Hawke Battalion, Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve (British Navy)
Date Of Birth:
13/06/1893
Died:
13/11/1916 (Killed in Action)
Age:
22
Summary
Malachy was the son of James Hannon, Railway Cottage, Stewartstown, County Tyrone and later of, 7 Grove Street - New City Road, Glasgow, Scotland. He enlisted with the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. He joined Hawk Battalion (Royal Naval Division) on the 21st September to 18th November 1915 when he was posted to Gallipoli, where he injured. He rejoined Hawk Battalion on the 9th February 1916. Malachy Hannon was listed as missing, killed in action on 13th November 1916
Further Information
Malachy Hannon was the eldest son of James and Bridget Hannon. James Hannon married Bridget McNamee on 23rd April 1891 in the district of Cookstown.
Malachy was born on 14th June 1893 in the Stewartstown area. He was the second oldest of ten children.
The 1901 census lists Malachy as age 7, living with the family at house 35 in Hill Head, Stewartstown. James Hannon was a shoe maker.
Family: James Hannon, Bridget Hannon, Isabella Hannon (born 30th January 1892), Malachy Hannon (born 13th June 1893), Margaret Hannon (born 2nd July 1895), James Hannon (born 11th May 1897), Julia Hannon (born 24th December 1898), John Hannon (born 6th July 1900), Eliza Jane Hannon (born 4th July 1902), Thomas Hannon (born 17th December 1904), Mary Martha Hannon (born 3rd August 1906), Patrick Hannon (born 21st March 1909).
The 1911 census does not list Malachy as living with the family house 1 in Commonmoss, Stewartstown.
Prior to enlisting, Malachy Hannon worked as a labourer in Glasgow.
1915
Malachy Hannon enlisted with the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve on 12th April 1915.
He was drafted to the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force on the 9th September that year.
Able Seaman Hannon joined Hawke Battalion (Royal Naval Division) on the 21st September 1915.
On 8th November 1915 whilst in Gallipoli, where he received shrapnel wounds to the right side of his face and shoulder and was subsequently hospitalised in Malta.
Newspaper reports from December 1915 list the family as living at Railway Cottage, Stewartstown.
From the Belfast Newsletter dated 6th December 1915:
Malachy Hannon, Hawke Battalion, Royal Navy, son of Mr James Hannon, Railway Cottage, Stewartstown, received a slight shrapnel wound on the right side of the face and right shoulder at the Dardanelles on the 8th November, and is at present in hospital in Malta.
From the Tyrone Courier dated 9th December 1915:
Mr Malachy Hannon, Royal Navy, son of Mr James Hannon, Railway Cottage, Stewartstown, who volunteered in Glasgow at the outbreak of the war, has received a slight shrapnel wound at the Dardanelles, and is in hospital in Malta.
From the Mid Ulster Mail dated Saturday 11th December 1915: Stewartstown Man Wounded at the Dardanelles
Malachy Hannon, Hawke Battalion, British Navy, son of Mr James Hannon, Railway Cottage, Stewartstown, who volunteered in Glasgow at the outbreak of the war, and was sent out to the Dardanelles, received a slight shrapnel wound on the right side of the face and right shoulder on 18th November, and he is at present in hospital in Malta. He is only twenty years of age. A letter from the War Office states he is progressing satisfactorily.
1916
Able Seaman Hannon rejoined Hawke Battalion at Mudros on the island of Limnos, in the Aegean Sea on the 9th February 1916.
The Royal Naval Division was unique in its formation. It consisted mostly of sailors with naval ranks, yet almost none of them served at sea. The Battalions carried the names of distinguished sailors rather than numbers as in the army; Hood, Nelson, Howe, Drake, Hawke, etc. Initially the Division consisted of men from the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve and the Royal Marines. Subsequently due to a shortage of sailors, a third brigade was formed of soldiers from various regiments. After early action in the defence of Antwerp, the division was posted to Gallipoli, where Malachy Hannon joined it.
The Division saw it’s posting through to the end of the Gallipoli campaign and in April 1916 it was taken over from the Admiralty by the War Office and was posted to France and the Western Front the following month. In July 1916 in was given the number 63 Division and remained on the Western Front for the rest of the war. The Division was formed around cadres of Officers and NCO’s from Royal Navy and Royal Marines and supported by a sprinkling of retired Officers of high quality, mostly from the Brigade of Guards. A very large proportion of reservists were miners and labourers from the North of England, Scotland and Ulster and this trend continued through to the war’s end.
Able Seaman Hannon Malachy Hannon was serving with the Hawke Battalion of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve when he was listed as missing, killed in action on 13th November 1916. He was 22 years old.
From the Tyrone Courier dated 14 December 1916:
M Hannon, A B Naval Brigade, son of Mr James Hannon, Stewartstown, is reported missing.
Able Seaman Hannon has no known grave and is commemorated on Thiepval Memorial
Able Seaman Hannon Malachy Hannon is listed on Stewartstown Cenotaph.
It seems the family later moved to Scotland, with an address at 7 Grove Street, New City Road, Glasgow.
