Name
William J Corcoran
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
25/10/1914
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Major
Duke of Cambridge’s Own (Middlesex Regiment)
5th Bn. attd. 4th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Not Yet Researched
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
BETHUNE TOWN CEMETERY
I. A. 4.
France
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
St Edmunds College Memorial, Old Hall Green
Biography
The following text was transcribed from the The Edmundian
(1814-1819) – The contemporary magazine of St Edmund’s College:
Captain William J. Corcoran was the eldest son of Mr. J. Corcoran, 189c, Cromwell Road, Kensington, S.W., and grandson of the late William Hynes, Esq., J.P., of Woodmount, Ballinasloe, Co. Galway, and nephew of Mr. J. Hynes, K.C., of Dublin.
He was thirty years of age at the time of his death, and leaves a widow and one child.
He was educated first at St. Paul's, London, and then at St. Edmund's College. He went to the front with his regiment, the 4th Middlesex, at the outbreak of the war. He was wounded in action on Oct. 13th, but pluckily stayed at his post and did not go into hospital.
His colonel, in a letter to the young officer's sister, gives the following details of his end: "He was seriously wounded on the night of Oct. 24, when leading his company in an attack on the Germans, who had broken through another regiment. He was seen by our doctor almost at once and was sent back to hospital early next morning. I knew he was seriously wounded, hut the doctor told me he hoped to pull him through. But it was not to be. He suffered no pain, and all that was possible was done for him. I am indeed grieved for you all in your great sorrow. He was a fine soldier, and died as some of us have to, doing his duty to the last."
"This thought, I am sure, will ease your sorrow and make you prouder of him than ever, He was buried at Bethune."
A brother officer writing to Mrs. Corcoran says; "I can assure you all ranks unite in sorrow for your son, who was a brave soldier, and did some splendid work while commanding his company out here. It was very unfortunate that he should have received his wounds after clearing the trenches of the enemy and handling his company so well."
Captain Corcoran died at the base hospital on October 21.
Acknowledgments
Jonty Wild, Di Vanderson, The Edmundian (1814-1819) – The contemporary magazine of St Edmund’s College
