PRIVATE (LATER LANCE-CORPORAL) D. KEOUGH, 1ST, 2ND AND 7TH BATTALIONS THE BORDER REGIMENT,

PRIVATE (LATER LANCE-CORPORAL) D. KEOUGH, 1ST, 2ND AND 7TH BATTALIONS THE BORDER REGIMENT, WHO TRANSFERRED TO THE 1ST BATTALION, ROYAL DUBLIN FUSILIERS (PROBABLY 1ST BATTALION) SHORTLY AFTER THE OUTBREAK OF WW1. Three: 1914-15 Star (18977 Private, Border Regiment) British War and Victory Medals (18977 Private, Border Regiment). Generally Good Very Fine.

Group accompanied by 9 pages of copied pre-WW1 service papers, copied Medal Index card, WW1 medal rolls, pension ledger for Keogh’s service with the Royal Dublin Fusiliers, biographical details, etc. Medal Index card confirms that Denis Keough first saw active service during WW1 in the Balkans (Gallipoli), entering that theatre of operations on 10/5/1915. By then the rest of the 1st Battalion Border Regiment were already in Gallipoli, having landed there on 25/4/1915 as part of the 87th “Union” Brigade of the 29th Division, “The Incomparables”. M.I.C. confirms Keogh as subsequently seeing service as 33019 Private, Royal Dublin Fusiliers, and being discharged on 1/3/1920.

Denis Keogh was born in Cleator Moor, Whitehaven, Cumberland, in 1896. He was a pre-war regular, and enlisted into the Border Regiment in November 1912. At the time of enlistment he was 18 years of age and gave his trade as that of labourer. Keogh had a troubled time while serving with the Border Regiment during the pre-war years. He deserted on 9/12/1913, was caught on 4/2/1914 and tried by District Court Martial on 19/2/1914, sentenced to 112 days with hard labour, and to be “discharged with ignominy”. On 4/3/1914 his imprisonment with hard labour was commuted to detention and “discharge with ignominy” remitted. He was discharged on 20/4/1914 (at one time, while serving with the Border Regiment, he was discharged for providing an “unsatisfactory reference”). Following the outbreak of WW1, he re-enlisted into the Border Regiment but subsequently transferred to the Royal Dublin Fusiliers. Medal Index card confirms that he first saw active service in the Balkans (Gallipoli) from 10/5/1915. Since he landed at Gallipoli on 10/5/1915 and saw all of his active service with the Royal Dublin Fusiliers, he would have to have seen service with the 1st Battalion, Royal Dublin Fusiliers, which was the only battalion of the Royal Dublins serving in Gallipoli at that time.

The 1st Battalion Border Regiment, after taking part in the initial landings at Gallipoli, 25/4/1915, was eventually withdrawn from the immediate front line on the night of 8th May 1915, and spent the next three weeks in Divisional Reserve near “X” Beach, where the battalion had landed on 25th April. During this period in reserve the battalion was reinforced by two drafts of 40 and 90 other ranks from home. Landing on 10/5/1915, Private Keough would have been one of the men in these two drafts. I strongly suspect that he was also among the men drafted from the 1st Border Regiment to the 1st Battalion Royal Dublin Fusiliers at about the same time. The 1st Dublins had suffered enormous losses during the initial landing at Helles on 25/4/1915, and during the heavy fighting in the days that followed, having been reduced to just 1 officer and 374 other ranks, the battalion having lost 10 officers, the regimental chaplain, Rev. Father Finn, and 152 other ranks killed or died of wounds, 13 officers and 329 other ranks wounded, and 21 other ranks missing. The 1st Dublins were amalgamated with the 1st Munsters on 30/4/1915 to form a composite battalion known as the “Dubsters” and did not resume their identity as 1st Dublins until 19/5/1915, nine days after Keough landed at Gallipoli, the battalion in the meantime having been brought up to some semblance of strength by drafts transferring to it from other battalions taking part in the Gallipoli campaign. Keough probably volunteered to transfer because, as his name implies, he was from an Irish background. After transferring, he continued to serve exclusively with the Royal Dublin Fusiliers for the remainder of the war.

WW1 Pension Ledgers and index cards confirm that Keogh saw service as Lance Corporal 33019 Royal Dublin Fusiliers during WW1.