{{short description|Recipient of the Victoria Cross}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2021}} {{Infobox military person |name= William Stephen Kenealy |birth_date=26 December 1886 |death_date=29 June 1915 (aged 28) |birth_place= Wexford, County Wexford, Ireland |death_place= near Cape Helles, Gallipoli, Ottoman Turkey |burial_place= Lancashire Landing Cemetery, Gallipoli Peninsula |image=William Kenealy VC.png |caption= |nickname= |allegiance= {{UK}} |service_years= 1909–1915 |service_number= 1809 |rank= Lance Sergeant |branch=23px British Army |commands= |unit=Lancashire Fusiliers |battles=World War I * Gallipoli campaign ** Landing at Cape Helles {{KIA}} |awards= Victoria Cross |other_work=Coal miner }} Lance Sergeant '''William Stephen Kenealy''' VC, (26 December 1886 – 29 June 1915) was an Irish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

==Biography== Born in Wexford, his father John<ref name=cwgc>[http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/600033 Kenealy, William], Commonwealth War Graves Commission</ref> was a colour sergeant in the Royal Irish Regiment. When his father retired from the army, the family moved to the district of Ashton-in-Makerfield, Lancashire where his father worked as a check-weigher at Bryn Hall Colliery. Kenealy became a coal miner at age 13. Ten years later, he enlisted into the army, signing up for 7 years. He joined the 1st Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers, British Army as a private in during the First World War.{{citation needed|date=May 2021}}

===Citation=== On 25 April 1915 west of Cape Helles, Gallipoli, Ottoman Turkey, Kenealy was 28 years old when he performed an act of bravery for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross.

{{quote|On 25th April, 1915, three companies, and the Headquarters of the 1st Bn. Lancashire Fusiliers, in effecting a landing on the Gallipoli Peninsula to the West of Cape Helles, were met by a very deadly fire from hidden machine guns which caused a great number of casualties. The survivors, however, rushed up to and cut the wire entanglements, notwithstanding the terrific fire from the enemy, and after overcoming supreme difficulties, the cliffs were gained and the position maintained. Amongst the many very gallant officers and men engaged in this most hazardous undertaking, Capt. Willis, Serjt. Richards, and Pte. Kenealy have been selected by their comrades as having performed the most signal acts of bravery and devotion to duty.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=29273|page=8395|date=24 August 1915 }}</ref>}}

[[File:William Kenealy's grave at Lancashire Landing Cemetery.jpg|right|thumb|175px|William Kenealy's grave at Lancashire Landing Cemetery, Gallipoli Peninsula]] Kenealy was one of the six members of the regiment elected by their colleagues in the regiment for the award, and described in the press as "six VC's before breakfast".<ref>[http://www.1914-1918.net/lancsfus.htm Lancashire Fusiliers at 1914-1918.net]</ref> Lieutenant-General Sir Ian Hamilton, the overall Allied army commander at Gallipoli ordered that the beach be renamed Lancashire Landing because of his conviction that "no finer feat of arms has ever been achieved by the British Soldier – or any other soldier – than the storming of these beaches".<ref>[http://www.army.mod.uk/fusiliers/the_regimental_and_traditional_days/gallipoli_day.htm UK Ministry of Defence website, Gallipoli Day] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060728132638/http://www.army.mod.uk/fusiliers/the_regimental_and_traditional_days/gallipoli_day.htm |date=28 July 2006 }}</ref>

The other five members of the regiment who received the award as a result of the landing were Cuthbert Bromley, John Elisha Grimshaw, Alfred Joseph Richards, Frank Edward Stubbs and Richard Raymond Willis.

Shortly afterwards he was promoted to corporal and then lance-sergeant. He was seriously wounded in the Battle of Gully Ravine on 28 June 1915 and died the next day.<ref name=cwgc/> Kenealy is buried at Lancashire Landing Cemetery on the Gallipoli Peninsula.<ref name=cwgc/>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Further reading== * ''The Register of the Victoria Cross'' (1981, 1988 and 1997) * {{cite journal|first=Brian D. H.|last=Clarke|title=A register of awards to Irish-born officers and men|journal=The Irish Sword|volume=XVI|issue=64|pages=185–287|year=1986}} * ''Ireland's VCs'' {{ISBN|1-899243-00-3}} (Dept of Economic Development, 1995) * ''Monuments to Courage'' (David Harvey, 1999) * ''Irish Winners of the Victoria Cross'' (Richard Doherty & David Truesdale, 2000) *{{cite book|last=Snelling|first=Stephen|title=Gallipoli|series=VCs of the First World War|orig-date=1995|year=2012|publisher=The History Press|isbn=978-0752456539}}

{{Royal Regiment of Fusiliers}} {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Keneally, William}} Category:1886 births Category:1915 deaths Category:Military personnel from County Wexford Category:People from County Wexford Category:People from Ashton-in-Makerfield Category:Irish Gallipoli campaign recipients of the Victoria Cross Category:Lancashire Fusiliers soldiers Category:British military personnel killed in World War I Category:British Army personnel of World War I Category:Irish soldiers in the British Army Category:British Army recipients of the Victoria Cross Category:British coal miners Category:Burials at Lancashire Landing Cemetery