| James Cassidy was the husband of Annie Cassidy, Coagh Street, Cookstown.
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| James was an army veteran, having had 12 years experience, originally joining the army as a drummer boy and went on to see action during the Boer War
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| After leaving the army he lived and worked in Cookstown as surface man on the roads between Orritor and Cookstown.
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| 1914
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| At the outbreak of the First World War, he volunteered and was called to the front.
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| From the Mid Ulster Mail dated 28th November 1914:
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| Constable Patrick Gallagher arrested in the Magherafelt flax market on Thursday, James Cassidy, a deserter from the Inniskilling Fusiliers, stationed in Ebrington, Derry. The deserter, who hails from the Cookstown district, was detained in the police barracks pending the arrival of a military escort.
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| 1915
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| In 1915 he was posted to Gallipoli where he was wounded in June 1915.
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| From the Mid Ulster Mail dated 10th July 1915: Cookstown Soldier Wounded
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| Mrs Annie Cassidy, Church Street, Cookstown, has received a letter from her husband, Private James Cassidy, 1st Battalion Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, who is on the British Mediterranean Force, saying he was wounded on the left jaw in a battle on the night of Friday 18th June, and that he is at present in hospital where he is progressing favourably.
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| From the Mid Ulster Mail dated 17th July 1915: Private Cassidy Wounded
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| Mrs Annie Cassidy has received information from the Infantry Record Office, Dublin , that her husband, Private James Cassidy, 1st Battalion Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, was reported wounded on 3rd July, nature of wounds not stated.
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| He was wounded again shortly afterwards in August 1915, when he was returned to Redlands War Hospital, Reading, Berkshire with a severe wound to his left arm that almost invalided him out of the war.
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| From the Mid Ulster Mail dated 11th September 1915: Private James Cassidy Again Wounded
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| Mrs Cassidy, Church Street, Cookstown, has been informed by the War Office that her husband, Private James Cassidy, of the Inniskilling Fusiliers, has been wounded in action at the Dardanelles in an engagement on 11th August. She has also received two letters from her husband – one from the base hospital and the other from Redlands War Hospital, Reading, to which he has been removed. From these it appears the wound is in the left arm. He says he believes he was struck by an explosive bullet, as the bone in the arm is broken in two or more places. The doctors have told him that his arm is likely to be permanently disabled. He adds:-
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| ‘I expect to be discharged. It is not bad being wounded twice since I left Derry, only in May. I think I have done my share and some of the rest of them can come out and try themselves, and then they would see actual warfare.’
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| Private Cassidy, who was previously wounded in the face, is an old soldier, having passed through the South African war unhurt. His time had expired, but he volunteered for service when the present war broke out.
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| 1916
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| Private James Cassidy was serving with the 1st Battalion of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers when he was reported missing on the 24th June 1916.
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| On 30th June, Private Cassidy was apprehended by the French authorities and handed over to the British military police.
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| In his defence Pte Cassidy stated that on the morning he went missing he went to the latrine and while there a shell exploded beside him, covering him with clay. He got nerve shock and for a couple of days he wandered around dazed before being picked up by the French.
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| Private James Cassidy was executed on 23rd July 1916.
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| At the time of his death, his mother was employed at the Police Barracks in Toome, County Antrim where he originally came from.
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| From the Mid Ulster Mail dated Saturday 5th August 1916:
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| CASSIDY - Killed in action about 25th June, Private James P Cassidy, Royal Inniskilling fusiliers, beloved husband of Anne Cassidy, Coagh Street, Cookstown - R.I.P.
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| From the Mid Ulster Mail dated Saturday 5th August 1916:
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| Private James P Cassidy, Inniskilling Fusiliers, whose wife resides at Coagh Street, Cookstown. He was officially reported missing on the 25th June 1916, and his wife has received the following undated letter but it is stamped “Field Post Office, 26th July 1916:-
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| ‘Dear Mrs Cassidy, You will by this time have heard from the War Office of the death of your husband. I can say nothing to console you except that he died a most holy death. He received the last Sacraments and the last Blessing. He was quite resigned to God’s holy will, and I feel sure that his Purgatory must have been a short one and that he is now in Heaven. He asked me to send you his Prayer Book and Rosary Beads, which I have done. Your registered letter arrived shortly before he died and he asked me to write you and his mother. God bless you and strengthen you in your sorrow. In these sad days if we do not put our trust in God there is no happiness for us anywhere. Ever yours, sincerely, Rev F.C. Devas, S.J. C.F.’
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| Private Cassidy had served 12 years with the colours, joining originally as a drummer boy and was through the South African War. His time was expired, and he was employed as a surface man between Cookstown and Orritor when the present war broke out. He at once volunteered and was at the front from the earliest of the fighting. He was wounded in June 1915 at the Dardanelles and again in August. He was a native of county Antrim, his mother being for many years employed at the police barracks Toome, a position which she continues to occupy.
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| Father Francis Charles Devas was born in 1877 and educated at Beaumont College, Old Windsor. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1895 and taught in the Jesuit Colleges of Beaumont, Wimbledon and Stamford Hill. He received his commission to the Army on 14th November 1914 and was chaplain attached to 1st Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers throughout the Gallipoli Campaign, and again on the Western Front in France and Flanders. He received an OBE in 1916 and a DSO in 1917.
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| James is buried at Engelbelmer Communal Cemetery Extension, Somme France in grave D5. The cemetery was used extensively during this period to bury those from Field Ambulance Hospitals.
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| In June 2001, the National Memorial Arboretum unveiled the Shot at Dawn Memorial. Today it is recognised that many of those executed were underage or suffering from shell-shock. In 2006 a posthumous pardon was granted to all those who were executed.
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