Final resting place of a forgotten war hero finally marked after 140 years
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The final resting place of a forgotten Irish hero of the Crimean War has finally been marked after 140 years.
John Sullivan, who was born in Bantry, Co Cork, in April 1831, was awarded both the Victoria Cross and the Order of the Legion d’Honneur for incredible bravery under fire during the Crimean War, which raged between 1853 and 1855.
Following his tragic death by suicide in Cork in 1884, it was widely believed that he was buried in an unmarked grave in Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin.
However, research by Fergal Browne, secretary of the Kinsale Cultural and Historical Society, and Athlone-born London-based Shane McCormack, of the Victoria and George Cross Association, confirmed that assumption was wrong, and that it was another John Sullivan who was buried in Glasnevin.
They used newspaper archives, including those of the , to confirm that Mr Sullivan was buried in a Church of Ireland graveyard in Nohoval near Kinsale.
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They presented their findings to the Victoria Cross and George Cross Association in Whitehall, and with the charity’s support, and thanks to the cooperation of newly-appointed Rector James Power and the local Church of Ireland congregation in Nohoval, a headstone for Mr Sullivan was finally unveiled in a prominent position in the graveyard on Saturday.
The poignant ceremony was attended by local clergy, members of the Cork Branch Organisation of Ex Servicemen of the Irish Defence Forces, of the Cork Branch of the Royal British Legion, and Josselin Le Gall, the Honorary French Consul in Cork.
A great- great- grand nephew of Mr Sullivan also attended and introduced himself to Mr Browne, who said it is important that men such as Mr Sullivan are remembered.
“He was a Catholic who served in the Royal Navy, and who was well known in the area at the time given the large attendance at his funeral, despite the tragic circumstances of his death,” he said.
“But despite leading a significant life, he seemed to have been completely forgotten over the years.
"He won a Victoria Cross and in 1858, and he was awarded a Royal Humane Society Medal for saving the life of a crewmate who fell overboard in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
“But after his service, he buried a wife and a child, and then he died by suicide, most likely because he was suffering from PTSD, a condition which many veterans at the time had but which was just not recognised, and there certainly wasn’t any counselling.
Mr Sullivan, seeking to escape the horrors of the Famine, enlisted with the royal navy in 1847, reaching the rank of boatswain’s mate by the outbreak of the Crimean War, serving aboard HMS Rodney which was part of a naval brigade which launched an assault on the Crimean Peninsula.
He was captain of a gunnery team which made the first breach of the Malakoff Battery at the start of the siege of Sebastopol.
Then on April 10, 1855, he volunteered to place a flagstaff on a mound ahead of British lines to help navy gunners sight a hidden Russian position.
Under sustained Russian fire, he dug a hole with his hands and managed to place the flagstaff.
He was awarded the Victoria Cross for his gallantry on February 24, 1857 and went on to be decorated with other medals including the Legion of Honour, Conspicuous Gallantry Medal, Sardinian Medal, the Turkish Medal, and Crimean Medal with two clasps.
Following his naval service, he bought a farm in Tracton near Kinsale, but fell on hard times.
He died in Kinsale on June 28, 1884.