Friends of the Somme - Mid Ulster Branch  
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11097   Private Samuel Falls
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Dated added: 30/12/2015   Last updated: 17/12/2022
Personal Details
Regiment/Service: 1st Battalion, Scots Guards (British Army)
Date Of Birth: 11/08/1889
Died: 27/09/1915 (Killed in Action)
Age: 26
Summary      
Samuel Joseph Falls was the second son of John and Margaret Falls. Samuel was born in Tempo in County Fermanagh on 11th August 1889. By 1900, the family had moved to Cookstown. His father died in 1900 when Samuel was 11 years old. A year later, Samuel had left school and was working as a spinner in a mill. By 1911, Samuel was working as a labourer. Samuel was working in Glasgow when he enlisted in the Scots Guards. Private Samuel Falls was serving with the 1st Battalion of the Scots Guards when he was killed in action on the 27th September 1915 during the Battle of Loos.
Private Samuel Falls
Further Information
Samuel Joseph Falls was the second son of John and Margaret Falls. John Falls married Margaret Keys on 20th March 1883 in Omagh.
Samuel was born in Tempo in County Fermanagh on 11th August 1889.
John Falls died on 10th July 1900 in Cookstown. Samuel was 11 years old.
The 1901 census lists Samuel as age 12 living with the family at house 10 in Killymoon Demesne, Cookstown. Samuel had left school and was working as a spinner in a mill. The census confirms his mother as a 40 year old widow working as a housekeeper.
Family: John Falls (died 10th July 1900), Margaret Falls, Eliza Falls (born 6th January 1884), Robert Falls (born 6th April 1885), Theresa Falls (born 19th September 1886, died 29th July 1887), Mary Falls (born 25th March 1888), Samuel Joseph Falls (born 11th August 1889), Irwin Falls (born 2nd April 1891), Margaret Falls (born 11th July 1894), George Falls (born 4th March 1896), Isabella Falls (born 26th May 1898), Teresa Falls (born 17th October 1899).
The 1911 census lists Samuel as age 21 living with the family at house 10 in Killymoon Demesne, Cookstown. Samuel was working as a labourer.
Private Samuel Falls
Prior to the war, Samuel was living in Coatbridge, east of Glasgow.
Samuel’s friend was William Whann. The two men from Cookstown lived next to each other in Coatbridge, worked together, were in the same Orange Lodge, enlisted in the same regiment together and they both fell together on the same day
Samuel was a member of Loyal Orange Lodge 133, Coatbridge District 22.
1914
Samuel’s elder brother, Private Robert Falls, was killed in action on 26th August 1914.
Samuel enlisted in the Scots Guards in Glasgow.
1915
Medal card
Private Samuel Falls arrived in France on 25th Fabruary 1915.
Private Samuel Falls was serving with the 1st Battalion of the Scots Guards when he was killed in action on the 27th September 1915 during the Battle of Loos.
From the Mid Ulster Mail dated 4th December 1915: Private Samuel Falls
Private Samuel Falls, 1st Battalion Scots Guards, killed in action at Loos on 27th September. His mother, who resides at Blue Doors, Cookstown, received official intimation of his death on Monday last. Private Falls had been working in Scotland at the commencement of the war, hence his joining a Scottish regiment. He was well-known and respected in Cookstown however, where he was brought up with other brothers by his mother, who was left a widow early in life. She is highly respected by all who know her, and the greatest sympathy is felt for her in her sorrow. This is accentuated by the fact that another son, Private Robert Falls, of the Inniskillings, was killed at Mons al little over a year ago.
1916
From the Mid Ulster Mail dated Saturday 30th September 1916:
FALLS - In loving and affectionate remembrance of Private Samuel Joseph Falls, 1st Battalion Scots Guards, killed in action at Loos on 27th September 1915. ‘He died for his country, what more could he do?’
‘The shock was hard, the blow severe –
To part with one we loved so dear
The trial was hard but we will not complain,
But hope to meet in heaven again.’
Inserted by his mother, brothers and sisters, Blue Doors, Cookstown
1918
From the Mid Ulster Mail dated 21st September 1918:
FALLS - In loving memory of my dear son, Private No. 11097 Samuel G Falls, 1st Battalion Scots Guards, killed in action at Loos on the 27th September 1915. Blue Doors, Cookstown.
Memorials
Private Samuel Falls has no known grave and is commemorated on Panel 8-9 on Loos Memorial, France.
Panel 8 of the Loos Memorial (lower)
Private Samuel Falls is commemorated in Scotland on the Gartsherrie Works Roll of Honour.
Gartsherrie Works Roll of Honour
Private Samuel Falls is also commemorated on the Loyal Orange Lodge 133, Coatbridge District 22 Roll of Honour.
L.O.L. 133 Coatbridge District 22 Roll of Honour.
Private Falls is also commemorated on Cookstown Cenotaph and St. Luran’s Church of Ireland Roll of Honour, Derryloran, Cookstown.
The CWGC record Private Samuel Falls as the son of John and Margaret Falls, of Blue Doors, Killymoon, Cookstown.
Read more
Relevant Cookstown Area Locations
No Location Region Location Notes Longtitude Latitude
1 Blue Doors, Killymoon Cookstown South Census listing in Killymoon Demesne 54.629716 -6.741256
References and Links
No Link Reference Map Doc
1 Coatbridge and the Great War Detailed information on Private Samuel Falls
2 1901 Census lists Falls family 1901 census lists Samuel as age 12 at house 10 in Killymoon Demesne, Cookstown
3 1911 Census lists Falls family 1911 census lists Samuel as age 21 at house 10 in Killymoon Demesne, Cookstown
4 Forum discussion (GWF) Some details of the Falls brothers
5 National Archives UK Medal card can be purchased here
6 Private Robert Falls Brother of Private Samuel Falls
7 Private Robert Whann Friend of Private Samuel Falls
8 Scottish National War Memorial Brief details of Private Samuel Falls
9 Soldiers Died in the Great War Details of Private Robert Falls
Cookstown District's War Dead Acknowledgements 2010-2023