Personal Details

Attribute Details
Nationality British
Date of Birth 01 April 1877
Place of Birth Castlebar, Mayo, Ireland
Veterinary College and Date of Graduation Dublin - 1909

Military Service

Attribute Details
Last Rank Captain
Regiment/Service Army Veterinary Corps
Secondary Regiment Remount Department
Secondary Unit
First Theatre of War Egypt Unknown Date

Casualty Details

Attribute Details
Date of Death 21 November 1920
Age at Death 42
Place of Death Dublin, Ireland
Cause of Death Murdered

Cemetery

Attribute Details
Cemetery Glasnevin Cemetery
Location Dublin, Ireland
Grave Reference
Commonwealth War Grave No
Emblem or Badge on Headstone

Honours and Memorials

Attribute Details
Name on RCVS Honour Board No
Name In Officers who died in Great War No
Medals and Awards

Biography

Captain Patrick Joseph McCormack MRCVS was born in Castlebar, Co Mayo, Ireland, in 1877. He was educated at Castleknock, Dublin University, and the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons. In December 1909, he passed the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons examination with honours and subsequently Worked with the Agricultural Committee at Castlebar.

In 1917, Patrick McCormack accepted a commission in the army and joined the Army Veterinary Corps. He was initially posted to Ireland but was posted to Egypt and served with the Remount Department. In June 1919, McCormack was promoted to Captain. Captain McCormack was to stay in Egypt until August 1920.

On 21 November 1920, Captain McCormack was murdered in Dublin while he was having breakfast in his room at the Gresham Hotel.

Patrick McCormack was caught up in the killing of a group of British Intelligence agents in Dublin during the Irish War of Independence with a brief to conduct intelligence operations against members of the Irish Republican Army (IRA). Twelve people, including British Army officers, Royal Irish Constabulary officers and a civilian, were assassinated by the IRA in a planned series of simultaneous early-morning strikes engineered by Michael Collins.

The IRA unit gained access to the rooms of McCormack and Wilde (also a veterinarian) by pretending to be British soldiers with important dispatches. When the men opened their doors, they were shot and killed. Captain McCormack was having breakfast in his bedroom in the Gresham Hotel and reading The Irish Field. McCormack was shot through the head, in the neck, in the wrist, and in the groin. The paper was still in his hand; the blankets were singed from the closeness of the firing.

It is generally believed that McCormack’s killing was a mistake.

Patrick McCormack is buried in Glasnevin,County Dublin,Ireland. He does not have a Commonwealth War Grave, as he had been demobilised before his murder.

CAPTAIN MCCORMACK HAS NOT BEEN INCLUDED IN ANY STATISTCAL ANALYSIS.

Media and Documents

McCormack’s Headstone
McCormack's Headstone