Andrew Magrath
Andrew Magrath was born in Wigan in 1894, being the son of Joseph and Elizabeth (Ellen). He is recorded on the 1901 Census as living at 113 Bolton Road in Anderton and on the 1911 Census as living at 54 Weldbank Lane in Chorley. He worked in textiles at Rice and Croft Mill, worshipping at St. Gregory’s Church.
A single man, he enlisted in the Pals on the 22nd September 1914. He played in the Band and qualified as a Sniper. Andrew went all the way through the war unscathed only to die of illness after the Armistice in 1918. He died in a hospital near Boulogne of pneumonia on the 21st November 1918 after celebrating the end of the war; apparently he caught a chill at Grammont near Brussels, after being wrapped up in a Union Jack.
Andrew Magrath is buried in Terlincthun British Cemetery near Wimille on the Channel coast.
Other Information: Terlincthun Cemetery suffered considerable damage from shelling in 1940 and later under German occupation. It was said that German soldiers used the headstones and walls around the cemetery for target practice.
