5th Battalion, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers (British Army)
Date Of Birth:
07/01/1891
Died:
17/10/1918 (Killed in Action)
Age:
27
Summary
John Sloan was born in Ardtrea, Cookstown on 7th January 1891. He lived with his grandmother and cousin, Mary Jane Hanna. John was a farm servant. Private Sloan was a reservist in the 5th Inniskillings, and went to France with the First Expeditionary Force in 1914. He was injured at Gallipoli, and then in Greece. Private John Sloan was serving with the 5th Battalion of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers in France when he was killed in action on 17th October 1918.
Further Information
John Sloan was born in Tullyconnell, Ardtrea, in Cookstown on 7th January 1891.
No details of his parents are available.
The 1901 census lists John as age 10, living with his grandmother at house 3 in Lurganboy, Tullaghoge, County Tyrone. His seven year old cousin, Mary Jane Hanna, was also living with them.
The 1911 census lists John as age 17, living with his grandmother at house 1 in Tullyconnell, Tullaghoge, County Tyrone. John was a farm servant.
The 1911 census lists Mary Jane as living with the Thompson family in William Street, Cookstown.
1914
GRONI has a record of the death of a Maggie Sloan in the Cookstown area on 12th November 1914. There is no report in the Mid Ulster Mail from that time.
John enlisted in Cookstown with the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers.
Private Sloan was a reservist in the 5th Inniskillings, and went to France with the First Expeditionary Force in 1914.
1915
Private Sloan then served in the Dardanelles, where he was shot on the shoulder on 15th May 1915. He spent some time in hospital in Cardiff recovering from his injury.
From the Mid Ulster Mail dated 29th May 1915:
Private John Sloan, 2nd Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, got a bullet through his shoulder on 15th May, and is at present in hospital in Cardiff. His cousin, Mary Jane Hanna, William Street, Cookstown, received a letter from him this week stating that he is progressing favourably, and hopes to be home for a few days soon.
Private Sloan then went with the British Force to Greece where he was injured once more on 4th December 1915.
1916
From the Mid Ulster Mail dated Saturday 1st January 1916: Private John Sloan Wounded
Miss Mary Jane Hanna of William Street, Cookstown, has received a letter from Rev W F McConnell, Presbyterian Chaplain of the 4th Canadian Hospital, with the British Forces in Greece, stating that he had just visited her cousin, Private John Sloan, who was in the hospital suffering from a slight scalp wound, the result of shrapnel. He adds that the wound was slight, and should be healed in a few days, but thought it would cheer her to know that a speedy recovery is expected. Private Sloan was a reservist in the 5th Inniskillings, and went with the First Expeditionary Force, and was wounded in France. He then served in the Dardanelles, and is now with the British Force in Greece.
In a letter subsequently received, Private Sloan, writing on the 11th December 1915, says that he was wounded on the 4th December, but was getting on all right, and hopes to have another crack at the enemy. He got his cousin’s letter and a parcel, and mentions that for six weeks before he had not seen tobacco, and the men were smoking leaves off the trees – it was a terrible place.
1918
Private John Sloan was serving with the 5th Battalion of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers in France when he was killed in action along with four comrades on 17th October 1918.
Private Sloan has no known grave and is commemorated on Vis-en-Artois Memorial, which forms the back wall of Vis-en-Artois Cemetery, France.
