Trafford

Born during the September quarter 1903 in the Barton on Irwell R.D. - ref:
8c/713, the son of Robert & Ellen Carson.

1911 Census - 1120 Eleventh Street, Trafford Park.    Son - aged: 7 -
Scholar - born:Trafford Park.    Head of Household - Robert Carson -
Married - aged: 50 - occ: Army Pensioner Commissionaire at Cable Works,
born: Kings County, Banagher.   Also - Ellen Carson - Wife - aged: 36 -
born: America.  Plus 6 siblings.

The family later resided at 45 Hope Road, Sale.

Matthew, together with 'Boy' Charles Arthur Chapman - No. 3513058 - aged 17
and 'Boy' John Cooper - No. 35133044 - aged 16, were murdered at
Ballincollig, Co. Cork, Ireland on the 5th June 1921.  All three were
members of the 1st Bn Manchester Rgt's band.     The Ashton under Lyne
Reporter's second report dated the 18th September 1924 carries a large
photograph of the funeral and an extensive report on the circumstances of
their deaths and the funeral itself.    Thousands of local people turned
out for the funeral which was with full military honours.  There had to be
two services - an RC service for Matthew and a CofE service for the other
two.  The M.I. under Matthews name is - "O Jesus, open wide thy heart and
let him rest therein.  R.I.P."

The 1st Bn Manchester Rgt was sent to County Cork to counter the
Nationalist insurrection of 1921, following the Partition of Ireland and
were eventually stationed at Ballincollig.   One afternoon, the three boys
simply vanished from their quarters and at first, it was assumed they had
absconded, but they were never to be seen alive again.      Matthew
Carson's father, who was himself Irish, and had served with the Royal Irish
Rifles for 20 years, was unable to get any satisfaction from his
correspondence with the various authorities concerned, so he crossed to
Ireland and enlisted the sympathy of Michael Collins and after a two year
wait, his efforts were rewarded.   It was eventually ascertained that the
three boys had been playing football near to the barracks, when they were
surrounded by an armed band of Irish Nationalists.     They were taken away
to a country lane about a quarter of a mile off the main road and shot and
their bodies buried under a hedge.  Their remains were eventually brought
back to England for re-burial and were interred together in one coffin in
Hurst Cemetery, Ashton under Lyne on the 8th September 1924. There is a
triple CWGC headstone on the grave, together with another smaller stone
listing the three Boys names and stating - "Who were murdered in Co. Cork,
Ireland".

There were two later burials in this grave - both soldiers from the
Ladysmith Barracks Infirmary at Ashton under Lyne -   James Edward Friel,
aged 19, was buried on the 10th January 1929 and Thomas William Dodd also
aged 19, was buried on the 9th January 1930.    There is no marker to them
on the grave.       Ballincollig was a gunpowder manufacturing post town in
the Parish of Carrigrohane, on the road from Cork to Macroom; containing
875 inhabitants.

Robert Bonner of the Manchester Rgt Museum confirms that  they were
murdered at Kilcrea, County Cork and their bodies eventually buried at
Bandon but were exhumed at the request of the parents of the boys and
ceremonially handed over to the British military authorities by Irish Free
State troops on 5 August 1924.   He states that they were received on board
the steamship Moorfowl at Penrose Quay by Colonel Heywood, commanding the
South Irish coast defences and a party of the Royal Garrison Artillery. 
They were then returned to the Regimental Depot at Ladysmith barracks
before being buried in Hurst Cemetery, Ashton-under-Lyne.

See also the following website -
http://www.cairogang.com/soldiers-killed/band-boy-murders/band-boy.html

His father, who was also a military man died on the 23rd September 1942 -
his death was reported in the 26/09/1942 edition of the local newspaper.