b. 17/07/1868 Ardsollas, County Clare, Ireland. d. 04/12/1933 County Clare, Ireland.
DATE OF AM ACTION: 06/11/1905 Ennis, County Clare, Ireland.
Patrick Cullinan AM
Nothing is known about his early life but in 1882, he was appointed to the post with the Waterford and Limerick Railway. By 1900, Mr Cullinan had risen to the rank of Traffic Inspector, Limerick Coaching on the Great Southern & Western Railway, as the W & L had become. By 1st July 1904, he was earning 30 shillings a week and was based in Ennis, County Clare.
He received his AM from the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in the Throne Room of Dublin Castle on 14th March 1906. He married Ellen Torpey in 1919 and they had three children. By 1922, he had become a Supervisor and he retired in May 1929, aged 60.
AM CITATION:
The KING has been pleased to confer the Albert Medal of the Second Class upon Mr. Patrick Cullinan, an Inspector of the Great Southern and Western Railway Company of Ireland, for gallantry displayed in saving lire at Ennis Railway Station, on the 6th November, 1905. The ceremony of the presentation of the medal by His Excellency the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, took place in the Throne Room of Dublin Castle, on Wednesday last. On the evening of the 16th November, 1905, between 6 and 7 o’clock, while a special cattle train was running through Ennis Station from Limerick, a woman fell between the rails in front of, and about 15 yards from, the approaching train. Inspector Gullinan, who was on the platform at the time, immediately jumped on the track, and just succeeded in dragging the woman into the six-foot way, though not before the guard of the engine had come in contact with her clothing. So little time remained for action that but for Inspector Cullinan’s promptitude and great personal strength the woman’s life would have been lost.
BURIAL LOCATION: ST FINGHIN’S CHURCHYARD, QUIN, COUNTY CLARE, IRELAND.
LOCATION OF MEDAL: BELIEVED BURIED WITH HIM.
Acknowledgement:
Allan Stanistreet – Image of Patrick Cullinan AM and the scanned image of the Cullinan plaque.