Brig-Gen Paul Aloysius Kenna VC.

[armourersergeant]

i am trying to trace the early war career of this man as i have a note that there is a pic at IWM with Smith-Dorrien, Forestier-Walker and Colonel Kenna in that i am assuming is 1914, early 1915. Can anyone confirm that he would have been there. he was of 21st lancers but they were in India.

Ta

Arm.

[Alan Seymour]

The following is taken from Monuments to Courage Victoria Cross Headstones & Memorials Vol. One by David Harvey.

KENNA Paul Aloysius VC DSO Brigadier-General, 21st Lancers (now The Queens Royal Lancers) Khartoum, Sudanese War, 676.

Born: 16 August 1862 - Oakfield House, 22 Richmond Terrace, Everton, Liverpool, Lancashire

Died: 30 August 1915 aged 53, of wounds received from a snipers bullet on 29th August at Chocolate Hill, Gallipoli, Turkey during the First World War. He died in a Field Ambulance Station nearby.

Buried: i) On a plain overlooking Suvla Bay, Gallipoli. ii)Lala Baba Cemetery, Gallipoli. Plot II. Row A. Grave 1.

Deed/Service: 2 September 1898 (Captian) When a fellow officer's horse had been shot in the charge at Omduman, he took the man up onto his own horse and rode to safety. He then assisted 428 De Montmorency in recovering the body of an officer who had died from his wounds. London Gazette:15 November 1898. (D.S.O. London Gazette, 26 June, 1902)

Commemoration: i) Headstone ii) Plaque at Stoneyhurst College, Lancashire iii) Medals at Queen's Royal Lancer Museum.

Note: You will find a long Biography on Kenna P. A. on page 109-110 The Victoria Cross by Creagh & Humphris.

The Oct 1914 Army List, has him as an AIDES-DE-CAMP TO THE KING.

[Terry_Reeves]

Arm

Kenna was commissioned into the West India Regt after serving two years with the Militia. He transferred to the 21st Hussars in 1889, which later became the 21st Lancers. In 1905 he was Brigade Major of 1st Cavalry Brigade at Aldershot and the following year took command of 21st Lancers. In 1911 he took command of the Notts and Derby (Yeomanry) Mounted Brigade and was promoted to Brigadier in August 1914. He took his brigade to Egypt and then Suvla Bay where he was mortally wounded at Chocolate Hill on 29 August 1915. He died the following day after being treated at 31st Field Ambulance.

Terry Reeves

[Alan Seymour]

Further to my earlier posting and the plaque mentioned at Stonyhurst College. I have a copy of the Stoneyhurst War Record – A Memorial of the Part Taken by Stonyhurst Men in the Great War pub. 1927.

He has a five page memoir in this book pages 148-152. The War Service List page 370, gives the following information.

V.C KENNA, P. A., D.S.O., A.D.C. (1879)

T/Brig.Gen.- Commanding Notts. and Derby Brigade (4th Mounted Brigade), 2nd Mounted Division, Mediterranean Exped. Force (late Colonel. 21st Lancers).

Served with Nile Expedition (1898), earning Victoria Cross at Battle of Khartoum (Sept. 2nd 1898) Lon. Gaz., Nov. 15th, 1898) (desps.); served in South Africa War (1899 to 1902) (two desps.) Brevet Major, D.S.O.; served in East Africa (1902-04) (two desps.), Brevet Lieut.-Col.; Brevet Col. (Dec. 1st, 1906; A.D.C. (Dec. 1st, 1906).

Re-empld., with temp. rank of Brig.-Gen. (Aug. 5th, 1914); in command T.F. Brigade, Dover (Aug. –th, 1914 to July –th, 1915); in command Notts. and Derby Brigade (July –th ,1915 to Aug. 30th, 1915); temp in command 2nd Mounted Div. (from Aug. 21st, 1915) (Battle of Scimitar Hill); killed in action at the Dardanelles (Aug. 30th, 1915); Mentioned in Despatches (Jan. 28th 1916). (For Memoir, see page 148). Daranelles (Aug. 18th, 1915 to Aug. 30th 1915).

[armourersergeant]

Re-empld., with temp. rank of Brig.-Gen. (Aug. 5th, 1914);

thanks Alan,

You have answered my question. The rank was temporary and thus he was not officially a Brigadier-General. Thought I had found a good bit of info, now i shall crawl back under my stone again.

Arm.