Captian Kevin Keegan Papers Coll-474

Kevin Joseph Keegan (1894-1948) was born on 21 March, 1894 at St. John's, Newfoundland to Dr. Lawrence Edward and Mary Patrick (Minnie) Walsh. He was their second child and had two sisters, Mary (1892-1987) and Kathleen (1896-1978), and two brothers, Patrick (1898-1950) and Dermot (1900-1917). His father, Lawrence Edward Keegan, was born at Dublin, Ireland, in February 1868, and was the son of the late John and Bessie (nee Bryne) Keegan. Dr. Keegan came to Newfoundland in 1889, aged 21, and practised in St. John's for the next ten years whilst living in Duckworth Street.

Kevin Keegan was educated at St. Bonaventure's College, in St John's, and was destined to follow in his father's footsteps. Accordingly he went to Ireland upon leaving school in 1913 to attend Trinity College, Dublin. When war broke out, he left his medical studies, returned home, and enlisted in the Royal Newfoundland Regiment on 16 December 1914 at St. John's. He was promoted to Corporal on 26 January 1915, to Sergeant on 24 February 1915, and 2nd Lieutenant on 29 July 1915. He left by sea on the S.S. Corsican for Scotland in April 1915 and was attached to the Newfoundland Depot at Ayr while awaiting duty.

He was awarded a Military Cross for his actions at Monchy-le-Preux in April 1917, and a bar to the MC later that year. He was promoted to Lieutenant in August 1917. He was severely wounded on 9 October 1917 at Broembeek, Belgium during the Battle of Poelcappelle. After being evacuated to hospital in Wandsworth, London, he returned to Newfoundland in April 1918. Following his retirement from the Regiment, effective May 1919, he spent his post-war years first in New York City and then in Cleveland, Ohio as a stockbroker. He married Evelyn Humiston (1894-1971) in 1921 and had 2 children, Patricia (1931-2007) and Michael (1935), who died in infancy. He died on 21 September 1948, aged 54.

This collection consists of material, primarily correspondence, between Kevin Keegan and his parents, from 1915 to 1918 as well as material related to Keegan's service with the Newfoundland Regiment during World War I. There is also correspondence between Kevin Keegan's father, Dr Lawrence Keegan, and the Newfoundland Colonial Secretary, R.A. Squires.

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