Michael Kelly

Michael John Kelly (1947 - ) was born in Sheffield, Yorkshire, England. His father was a publican and Michael's early memories revolved around rural life in the Lincolnshire Wolds. However, this idyll changed when he joined the Royal Navy at 15 years of age and went to the famous Naval training establishment, HMS Ganges near Ipswich. For the next 12 years Michael travelled the world with the Royal Navy seeing both the bright side and the less attractive in some of the conflicts of the time. After his departure, he became a police officer serving for 24 years as mainly a detective before a road traffic accident meant his leaving the police. He served as Chairman of the HMS Ganges Association, the largest single ship association in the world, for five years.

He obtained his history degree at the University of Hull in 1994 studying part time over six years whilst still in the police. He now works as a Battlefield tour guide on the Western Front battlefields of France and Belgium. In his 20 years of guiding, Michael has led people from all over the world, mainly tracing their forebears from WW1. His connections in the States resulted in his being invited to be part of the Sergeant York Project (now known as the Nolan Group) team led by Dr. Tom Nolan of MTSU, a connection that has lasted many years and has resulted finally in determining the location where Sergeant York killed 21 and captured 132 of the enemy in 1918. This action is reflected in his book "Sergeant York of the Argonne - A Tour Guide"

Michael's other great love is the sport of Rugby Union Football. He has been a member at Grimsby RUFC for 30 years during which time he has served as Club president and also President of the Lincolnshire Rugby Football Union.

In order to help celebrate Grimsby's 125th Anniversary in 2010, Michael wrote the book "Your First Tackle Should Be Early......Even If It's Late"

In November 2018, Michael had his book ‘Hero on the Western Front’ Discovering Alvin York’s battlefield, published by Frontline publications, an imprint of Pen & Sword. The book is proving enormously popular and is on sale widely in the States. The study has been widely endorsed by well known historians; Ed Bearrs and Ed Lengel. Please see the reviews on the book sale page.