More about Thomas Macmahon

BROUGHTY R.N.D. MAN MISSING.

Mrs MacMahon,1 Union Place, Brook Street, Broughty Ferry, has received information that her husband, Leading Seaman Thos. MacMahon, of the Royal Naval Division, has been missing, since 13th November.  At the outbreak of war Leading Seaman MacMahon, was in the R.N.V.R., and was immediately called up.  He saw considerable service at the Dardanelles, and was wounded in action there.  On rejoining his unit he was attached to a machine gun section and sent out to the front.  Prior to the war he was employed as a plumber, and for some time was in Newport.  The missing seaman is 25 years of age.

Dundee Courier 29th November 1916

Thomas McMahon was the son of Mrs James and Mrs Mary S MacMahon of 1 Union Place, Brook Street, Broughty Ferry and he lived a 1 Morrison’s Court, Wellgate, Dundee. He was a Plumber when, in February 1915, he volunteered to join the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve onboard HMS Unicorn for service in the Royal Naval Division. After initial Naval Training at the Crystal Palace in South London he was sent to Blandford Camp in Dorset for advanced military training at the end of April. In August he was drafted to the Nelson Battalion which was serving in Gallipoli arriving in theatre in late August. He was hospitalised in November for an unspecified illness and again to West Mudros in January 1916 with deafness. He returned to the Nelson in February and was granted leave to Malta in April. In May he sailed with the Battalion to Marseille onboard the troop ship Ionian and, in June, he was transferred to the Second Naval Brigade’s Machine Gun Company. This company was later renumbered as the 189th Brigade Machine Gun Company. Thomas MacMahon was sent to the Boulogne Rest Camp in September for twenty days. After training in Army tactics the RND experienced the war on the Western Front and was being prepared to join in the Somme battle. One of the first day’s objectives of the British attack on 1 July 1916 was the capture of the village of Beaucourt just to the west of the River Ancre. It was finally taken on 14 November by the men of the RND. This was the first major operation by the RND in France and established a reputation for being a “Can Do” Division. However, the casualty list was very long and over 30 local men were killed and countless more wounded. This was the worst ever day for Dundee’s Naval forces in the First World War. Thomas MacMahon was first listed as missing but later confirmed as killed in action and buried in No 2 Trench. After the war he was re-interred in the Ancre British Cemetery, Beaumont Hamel. There is a photograph of him on page four of the Courier 29 November 1916 and the report says he was in pre war RNVR. This is not noted on his RND record card but he entered as an Able Seaman instead of an Ordinary Seaman and was advanced to Leading Seaman (Postman) in April 1915.

Iain Stewart and Iain Birnie