MY WAR DEAD
McQUINN, Wallace - died 6th August 1918.
Wallace McQuinn was born in Runcorn, Cheshire, on 31st August 1882, being a son of Andrew McQuinn, a bootmaker, and his wife who was born Jane Hough; Andrew appears to have been of Scottish. In 1901, Wallace was living with his mother in Stretford, Lancashire and working as a Gentleman's servant; in 1902, he married Gertrude Sarah Chappell in Chorlton and by 1911 the couple were living in Hulme, Manchester, where Wallace was employed as a worker in the rubber industry. They had had 2 children, of whom one had died and another, Rose Lilian, was born in 1912; there is the possibility that 3 further children were also born to the couple before 1918, these being Cyril, Mary E, and Kathleen.
Although Wallace's service record has not survived, he is included in 'De Ruvigny's Roll of Honour'. It is recorded that he volunteered at the outbreak of war and enlisted in the Royal Army Medical Corps on 30th August, and achieved the rank of sergeant; he is said to have served with the British Expeditionary Force in France and Flanders from January 1915 although his medal card states that he did not see service in France until 25th August 1915. Wallace returned home in March 1917 and trained for a commission, being appointed temporary 2nd Lieutenant in the Manchester Regiment on 21st July; the appointment was reportedly gazetted on 10th September and he joined the 16th Battalion of the regiment in France 2 weeks later, serving until 21st March 1918 when he was taken prisoner near the town of St Quentin. Wallace died at Wittenberg Prisoner of War Camp in Germany on 6th August 1918, aged 35, apparently of wounds received in action and was buried in the Prisoners of War cemetery at Wittenberg; his remains were subsequently moved to the Berlin South-Western cemetery in 1924/5.
Wallace was awarded the 1914-15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal plus, exceptionally, the Military Cross. The citation in the Edinburgh Gazette of 22nd July 1918 reads :
"For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. When Battalion headquarters were blown in, he organised and carried out the work of rescue with the greatest coolness and courage under heavy fire. Later, when another dugout, containing wounded, was blown up, he was the means of saving three mens' lives by his courage and resource."
Administration of the estate of Wallace McQuinn of Bennet street, Buxton, amounting to £214 : 14s : 6d, was awarded to his widow, Gertrude Sarah McQuinn, on 7th May 1919.
Wallace McQuinn was the father-in-law of Lionel Hornett, my 2nd cousin, once removed.