1920-142

RIC Auxiliary Cadet William Andre Pallester

RIC Auxiliary Cadet William Andre Pallester (aged 25) from Sheffield (Kilmichael ambush)

Date of incident: 28 Nov. 1920

Sources: CE, 30 Nov., 1, 3 Dec. 1920; II, 30 Nov., 6 Dec. 1920; CCE, 4 Dec. 1920; Military Inquests, WO 35/152/1 (TNA); Patrick O’Brien’s WS 812, 14-17 (BMH); Timothy Keohane’s WS 1295, 5-7 (BMH); Edward Young’s WS 1402, 13-16 (BMH); Barry (1949, 1989), 36-51; Deasy (1973), 169-76; Hart (1998), 21-38; Abbott (2000), 156-63; Kautt (2010), 99-118; Leeson (2011), 101, 129; Sheehan (2011), 14, 30, 121, 146; Morrison (2012), 160-72; Townshend (2013), 210-15; Murphy (2014), 65-156, 191-194; irishmedals.org (accessed 28 July 2014); http://www.theauxiliaries.com/men-alphabetical/men-p-q/pallister/pallister.html (accessed 27 Sept. 1920); http://theauxiliaries.com/companies/c-coy/c-coy.html (accessed 28 April 2016).   

 

Note: A native of Yorkshire, Pallester was one of the Auxiliaries killed or mortally wounded at Kilmichael. He was the senior figure in the second tender, whose occupants put up a stiffer and more sustained fight, inflicting fatalities on the IRA, in spite of their lesser experience. The greater spread of the bodies of those ADRIC men who had been travelling on the second tender revealed that they had proved harder to quell. Pallester had been a member of the ADRIC for barely a month. He had previously been a soldier, with the rank of captain in the West Yorkshire Regiment. He ‘was interred at Burngreave Cemetery, Sheffield. The route was lined with thousands of spectators. There was a military funeral party of 100. Two comrades of the deceased were in the cortege and broke ranks to rebuke spectators who failed to uncover as the coffin passed. The cap of one uncovered [sic] spectator was forcibly removed and thrown to the ground by a young cadet.’ See II, 6 Dec. 1920.  The proceedings of  the court of inquiry held at Macroom 30 November 1920 days after the ambush, were signed by Dr J Kelleher.  The superficial examination by Dr Kelliher judged that the large compound fracture of the skull through which brain matter protruded was inflicted after death by an axe or some other heavy weapon.  This is the only case where an axe was mentioned. See Murphy, 193.

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