Patrick Gavin

1914/15 Star, British War Medal and Allied Victory Medal.

Patrick Gavin (Listed as Patrick Gavien in some records.) 

Personal Details:

None Known.

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Military Details:

Regiment:           1st Battalion, Irish Guards.

Rank:                 Corporal.

Serial Number:   1973

Patrick disembarked with the British Expeditionary Force on 18th June 1914.

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Medals and Awards:

Patrick was awarded the Campaign Medals (1914/15 Star, British War Medal and Allied Victory Medal).

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Record of Death:

Patrick was transferred on 8th May 1918 from 4th Field Ambulance to No. 26 Ambulance Train suffering from bronchitis.

Died at a still unknown location shortly before Armistice was signed.

There is no Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) record for him, suggesting that his death was not recognised as a result of the Great War, and we have been unable to locate where he is buried.

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Further Information:

We have found limited information for this man.

We believe he was Patrick Gavien (Listed as Gavin on the Malpas War Memorial) and have been able to find some military medal records. 

We have also found a military record of his hospitalisation in 1918 with bronchitis, but under the name of Gavin (his service number provides the match). 

We have located a newspaper article in 1914 identifying him as a reservist in the Irish Guards from Malpas, but are unable to find him on census records.

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Established facts are:

• There was an article in the Cheshire Chronicle dated 29th August 1914 identifying a Private Pat. Gavien, Irish Guards as a  reservist from Malpas 'serving with the colours'
• A Malpas Deanery Magazine of October 1919 article identifies a Private P. Gavin, Irish Guards killed shortly before the Armistice was signed.
• There is a military record of a P. Gavin, Corporal 1973 Irish Guards who was transferred on 8th May 1918 from 4th Field Ambulance to No 26 Ambulance Train suffering from bronchitis.
• There is a medal index card for Patrick Gavien 1973 Irish Guards showing he disembarked with the British Expeditionary Force on 18th June 1914

From these, it is concluded that there was a Corporal Patrick Gavin or Gavien, service no. 1973 serving with the Irish Guards, who is the man commemorated on the Malpas War Memorial, but we have been unable to uncover anything else about him despite considerable efforts. 

The suggestion that he was a spy or a deserter, that would be pure conjecture.