on hand, Jane gave birth to another boy on 23rd July 1855 whom they renamed Nicholas McNally Junior. He was to live until 1912 and have 10 children.

    On 1st June 1860 Nicholas was transferred to the 7th Brigade RA which seems to have been based at Quebec in Canada where their 4th child Sarah was born in 1862, but they were back living in Gosport Hampshire by 1865 when their last child Clara was born. On 30th September 1870 Nicholas underwent a medical examination at Gosport as he was lacking in physical strength and found unfit for further duty as he had low muscular development. The offical conclusion of the Medical report was that he was 'Worn out by Military service'. On the 11th October 1870, having completed 24 years 3 months service (of which 2 years 4 months was served in Canada) and qualified for a Pension, Nicholas McNally was formally discharged from the Army.

    The Army returned them to Woolwich Arsenal and they retired to live nearby at 79 Crescent Road in Plumstead Kent where he died aged 53 on 15th March 1874. He was buried at St Margaret's church Plumstead on 20th of the same month. Jane was to live for another 28 years moving in with her daughter Sarah and her husband at 43 Coxwell Road in Plumstead when they married in 1886 and onto 6 Banares Road Plumstead with them by 1901. Jane died there on 5th Jan 1903 and Sarah and her family emigrated to Canada in 1909.
2. XXXXX
My great x XXX grandparents


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