THE death occurred recently of Major William (Bill) Mahony, in England. William Alexander Howard Mahony was born in Cork city on 20th April, 1923. His father was a superior kind of commercial traveller" who travelled with a chauffeur.
Bill was educated at a Quaker school at Newtown, Waterford, then at Mill Hill School in London. On the outbreak of war, his parents decided to take him home to Ireland. He continued his studies at St. Columba's College and spent one year at Trinity College, Dublin.
He wanted to enlist in the British Army, but his parents were strongly against this. To circumvent them, he went to Northern Ireland to attend a wedding, and there enlisted in the North Irish Horse. Most of the second World War he spent in Italy, and he saw action at the crossing of the River Po.
After the War, the North Irish Guards were disbanded. He wished to join an English cavalry regiment, but as he pointed out with a sense of humour, was sent to the Royal Scots Greys instead.
He married Anne Humphreys in 1947 at Midleton, Cork, and they had four children. In the British Army, the family travelled widely. In 1958 he retired. They lived near Lymington, Hampshire where he worked for various companies.
From 1960 onwards the family attended Bournemouth Unitarian Church, Dorset. In Bournemouth, there is a surprisingly large Irish community and an Irish society. Major Mahony joined the church committee, subsequently becoming chairman, then president.
He suffered from the effects for Alzheimer's Disease, which was doubly distressing since he had lived so active a life. He died on June 26th at Salisbury District Hospital in Wiltshire, and his funeral took place at Bournemouth Crematorium on July 5th. The Londonderry Air was performed on the organ. An immense number of people attended a memorial service later that day at the Church of England parish church at Milford on Sea, near Lymington, Hampshire.