Private 9879 Francis James Hefferan (20?), a regular soldier in 'A' Company, 1st Battalion, The Cheshire Regiment, was killed in action on 24th August 1914. He died near the village of Audregnies, on the Franco Belgian border, in the first major battle of the Great War.
Pte Hefferan was born in Wilmslow to John and Anne M. Hefferan of Wilmslow. He enlisted at Chester and was probably based in Londonderry NI with the battalion, when they marched out of the barracks at 6am, 14 August and entrained for Belfast and later set sail for Le Havre.
On 24th August the 1st Battalion engaged 4 German Regiments near Mons for most of the day, thus allowing the 5th Division to complete its withdrawal.
Pte Hefferan has no known grave and is commemorated on the La Ferte-sous-Jouarre memorial wall.
His name does not appear on the Wilmslow Memorial to the fallen, possibly because his parents had moved from Wilmslow by 1914. (His father's occupation is listed as foreign correspondent).
Does anyone know any more about the family?
Guest post by Dave Cash. For further information visit grandadswar.mrallsophistory.com.
Residents are invited take part in a free event at Tatton Park tomorrow (Sunday 24th August) to honour the Cheshire Regiment soldiers who gave their lives in their first major battle of the First World War.
Photo: La_Ferte-sous-Jouarre_memorial. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
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Frank was indeed an early casualty,followed by John Henry of the M/C Rgt who died of wounds in Ripon Military Hospital (26/2/1917) and was buried in G.167,Ripon Cemetery. They 'missed' the Wilmslow Cenotaph as they were 'of Northenden'.
A sad tale all round.
It makes me wonder how many names on the Wilmslow War Memorial are similar 'incomers' and how many are 'home grown' sons of Wilmslow?
People's definition of 'home' varies with time and opportunity to re-locate.
Where do readers consider 'home'? Place of birth, current location or longest time spent in any location?
Where are your 'roots'?
Personally, I would say my birth place, though I only lived there for first 25% of my life (40% in Wilmslow) several previous maternal & paternal generations were born within 40 miles of my birthplace.
My descendants would have no such connection.