Edward Gallagher was born in Widnes, Lancashire in 1891. He was the sixth of ten children born to James Gallagher and his wife Annie Steel who had married there in 1883.
James and Annie moved to our area around 1896 with their six surviving children, Jessie (born 1883), Ellen (1885), Charles (1887), Annie (1889), Edward and William (1893). Two more children were born in Fleetwood after William died in 1897: Mary in 1898 and John in 1900. In the Census taken on 31 March 1901, the Gallagher family were recorded at 28 Walmsley Street, Fleetwood and James was employed as a chemical labourer.
The three eldest children had married before the next Census on 2 April 1911 when the remaining four Gallagher children were still living with their parents at 30 Heys Street, Thornton. Like his father, Edward had become a labourer for the United Alkali Company at Burn Naze.
The following year, Edward married Elizabeth Kane. Elizabeth was born on 24 September 1891 in Wallsend, Northumberland, the youngest of five children of Daniel Kane, a chemical labourer, and his wife Catherine McKee who had married on 1 October 1874 in Dungannon, Armagh. The couple made their home at 5 John Street, Thornton and had two daughters: Catherine in 1913 and Annie in 1914.
Edward became a Territorial soldier who was mobilised in August 1914 and sent to France on 14 February 1915. He joined the 1st/5th King's Own Royal Lancaster Regiment and was transferred to the 7th King's Own. He subsequently joined the Machine Gun Corps and was wounded on the Somme on 22 September 1917. He returned to England and was transferred to Class Z Reserve on 7 March 1919. Another daughter, Mary, was born that year and a son, James, in 1920 but he died in infancy.
Gunner James Edward Gallagher, 169881, Machine Gun Corps, died on 28 November 1920 from bronchial pneumonia. He was aged 29. He never saw his son, Joseph, who was born on 9 July 1921. Elizabeth Gallagher later remarried to Peter White in 1925.
Edward's older brother Charles also died in the war. Pte. Charles Gallagher, 13271, 6th Battalion, King's Own Royal Lancaster Regiment, died on 30 April 1916 from disease. He was also aged 29. Charles is buried in Plot 20, Row D, Grave 2 at Amara War Cemetery, Iraq.
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