More about John Dingewell Mackay

For reasons unknown this man is not listed in the original Dundee Roll of Honour. C.W.G.C. records this mans surname as Mackay, and his rank as Corporal.

John McKay  Royal Marine Light Infantry

DUNDEE VETERAN DIES IN HOSPITAL.

Sergeant John M’Kay, of the Royal Marine Light Infantry, whose death from blood poisoning has occurred in Haslar Naval Hospital, had a fine record of service for his country.

A native of Dundee, Sergeant M’Kay had served in the R.M.L.I., for twenty-five years, and held the medal and star for active service on the Nile.  When his time expired, he settled in Gosport, where his wife and eight children reside, but although he was 54 years of age, Sergeant M’Kay was quick to answer the call of his country on the outbreak of war, and was accepted for service in the famous corps in which he had so long served.  Sergeant M’Kay’s relatives reside at 15 City Road, Dundee.

Dundee Courier 2nd May 1916

John D McKay was born in Dundee in 1861 and worked as a gardener before he volunteered to join the Royal Marines Light Infantry in Edinburgh in 1879. He later married Mrs Alice Jessie Mackay and they lived at 4 Frogmore Avenue, Sketty, Swansea. After initial training at Walmer near Deal in Kent he was drafted to the sloop HMS Flora but transferred to the frigate HMS Inconstant. He served in the Sudan Campaign and was awarded the Egypt Medal and Khedive Star in 1883 and the Clasp for Suakin in 1886. He left the service in 1901 and was enrolled in the Royal Fleet Reserve. Until the outbreak of war he trained regularly every year for several weeks. Recalled in August 1914 he reported to the Portsmouth Depot and, in October, was drafted to HMS Caesarea, a former steamer of the London and South Western Railway Company. The Caesarea acted as an Armed Boarding Vessel in Scottish waters before being used as a English Channel Troopship. John McKay left his ship in July 1915 and returned to the Portsmouth Barracks. He died from illness and is buried in the cemetery of the Royal Naval Hospital, Haslar in Gosport, Hampshire. New Ground 25 7. Service and Commonwealth War Graves Commission Records give his age as 54.

Iain Stewart and Iain Birnie