Maxwell, N (Nicholas)
Private Nicholas Maxwell was the son of Mary Ann Maxwell and the late Robert Maxwell of 4 Wapping Lane, Londonderry, he was originally from Stranorlar, Co. Donegal. It is unknown when he started serving with the 1st Battalion Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers.
The 1st Battalion were based in India in 1914. At the beginning of 1915 they arrived back in England and came under the command of the 87th Brigade in 29th Division.
March found them leaving and setting sail for Gallipoli. They landed there at Cape Helles on the 25th of April.
The battalion was involved in continuous battles while in Gallipoli[1] and suffered severe casualties until their eventual withdrawal on the 8th of January 1916. They were then posted to France as part of the 29th Division and landed on the 18th of March, finally entering the trenches a month later.
The Inniskillings had a quiet time in their first few months in the trenches and did not receive any casualties until June when five were killed, one went missing and sixteen were wounded. Orders soon arrived though for trench raids at the beginning of July from their positions at Thiepval Wood.[2]
Private Nicholas Maxwell though was wounded in May at Dardanelles during the Gallipoli campaign and missed the early times in the trenches but made a full recovery and re-joined his battalion for the “Great attack” at the Somme.
The Somme, July 1st was a rather brutal place and time. On that day, the 1st Inniskillings received 500 plus wounded, killed, or missing and by the 9th they were down to just 21 officers and 360 men, from the 900 plus at the end of June.
Unfortunately, Nicholas was wounded again and was returned home. He would die from these wounds in the War Hospital, Leicester, England. His mother had been on the way to see him when she received the bad news.
On returning home Private Maxwell had a large turnout for his burial with hundreds lining the streets when he made his last journey. He was laid to rest with a volley of three shots being fired and the sound of the last post being trumpeted in his honour. He was awarded the 1914/15 Star, the British War and Victory Medals.
Date of Death: 12/07/1916 (Aged 26)
Service: Private, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, 1st Bn.
Service Number: 9550
Burial Location: Londonderry (or Derry), City Cemetery, G. B. 109 14.
[1] Gallipoli is in the southern part of East Thrace, the European part of Turkey, formerly the Ottoman Empire.
[2] Thiepval Wood is in the Somme area of northern France and is located a short distance west of Thiepval Village.