Friends of the Somme - Mid Ulster Branch  
ff
22841   Private Absalom Keightley
Save as PDF
Dated added: 30/12/2015   Last updated: 04/07/2021
Personal Details
Regiment/Service: 9th Battalion, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers (British Army)
Date Of Birth: 18/11/1885
Died: 01/07/1916 (Killed in Action)
Age: 30
Summary      
Absalom Keightley was the eldest son of James Keightley. Absalom was born about 1886 in Coalisland, County Tyrone. His mother died when he was young and the family (three sons) moved to Belfast. Private Absalom Keighley was serving with the 9th Battalion of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers when he was killed in action on the first day of the Battle of the Somme on 1st July 1916. He was 30 years old.
Read more on Private Absalom Keightley
 Absalom Keightley
Cemetery Details
Cemetery: Thiepval Memorial
  Thiepval, Somme
Grave Ref: Face 4D-5B
CWGC Casualty 797557
Summary      
The Thiepval Memorial will be found on the D73, next to the village of Thiepval, off the main Bapaume to Albert road (D929). Each year a major ceremony is held at the memorial on 1 July. The Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme is a war memorial to 72,337 missing British and South African servicemen who died in the Battles of the Somme of the First World War between 1915 and 1918, with no known grave. It is near the village of Thiepval, Picardy in France. Designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, Thiepval has been described as "the greatest executed British work of monumental architecture of the twentieth century"
References and Links
No Link Reference Map Doc
1 1901 Census lists Keightley family Lists 'Abraham' as age 14 living with the family at house 19 in Malvern Place, Court Ward, Antrim
2 1911 Census lists Absalom Keightly Lists Absalom as age 25 boarding at house 55 in Langford Street, Court Ward, Antrim
3 Facebook - 36th Ulster Division Photo and brief details of Private Absalom Keightley
4 Forum discussion Brief details.
5 National Archives UK Medal Card can be purchased here
Dungannon District's War Dead Acknowledgements 2015-2023