Career
Born in Wexford, his father John was a colour sergeant in the Royal Irish Regiment. When his father retired from the army, the family moved to the district of Ashton-in-Makerfield, Lancashire where his father worked as a check-weigher at Bryn Hall Colliery. Keneally became a coal miner at age 13.
Ten years later, he enlisted into the army, signing up for 7 years.
He joined the 1st Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers, British Army as a private in during the First World War.
