Biography

William Harold (also occasionally spelt double-r Harrold) Kenny was born 20 August 1887, in Guyra, New South Wales, Australia, the youngest child, second son, of Irish-born Michael Kenny and his Australian-born wife Mary Moore, his birth being registered at Armidale.^[1] Bill (as he was also known) was one of eight children, with six sisters and one brother. While he grew up with one sister named Elizabeth, they never knew their older sister, also named Elizabeth, as she had died in infancy.

Military Service during the Great War

Prior to the outbreak of war in 1914, William Kenny had been a member of the police force, following in the steps of his older brother, Henry. It was not long, however, before he was resigning from the one force, in order to enlist in another. On the 21st August 1914, at the age of 27 years, police constable William Kenny enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force, being assigned to A Squadron, 2nd Light Horse Regiment.^[2]

The regiment went for initial training at the Enoggera Training Camp, and then was sent as part of the first troop convoy to Egypt, where Kenny and his comrades in arms were to undergo further training. Not long afterwards, the regiment was sent to the Dardanelles, Turkey, where they were involved in the fighting on the Gallipoli peninsula, including Gaba Tepe — during which he was to earn a rather colourful reputation as the "big Queenslander who tossed men over his shoulder with his bayonet" (much as a farmer would toss forkfuls of hay up to a hayloft). This incident was well covered in the press back home in Australia.

Bill Kenny's group of Military Police were also involved with evacuating prisoners of war to Lemnos and Mudros Islands prior to their eventual transportation to Egypt.
It was on the beaches below the headland – which were to be known as ANZAC Cove – that Bill Kenny was to experience a rather close encounter with the Grim Reaper, when he was struck on the head by a sniper's bullet. Such a glancing wound, however, was not enough to require his evacuation, so he was still around when Lord Kitchener arrived for an inspection – the outcome of which was the decision to evacuate. Such an evacuation plan could not happen overnight, so the plan evolved to extract the ANZACs over several nights. To facilitate this effort, Kenny and his fellow MPs were to continue bringing ashore stores, etc, to give the illusion that all was as "normal" (as normal as anything could be at such a time). The evacuation over, the troops began sorting themselves out in Egypt. For some, including Kenny, the strains and stresses of the preceding months took a toll, with more than a few being hospitalised for various disorders. (Bill's was painful, and likely embarrassing, as he was hospitalised for a severe case of haemorrhoids – forever recorded in his military file, as are his Distinguished Conduct Medal, French Médaille Militaire, and that he was Mentioned in Despatches : "For general good service and devotion to duty – was present at Anzac throughout the period first landing in April to evacuation in December and was never absent from duty a day – carrying out various police duties on piers and beaches frequently under shellfire — always in exemplary manner."

France's Médaille militaire.

• Private William Kenny was awarded the French Médaille Militaire, the announcement of which was published in the London Gazette on the 24th February 1916 on page 2073 at position 2, and in the Commonwealth of Australia Gazette on the 18th May 1916 on page 1161 at position 22.^[4] "In recognition of distinguished service during the campaign."^[5]
• Lance Corporal William Kenny was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal, the announcement of which was published in the London Gazette on the 3rd June 1916 on page 5585 at position 11, and in the Commonwealth of Australia Gazette on the 2st September 1916 on page 2623 at position 10.^[6] "For conspicuous good work throughout the campaign, frequently under shell fire."^[7]
• Lance Corporal William Kenny was Mentioned in despatches, the announcement of which was published in the London Gazette on the 13th July 1916 on page 6952 at position 1, and in the Commonwealth of Australia Gazette on the 18th August 1921 on page 1208 at position 1.^[8] "Mentioned for distinguished and gallant services rendered during the period of General Sir Charles Monro's Command of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force."^[9]

William and Christina Agnes "Chressie" McLellan were married on the 27th October 1919, in St. Stephen's Cathedral, Brisbane, with the officiant being the Rev Father McGoldrick.^[10]
A wedding announcement appeared in the Toowoomba Chronicle on the 13th December.

It was on the 21st August 1920 that the family expanded with the birth of a son, named William Harold for his father.

After the war William resumed his career as a police officer, being stationed at Oakland Park in 1927, at Tewantin (where he was Station Officer) by 1932, Cloncurry in 1934 (where he sat for his sergeant's exams), then to Toowoomba in 1936. In 1942, after an injury to an ankle during an attempted arrest had a Police Medical Board deem him medically unfit, William retired after 19 years of service.

On the 10th May 1943, at three months short of his 56th birthday, William enlisted in the Volunteer Defence Corps: 7th Battalion (QLD), attaining 48% on his written exam, 52%t on his practical and 53% on his oral..^[12]

William Harold Kenny passed away on the 15th May 1949, in Queensland, Australia, just three months before his 62nd birthday, having fought a valiant final fight against an opponent he could not defeat - stomach cancer.^[13]
William was buried in the Drayton and Toowoomba cemetery, Toowoomba.^[14]

Legacy
Private William Harold Kenny was an original member of the 2nd Light Horse Regiment. Kenny was also an original member of the Military Mounted Police (MMP), having joined that unit in March of 1915, and serving as MMP on Gallipoli, before transferring into the newly formed ANZAC Provost Corps (later renamed the Australian Provost Corps) — where he served until he returned to Australia on the 24th September 1918. He was a bodyguard to General Birdwood on Gallipoli and later in France. He was awarded the DCM and French Médaille Militaire, and at the end of the war held the rank of Warrant Officer Class 2. He was the younger brother of Sister Elizabeth Kenny, a member of the Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS), and later famous for her methods for treating the victims of polio.^[15]
• In 2003 the Royal Australian Corps of Military Police (RACMP) named their new building complex of 1 MP Coy at Lavarack Barracks after him:

Sources

1. ↑ New South Wales State Government Births, Deaths, Marriages Birth Registration details: Name: KENNY WILLIAM; Registration Number: 31589/1887; Father's Given Name(s): MICHAEL; Mother's Given Name(s): MARY; District: ARMIDALE
2. ↑ National Archives of Australia online records search: KENNY William Harold : Service Number - 171 : Place of Birth - Guyra NSW : Place of Enlistment - Brisbane QLD : Next of Kin - (Mother) KENNY Mary
3. ↑ Newspaper article — "WILLIAM HAROLD KENNY." Sydney Mail (NSW : 1912 - 1938) 4 August 1915: 25. Web. 23 Dec 2020 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article162494017>.
4. ↑ Australian War Museum: HONOURS AND AWARDS — William Harrold Kenny
5. ↑ "Government Gazette Proclamations and Legislation" Commonwealth of Australia Gazette (National : 1901 - 1973) 18 May 1916: 1161. Web. 28 Dec 2020 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article232468910>.
6. ↑ Australian War Museum: HONOURS AND AWARDS — William Harrold Kenny
7. ↑ "Government Gazette Proclamations and Legislation" Commonwealth of Australia Gazette (National : 1901 - 1973) 21 September 1916: 2623. Web. 28 Dec 2020 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article232455103>.
8. ↑ Australian War Museum: HONOURS AND AWARDS — William Harrold Kenny
9. ↑ "Government Gazette Proclamations and Legislation" Commonwealth of Australia Gazette (National : 1901 - 1973) 18 August 1921: 1208. Web. 28 Dec 2020 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article232183120>.
10. ↑ Queensland State Government Births, Deaths, Marriages Marriage Registration details: William Harold Kenny; Event date: 27/10/1919; Event type: Marriage registration; Registration details: 1919/B/23876; Spouse: Christina Agnes McLellan
11. ↑ Wedding Announcement — "Family Notices" Toowoomba Chronicle (Qld. : 1917 - 1922) 13 December 1919: 4. Web. 23 Dec 2020 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article253035852>.
12. ↑ National Archives of Australia online records search: KENNY William Harold : Service Number - Q226415 : Date of birth - 20 Aug 1887 : Place of birth - GUYRA NSW : Place of enlistment - TOOWOOMBA QLD : Next of Kin - KENNY CHRISTINA
13. ↑ Queensland State Government Births, Deaths, Marriages Death Registration details: William Harrold Kenny; Event date: 15/05/1949; Event type: Death registration; Registration details: 1949/C/2369; Mother: Mary Moore; Father/parent: Michael
14. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (accessed 22 December 2020), memorial page for William Harold Kenny (1887–15 May 1949), Find A Grave: Memorial #219174054, citing Drayton and Toowoomba Cemetery, Toowoomba, Toowoomba Region, Queensland, Australia ; Maintained by Marion Gaylard (contributor 47812041).
15. ↑ National Library of Australia: Trove item "Studio portrait of 171 Private William Harold Kenny".
16. ↑ Press release issued by a member of the Australian Federal Parliament — Citation | author1=Hill, Robert | author2=Liberal Party of Australia | title=Kenny lines officially opened | publication-date=2003-07-10 | <https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/192988815> | access-date=23 December 2020

• BDM registrations, newspaper reports, government records.