CO-CCCF-0003

Record Date: 
4 July 2013
Graveyard: 
Christchurch
Exact wording of epitaph: 

IN LOVING MEMORY OF

JOAN CAHILL

AGHAVRIN HOUSE, COACHFORD

WHO DIED 18TH DECEMBER 1965

IN HER 66TH YEAR

AND OF HER BELOVED HUSBAND

BRIGADIER MICHAEL JOHN CAHILL O.B.E.  K.C.H.S.

WHO JOINED HER IN HIS 78TH YEAR ON 1ST DECEMBER 1968

Memorial Type: 
Headstone
Grave location
County: 
Cork
Latitude: 
51.909823990075
Longitude: 
-8.7931206800112
Number of people commemorated: 
2
People commemorated: 
Name: 
Joan
Surname: 
Cahill
Date of death - day: 
18
Date of death - month: 
December
Date of death - year: 
1965
Age: 
66
Address: 
Aghavrin House, Coachford
Title: 
Brigadier
Name: 
Michael John
Surname: 
Cahill
Date of death - day: 
1
Date of death - month: 
December
Date of death - year: 
1968
Age: 
78
Relationship with first person: 
Husband
Notes: 

The initials 'O.B.E.' stand for Order of the British Empire. The initials 'K.C.H.S' stand for Knight Commander of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre, a Catholic chivalric order.

BRIGADIER MICHAEL JOHN CAHILL, O.B.E. and his wife Joan Cahill, who was from Golden, Co. Tipperary, joined the army as a member of the Southern Irish Horse, and was in the coronation procession of King George V. Cahill served in both wars in the Service Corps, an unglamorous but vital component of any army. During WW1 he served at Gallipoli and in Egypt and Palestine. He held, and was extremely proud of, the title Knight Commander of the Holy Sepulchre, a Papal distinction bestowed on him by Pope Pius XI for service in Palestine after WW1. In WW2 he was involved in the Dunkirk rescue, and served with the 8th Army in the Desert against Rommel and subsequently in the Italian campaign against the stubborn resistance of the Germans. After the war he served in occupied Germany (as part of the Allied Control Commission) and in India. There is an extensive file in the National Archives in Kew about his service in Italy and North Africa during WW2. His wife was Joan Melland, daughter of a Lancashire merchant, and her aunt, Helen Melland, was the first wife (died of cancer) of the U.K. Prime Minister Herbert Asquith. The Cahills retired to Coachford, living in Aghavrin House and subsequently at Oakgrove, Killinardrish. A well known cattle breeder, he served on the Munster Agricultural Show Committee. (Source: ACR Heritage).