Birth

Enlistment Information

Military Service

Embarkation Information

Military Awards

Death

Biographical Notes

Patrick Mulcahy was born on 4 April 1895 at Fairlie, the third surviving son of Irish-born Patrick Mulcahy and his Scottish-born wife, Isabella (Bella) Baxter White née Stewart. Patrick and Bella married at Gore and it was at Lime Hills near Gore that their first child was born in December 1887. By 1889 they had moved to South Canterbury, where several children were born. About 1896, the family moved to Wellington and there five more children were born. Patrick started at Newtown School in 1900, moving from there to Thorndon School, Wadestown School and the Terrace School, Wellington. In 1908 at the Terrace School, he was awarded a first-class attendance certificate for ‘not absent once’. Patrick Mulcahy was a 20-year-old engineer serving an apprenticeship and residing at home when he enlisted at Trentham on 22 October 1915. Single, Roman Catholic and serving with the 5th Wellington Regiment, he named his mother as next-of-kin – Mrs Bella Mulcahy, 4 Waterloo Avenue, Wellington. Private P. Mulcahy embarked at Wellington with the Wellington Infantry Battalion of the 9th Reinforcements, leaving per the “Maunganui” on 8 January 1916 for Suez, Egypt. He was reported wounded on 16 September 1916. “Sergeant S. Knight states – on the morning of 16. 9. 16 I saw Mulcahy lying wounded at Flers. His wounds had been dressed.” A Court of Enquiry found that he had previously been reported wounded and was now reported missing. It was not until February1917 that Private Patrick Mulcahy, 10/3655, who had been reported missing, was declared as killed in action on 16 September 1916 at the Somme. His name was inscribed on the Catterpillar Valley (New Zealand) Memorial at Longueval, Somme, France. He is also remembered on the family headstone in Karori Cemetery, Wellington. Patrick Mulcahy is recorded among the 2016 additions to the Mackenzie War Memorial at Fairlie. The Terrace School, Wellington, War Memorial was unveiled by the Governor General in November 1924. Although no names were recorded on the memorial, a roll of honour of old boys and teachers who were killed in the war has been compiled and includes Mulcahy, Patrick: 10/3655 – Pte – WIR – KIA 16/9/16 Western Front, and Mulcahy John: 10/751 – Pte – WIR – KIA 8/8/15 Gallipoli. The memorial was ‘accidentally’ demolished during the building of the Wellington motorway in November 1971. A replacement memorial was unveiled in November 2018. Patrick’s brother John lost his life on 8 August 1915 at Gallipoli. His eldest brother, Michael Daniel Gladstone Mulcahy, also served in the War, leaving in 1918. A younger brother, Hugh James Mulcahy died on 11 November 1918, a victim of the influenza epidemic. At this time both their parents, Patrick and Isabella, were in London. Patrick Mulcahy, senior, had lowered his age considerably and enlisted in 1916. His wife Isabella later joined him in England to do her part in the war effort. Patrick, junior, was with his father in the trenches for some time. A Patriotic Family, reported the Dominion of 13 August 1917. ‘A very fine example of practical patriotism is that shown by Mrs. Mulcahey [sic], of Wellington, and her family. Her husband is at the present time fighting in France, a son fought on Gallipoli, another is fighting in France, and yet another is in camp preparatory to leaving for the front. Every son available for service is “doing his bit,” and Mrs Mulcahey herself has left for England to work in a munitions factory. Mrs. Mulcahey is a Scotchwoman, one of that splendid type which was the backbone of New Zealand in the early days, and whose descendants are doing so much to make the name of this country an honoured one among the nations to-day. For some time before she left she was associated with the Returned Soldiers’ Hostel at Newtown, working for the benefit of the soldiers who were inmates there.’

Sources

– Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [24 November 2021]; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [24 November 2021]; School Admission records [24 November 2021]; Karori Cemetery headstone transcription [24 November 2021]; Evening Post, 17 December 1908, Sun, 9 October 1916, Evening Star, 15 December 1916, Dominion, 15 December 1916, 13 August 1917, Sun, 22 February 1917, Otago Witness, 6 December 1916, Feilding Star, 22 November 1918 (Papers Past) [23, 24, 25 & 26 November 2021]; New Zealand History (https://nzhistory.govt.nz/) [26 November 2021]

External Links

• Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph record
• Military personnel file

Related Documents

• MULCAHY - newspaper extracts (pdf, 737.3 KB updated 02-Dec-2021)

Researched and Written by

Teresa Scott, SC branch NZSG

Currently Assigned to

Not assigned.