National Army Soldier Laurence Galvin

National Army Soldier Laurence Galvin (aged about 23) of Ballyvolock near Glanworth (Fermoy)

Date of incident: 14 Dec. 1922

Sources: Death Certificate (Fermoy District, Union of Fermoy), 14 Dec. 1922; CE, 16 Dec. 1922, 14 Dec. 1923; FJ, 16 Dec. 1922; II, 16 Dec. 1922; MSPC/2D295 (Military Archives); O’Farrell, Who’s Who, 205; Keane (2017), 339,

Note: National Army soldier Galvin, a member of the Fermoy garrison, ‘was accidentally wounded by a rifle shot at Fermoy on Thursday evening [14 December 1922]’ and ‘died subsequently at the [Fermoy] District Hospital. It appears that the bullet entered the stomach and came out at the back, injuring the spinal column. [The] deceased was a native of Kilworth and had seen service in the Irish Guards.’ See CE, 16 Dec. 1922.

Laurence Galvin was in 1911 one of the nine children (ten born) of the general labourer William Galvin (then aged 67) and his wife Nora (aged 48). They had been married for thirty years. Of these nine children, six co-resided with their parents in that year at Ballyvolock near Glanworth. There were four sons and two daughters ranging in age from 7 to 22. Laurence or Lawrence Galvin (then aged 12) was the second eldest son still living at home.   

Private Galvin’s pension file indicates that it was his comrade Private Leary who accidentally shot him at the New Barrack in Fermoy, and that Galvin succumbed to his injuries on 15 December 1922. His mother Nora Galvin was awarded a gratuity of £50. See MSPC/2D295 (Military Archives).