{"id":1654,"date":"2014-07-05T09:49:33","date_gmt":"2014-07-05T09:49:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kildare.ie\/ehistory\/?p=1654"},"modified":"2025-10-29T17:27:29","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T17:27:29","slug":"killed-in-action-gallant-end-of-brave-athy-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/killed-in-action-gallant-end-of-brave-athy-man\/","title":{"rendered":"KILLED IN ACTION. GALLANT END OF BRAVE ATHY MAN."},"content":{"rendered":"

NATIONALIST AND LEINSTER TIMES<\/em> 5 December 1914<\/b><\/p>\n

HOW MR.\u00a0 P.\u00a0 J.\u00a0 HEYDON DIED<\/b><\/b><\/p>\n

\u00a0Amongst those who have been killed in action in France is Mr. Patrick J. Heydon, son of the late Mr. P.\u00a0 Heydon, and of Mrs. Heydon, of Churchtown House, Athy.\u00a0 He was only 30\u00a0 years\u00a0 of\u00a0 age,\u00a0 and\u00a0 on\u00a0 the\u00a0 outbreak\u00a0 of\u00a0 war\u00a0 rejoined\u00a0 the Irish\u00a0 Guards.<\/p>\n

He went with the Expeditionary Force to France and took\u00a0 part\u00a0 in\u00a0 several\u00a0 engagements with his regiment.\u00a0 He met his death on\u00a0 1st\u00a0 September,\u00a0 when\u00a0 the\u00a0 Brigade\u00a0 of\u00a0 Guards\u00a0 were\u00a0 in\u00a0 action,\u00a0 the engagement\u00a0 being one of the most severe that has taken\u00a0 place since the present war broke out.\u00a0 The action was a rearguard\u00a0 one during the now famous\u00a0 retreat\u00a0 of\u00a0 the\u00a0 Allied\u00a0 forces\u00a0 from\u00a0 Mons\u00a0 to\u00a0 the\u00a0 Marne,\u00a0 and\u00a0 occurred\u00a0 in\u00a0 the\u00a0 great\u00a0 forest\u00a0 of\u00a0 Vilkers\u00a0 Cotterets,\u00a0 about\u00a0 40 miles\u00a0 north\u00a0 of\u00a0 Paris.\u00a0\u00a0 The\u00a0 Guards\u00a0 suffered\u00a0 severely\u00a0 in\u00a0 this\u00a0\u00a0 action,\u00a0 being\u00a0\u00a0 heavily\u00a0 pressed\u00a0 by\u00a0 great\u00a0 numbers\u00a0 of\u00a0 the\u00a0 German\u00a0 army. \u00a0Young\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Mr.\u00a0 Heydon\u00a0 was\u00a0 one\u00a0 of\u00a0 many\u00a0 gallant\u00a0 Irish soldiers who fell fighting valiantly\u00a0 to\u00a0 the\u00a0 last\u00a0 for the\u00a0 cause \u00a0they espoused.\u00a0 This week his bereaved friends and relatives received official intimidation through the British Red Cross Society in Paris, per Rev.\u00a0 H.\u00a0 S. Briggs, of the Inquiry Department for wounded and missing.\u00a0\u00a0 His\u00a0 letter stated that Sergeant John\u00a0 O\u2019Dwyer,\u00a0 of the Irish\u00a0 Guards\u00a0 asked\u00a0 him\u00a0 about\u00a0 six\u00a0 weeks ago\u00a0 if\u00a0 he\u00a0 could\u00a0 find\u00a0 any\u00a0 word\u00a0 about\u00a0 P.\u00a0 J.\u00a0 Heydon, at Villers\u00a0 Cotterets.\u00a0\u00a0 On two occasions the writer stated he made inquiries in the\u00a0 neighbourhood,\u00a0 but\u00a0 found\u00a0 nothing.<\/p>\n

Last\u00a0 week\u00a0 It\u00a0 was\u00a0 decided\u00a0 to\u00a0 open\u00a0 up\u00a0 a large grave\u00a0 in the\u00a0 Forest\u00a0 where\u00a0 the\u00a0 fight of September\u00a0 1st\u00a0 took place.\u00a0 On Monday, in company\u00a0 with Lord\u00a0 Robert Cecil, M.P.; Lord Elphinstone,\u00a0 and Lord Killanin,\u00a0 the tomb\u00a0 was opened\u00a0 in\u00a0 the\u00a0 presence\u00a0 of\u00a0 the writer, and the identity\u00a0 discs taken off all the bodies\u00a0 found.\u00a0 On Wednesday they found the\u00a0 body\u00a0 of\u00a0 P.\u00a0 J.\u00a0 Heydon;\u00a0 together with\u00a0 the bodies\u00a0 of\u00a0 Lieutenant-Colonel\u00a0 the Hon. George\u00a0 Morris,\u00a0 Captain\u00a0 Tisdell,\u00a0 and\u00a0 several\u00a0 Irish\u00a0 guardsmen.\u00a0 On\u00a0 Thursday the local dean,\u00a0 Abbe\u00a0 Grainblot,\u00a0 read\u00a0 prayers over\u00a0 the\u00a0 bodies\u00a0 of\u00a0 the\u00a0 Roman\u00a0 Catholic soldiers,\u00a0 and\u00a0 remembered \u00a0them\u00a0 at\u00a0 Mass.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlease accept\u00a0 by sympathy. It\u00a0 may console\u00a0 his\u00a0 friends slightly\u00a0 to\u00a0 know\u00a0 that\u00a0 the\u00a0 grave\u00a0 will\u00a0 be\u00a0 looked\u00a0 after\u00a0 by\u00a0 the\u00a0 local French\u00a0 authorities,\u00a0and\u00a0a\u00a0cross erected over spot,\u201d concluded the letter.<\/p>\n

To Mrs. Heydon and family in their bereavement, the deep sympathy\u00a0 of the public is tendered.\u00a0 Deceased was a fine type young Irishman, \u201cand was extremely popular with a large circle of acquaintances\u201d.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday Solemn\u00a0 Office and Requiem Mass\u00a0 for\u00a0 the\u00a0 happy\u00a0 repose\u00a0 of \u00a0the\u00a0 soul\u00a0 of\u00a0 the\u00a0 deceased\u00a0 was\u00a0 offered\u00a0 up\u00a0 in\u00a0 Parish\u00a0 Church,\u00a0 Athy.\u00a0 Very Rev.\u00a0 Canon Mackey, P.P., V. F., presided, and the other clergy present included \u2013 Rev.\u00a0 J.\u00a0 Nolan, C.C. Celebrant; Rev.\u00a0 M.\u00a0 O\u2019Rourke, B.A.; Rev.\u00a0\u00a0 J.\u00a0 O\u2019Callaghan, B.A., Prior Dominican Church, and Rev.\u00a0 J.\u00a0 Purcell, O.P. A large number of relatives and friends of the\u00a0 deceased\u00a0 was\u00a0 present.<\/p>\n

Re-typed by Hannah Mustapha<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NATIONALIST AND LEINSTER TIMES 5 December 1914 HOW MR.\u00a0 P.\u00a0 J.\u00a0 HEYDON DIED \u00a0Amongst those who have been killed in action in France is Mr. Patrick J. Heydon, son of the late Mr. P.\u00a0 Heydon, and of Mrs. Heydon, of Churchtown House, Athy.\u00a0 He was only 30\u00a0 years\u00a0 of\u00a0 age,\u00a0 and\u00a0 on\u00a0 the\u00a0 outbreak\u00a0 of\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[128,118],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-military-history","category-people"],"blocksy_meta":[],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Kildare Local Studies","author_link":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/author\/localstudies\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1654"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1654\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8123,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1654\/revisions\/8123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}