Residents of west Wicklow and east Kildare will be familiar with the muffled booming sounds which come on the summer breezes from deep within the granite valleys indicating that the Defence Forces are firing their big guns on exercises in the Glen of Imaal. As it is known in army jargon ‘the Glen’ has been a familiar training ground for the members of the army and reserve defence forces – there are few Irish soldiers who are not acquainted with the heather banks and bracken covered slopes of the valley which runs up to the steep west face of Lugnaquilla mountain. Shattered rocks and torn sods bear witness to the intensity of firepower unleashed by modern artillery as the Defence Forces train on some of the most advanced equipment available in today’s military inventory. 

The Glen has many stories to tell going back to the days of Michael Dwyer and the 1798 rebels but its establishment as an artillery training range dates from a more recent era. The issue of the Kildare Observer newspaper of 3 June 1899 vividly described the interest aroused among locals by the arrival of the British Army’s Royal Artillery in west Wicklow: ‘The peace and quiet of the historic Glen of Imaal has of recent been very much disturbed by the thundering of artillery. Detachments of the Royal Horse and Field artillery were for days passing through Baltinglass en route to the Glen from the south of Ireland … at 10.20am, the 23rd May, the first shot was fired by the Royal Artillery on the newly-acquired land range in the Glen of Imaal.’ 

The range immediately won favour among gunners in the British Army of the day being described as ‘ a range for field guns which has no equal in the United Kingdom’. But how did this remote West Wicklow valley become one of the most notable military training grounds in the British Isles? The Kildare Observer set out a sequence of events driven by the evolution of artillery guns in the late 19th century which had the power to fire a shell for a distance of several miles. The existing training grounds such as the Curragh plains were not able to accommodate such long range fire without risking injury to neighbouring populations. For some years the gunners based in Ireland had been obliged to practice their craft by firing out to sea but it had been felt that firing at floating targets was no preparation for the reality of land battle. 

Thus, in the year 1887, several Artillery officers, who wished to give their particular discipline the best possible training opportunities, set out at their own expense to travel the mountain regions of Ireland looking for long valleys denuded of population where their ‘ far-ranging, highly dangerous projectiles, might be fired with impunity’. 

Such a valley was found at Aughavannagh in south Co. Wicklow on lands partly owned by Earl Fitzwilliam and the descendants of Charles S. Parnell, MP. Agreement was reached with the landowners and their tenants for the stationing of two artillery guns to make practice shoots to determine the suitability of the valley for more intensive firing. While they were engaged in the survey of the Aughavannagh lands the artillery officers crossed to the northern side of Lugnaquilla and were impressed by the amphitheatre disposition of the Glen and its surrounding mountains. No doubt proximity to the Curragh also played a part in the selection. However the tenants in the Glen were not keen to have their farms over-shot by artillery shells and the British Army representatives found themselves having to look further afield than Wicklow. For a number of years the sandy peninsula of Glenbeigh in Co. Kerry became a live firing range before the military looked again towards Co. Wicklow, this time to the north of the county where an infantry training ground had been established at Kilbride. However preliminary tests at Kilbride revealed the alarming prospect that the artillery projectiles would fly over the hills and crash into the valley beyond where according to the Observer report ‘ there is a shooting lodge right in the line of fire belonging to Mrs. Cobb’. 

The military negotiators returned to theGlen of Imaal and, armed with the threat of compulsory purchase orders, managed to acquire a large portion of the Earl of Wicklow’s mountain property. The tenants on the estate were purchased out with a payment of twenty-five years value of the annual rental that they paid to the Earl of Wicklow. There was also a number of tin houses erected for those tenants whose cottages were considered close to the line of fire.  

The negotiations were completed, the War Department leases signed, and the first gun battery wheeled into position in the Glen firing the first shell in May 1899. Since then hardly a year has passed when the corries and crags of Lugnaquilla have not echoed to the sound of heavy artillery, first in the charge of the British Army and later as an integral part of the Defence Forces of the Irish state.

The flying badge of the Air Corps (wings) is well know, having been in use by pilots and air crew since the establishment of the Air Corps in 1922. There is much photographic evidence of its use commencing with the well known sketch¹ of Flight Officer Delamere in An t-Oglac of May 1923. The badge was embroidered in bullion wire onto the superfine material and sewn onto the tunic, while with the full dress uniform of 1935 the wings were enamelled metal and smaller in size. An inspection² of the Air Corps took place by the Chief of Staff (C.O.S.) on the 23^rd October 1940 and as a result the C.O.S. requested A/Cmdt. M. J. Ledwith to examine the authorisation for the wearing of “wings” or “flying badges” by qualified pilots in the Air Corps with a view to prohibiting officers who had qualified as pilots wearing this badge when they transferred from the Corps. Ledwith reported that there was no file on the subject in the Central registry. He went on to state that “Mention is made of “Flying Badge” in D.F.R. 7 0f 1927, but qualified this to say that this D.F.R. had been superseded by D.F.R. 40 of 1936 and the reference to “Flying Badges” was omitted. Apart from this D.F.R. I cannot find any authorisation or reference please.” The file was passed to the Adjutant General (A.G.), who issued an instruction to prepare Regulations governing Flying Badges and to give an authority to wear same. This was subsequently done. Had the A/Cmdt. consulted the Provisional Dress Regulations of 1924 he would have found the necessary authorisation there! The story does not end with the above episode. As bullion wire was almost impossible to obtain during the Emergency attention was given to the supply of wings in metal or even in silk thread. Metal wings were rejected because of difficulties in getting a die made, also because of the ease of the removal of these from tunics and the possibility of their being worn by non-authorised people. As well as these objections further reasons advanced for not using metal was that they could catch in overcoats, harness or parachute lines etc. The decision was made to continue with gold wire embroidery and temporarily with silk thread until gold wire becomes available. 

In the course of the review of all this, a suggestion arose that the use of the Army Badge at the centre of the wings was inappropriate. A sketch was prepared of designs for a new set of full and half wings. When the design was shown to the Chief of Staff on the 1^st September 1944 he rejected the idea of taking the Army Badge out of the design and referred the matter to the Air Corps to get the views of the officers. On the 6^th October Major Delamere wrote to the A.G. that “the unanimous feeling of all Corps officers is that the design of the wings should not be changed”.  He commented that over the years some variation had been creeping into the badges due to different manufacturers and the fact that they were hand made. He attached a drawing which he wished to be the specification, noting that this “is exactly similar to the metal wing on the Air Corps Dress uniform”.  At the same time some 20 non commissioned Corporals were being trained as pilots who would on completion be promoted to Sergeant and who would be eligible for wings. As they were non - commissioned the provision of badges would be an official issue from stores and no stocks were available. In November 1944 Major Delamere wrote to the Q2 branch requesting a supply of wings for the above new pilots.  Two wings were requested for each pilot. 

As no bullion badges could be obtained the Jewellery & Metal manufacturing Company was approached who had the dies for the metal wings. A draft provisional Dress Instruction was issued on the 16^th November 1944 which stated that until such time as stocks of gold braid are available a substitute Pilots Badge in bronze of approved design is authorised for issue to N.C.O Pilots in lieu of badge described. No examples of the bronze wings have so far been seen by the author, but the silk thread version of both the pilot’s wing and the air crew half wing exist.   

 

 

 

References

 An t-Oglac, Volume 1 No. 7 May 19^th 1923 page 14.Department of Defence file 2/67239, Military Archives. All the material in this article is based upon this file.

Drumcliffe, Co. Sligo

 

The village of Drumcliffe is located about 8km north of the town of Sligo. The church of St. Columba’s has a small number of memorials to men who served in the British army from the parish. Two families, Jones and Parke, had their own memorials. There is also one roll of honour to the men of the parish who died and served in the Great War 1914-18 and the Second World War 1939-45. The Great War memorial has the names of seven men who laid down their lives and fifteen others from the parish who served in that conflict. The name of one man who was killed in 1941 has been added onto the memorial at the end. I have checked Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Irish Memorial Records etc., for information on those who were killed, but still have no extra data on four of the men.

 

The adjoining graveyard is the final resting place of the poet William Butler Yeats, who died in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France in 1939. His remains were brought home to Ireland by the Irish Naval Service and re-interred at Drumcliffe in 1948.

1914 Roll of Honour 1919                     Men of the Parish who volunteered to fight in the Great WarAt Rest

J. Cunningham
F. Gillespie
Victor Allen Gillespie	Private - Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry - 487408 - Son of the late Joseph & Mary Gillespie, Garney, Sligo. - Born 03/08/1890 - Enlisted Montreal, Quebec. - Trade Bank Clerk - Died 01/10/1917 - Aged 27 years - Buried Aubigny Communal Cemetery Extension
V. Kerr
Edward George Monds	Sergeant - ­4th Battalion Canadian Machine Gun Corps - 799497 - Born 06/04/1896 Carney, Co. Sligo - Son of Edward Monds - Enlisted 11/01/1916 Toronto, Canada - Trade Reformatory Guard - Died 08/08/1918 - Vimy Memorial
William Henry Parke,	Captain - 6th Battalion Connaught Rangers - Died 15/10/1916 - Buried Kemmel Chateau Military Cemetery
W. Regan

 Served

G. Barber	W.F. McMullen
J. Barber	W.A. Nunan
J. Browne	N. Ormsby
E. Cunningham	R. Shaw
A. Kerr	A. West
W.P. Lindsay	G. West
W. McLoughlin	W. West
J.M Loughlin

 Erected by parishioners and friendsPilot Ian A West killed in active service 1941

 It was a source of great pride for both myself and my family when I was presented with my late fathers (Martin Clarke) Emergency Service Medal 1936-46 for his service with the Irish Red Cross Dublin Branch during the War years, at the meeting of the Medal Society of Ireland in the Teachers Club Parnell Square on Saturday 7^th February 2009. The medal was presented to me by his colleague in the Red Cross Joe A. Millar on behalf of the committee of the Irish Red Cross Society. Joe is also the Secretary of the Medal Society of Ireland. It was through Joe’s untiring efforts that my family were presented with my late father’s Service Medal all these years later. He always looked back with fond memories on his time in the Irish Red Cross Dublin City Branch between 1942 and 1946.  Martin Clarke was born in Dun Laoghaire (Kingstown) on 7^th July 1902, at 3 Diamond Place off Patrick Street. The son of a gardener he was educated by the Irish Christian Brothers at their school in Eblana Avenue just off Marine Road. He left school at the age of 14 to become an apprentice confectioner to the firm of Wilson’s at their bakery in Baggott Street, Dublin, a trade he would follow for the rest of his working life. During the War of Independence 1918-21 he served with the local unit of the Old IRA, possibly the 7^th Battalion. Eugene Davis was one of the officers of his unit. He took part in many operations with his unit until 1921, when he was arrested by the Black and Tans when they raided his parent’s home at 14 York Road Dun Laoghaire. Previous to this he had been on the run in the Wicklow mountains. Also arrested by the Black and Tans at the time were Thomas (Tommy) Hennessey of Avoca Square Dun Laoghaire, Patrick (Paddy) Groves from his unit and a Volunteer we only knew by the surname of Morrissey. Martin was interned in Ballykinlear Military Camp, County Down until the Treaty was signed later that year 1921. Martin married his first wife Norah Kenny on 25^th November 1925, they had three children. Sadly she died on 12^th September 1935. In the late 1930’s now out of his apprenticeship as a confectioner, he got a job with the well known Dublin firm of coffee importers and café owners, the Bewley family, who owned restaurants at three locations in the city, at Westmoreland Street, Georges Street and Grafton Street. It was at the firm’s bakery in Westmoreland Street that he met my mother Julia Ester Coyne. She was working in Bewley’s chocolate factory in Westmoreland Street at the time, this would have been around 1940. They were married in the Church of Saint Nicholas, Francis Street, in the heart of Dublin’s Liberties on the 19^th January 1942. In the early years of their marriage they lived in the Iveagh Flat’s off Kevin Street.  It was at this time that Martin joined the Dublin City branch of the Irish Red Cross. The Red Cross was only in its infancy in this part of Ireland at the time, having only been established here on 1^st July 1939. Martin served as a Red Cross volunteer until 1956. He was very involved with the Dublin branch during his many years with the organisation. He also took part in the water safety campaign with the Red Cross set up in May 1945. He took many courses in water safety and life saving during his time with the Dublin unit. He was very experienced in First Aid and took part in many competitions with the Dublin Branch.  In 1953 he moved out to Rathfarnham with his wife and young family. At that time Rathfarnham was very rural, as the city of Dublin was only just beginning to stretch out to the new suburbs such as Rathfarnham, Kimmage and Crumlin on the South side, and on the North side new suburbs were springing up in places like Cabra and Finglas. Buses  out to the new suburbs were very infrequent in the early 1950’s. The in those days the bus stopped in Rathfarnham village and you had to then walk the mile or so home. This was the reason Martin eventually resigned from the Red Cross in 1956. As at that time it meant he had only just gotten home from work at 4:30 pm, before leaving again to catch the bus to attend his Red Cross training in the Teacher’s Club in the very room where the Medal Society of Ireland hold their meetings and fairs. Martin has always loved his years in the red Cross and always put his First Aid skills to use whenever the local community needed them. I remember during my childhood growing up in Rathfarnham when workers from the nearby Hughes Dairy (HB) would knock on the door in Nutgrove Avenue with injuries sustained in the dairy, and I remember my father giving them First Aid treatment before they went to one of the Dublin City Hospitals. This would have been during late 1950’s when Rathfarnham was a very different place to what is today. I remember when I was about eight years old, he saved the life of a young girl of 11 or 12 years of age who had fallen in to the Dodder river near the park. The previous days heavy rain and high winds left the river swollen and in a torrent. Martin was cycling home from his work in Bewley’s Bakery at the time, it would have been in the early afternoon of a Winter’s day. The road that he cycled home from work on ran alongside the river. As my father cycled along he noticed a young girl floundering in the river. He immediately jumped off of his bicycle and waded into the swollen river with the water up to his chest. Using his trouser belt he threw one end to the girl who was clinging to a branch of a three that was caught up in the river. The girl managed to grab hold of the belt and he then managed to pull her to safety. Months later while attending ten o’clock mass in the local church, she spoke to my father and me in the church yard. She spoke to my father for a minute or two and then turned to me and said “your daddy saved my life”. I was very proud of him that day and I am very proud today to accept his 1939-46 Emergency Medal, First Aid Division on his behalf. He never received his medal when they were being issued in 1947. Sadly my father passed away on 2^nd may 1982, just before his 80^th birthday.

MEDAL SOCIETY EXCURSION TO FLANDERS

This year’s Medal Society foreign excursion took place on Wednesday, 30th September, when a group of twenty under the able direction of Colonel Richard Heaslip, were brought on a tour of places of Irish interest in Flanders.

The tour was a great success and all concerned enjoyed themselves notwithstanding the fact that the futility of war and the waste of precious human lives was brought home to us in no uncertain terms.

There are two hundred and forty two British War Cemeteries in the Somme area alone, holding the remains of 153,000 British soldiers, 99,631 of which have been identified and 53,409 of which are unidentified, Some 53,564 bodies have never been recovered. Between the battles of the Somme and Verdun there were six thousand deaths a day, or around five deaths every minute.

We visited the Mons battlefield, and saw where the opening shots of the First World War were fired and the nearby grave of Lieutenant Maurice James Dease of the Royal Fusiliers, the Westmeath man, who won the first Victoria Cross to be awarded in the War. He is buried in the beautiful cemetery of St. Symphorien two miles east of Mons. In this cemetery also are the remains of Private John Parr of the Middlesex Regiment, the first soldier to be killed in action in the first world war, and Private George Ellison of the 5^thRoyal Irish Lancers, who together with Private George Price of the Canadian Infantry, were the last soldiers to die in combat in the war.

We visited the Passchendaele Memorial Museum in Zonnebeke which had a huge array of First World War material and also the Albert Somme Museum which was equally impressive. Individual graves that we saw during the next few days included that of the Irish poet Francis Edward Ledwedge of the First Battalion Royal Inniskillen Fusiliers, who died on the 31^st July, 1916, near Boezinge when a shell exploded close to the shell hole in which he and his companions were sheltering. He is buried in Artillery Wood Cemetery.

Another poet to die in this senseless war was Captain John McCrae, the Canadian doctor, who wrote “In Flanders Fields” and we also visited the memorial to him. Lieutenant Tom Kettle, who to my mind, wrote the most poignant poem of the First World War a few days before his death at Ginchy, on the 9^th September, 1916, while serving with the 9^th Battalion Royal Dublin Fusiliers. He has no known grave but his name was recorded on the Thiepval Memorial, which we visited. Another person whose grave we encountered was that of Major William Hoey Kearney Redmond. We saw his grave outside of Loker Hospice Cemetery. He had been brought to the Hospice and died there on the 9^th September 1916.

We visited both the Island of Ireland Memorial and the Ulster Tower. In the latter we had tea and were given a talk on the layout of the trench system in the area by Ted, the present caretaker of the premises. The island of Ireland Round Tower and Peace Park were the more recent monuments to be erected in this sector. There are a number of plaques there with quotations from George Bernard Shaw, William Orpen, the war artist, Thomas Kettle and Terence Poulter of the Dublin Fusiliers and David Starret of the 9^th Battalion Royal Irish Rifles. An extract from a letter written home by David Starret I thought summed it all up; “So the curtain fell over that tortured country of unmarked graves and unburied fragments of men. Murder and massacre. The innocent slaughtered for the guilty. The poor man for the sake of the rich. The man of no authority made the victim of the man who had gathered importance and wished to keep it".

We visited Kemil Hill and Lone Pine Cemetery and inspected the Lochnagar Crater which was created when 26.8 tons of ammonal were exploded under the German positions just before zero hour on the 1^st July, 1916.

We visited the 16^th Division Memorial and later the controversial grave of Private John Condon of the Royal Irish Regiment, at Poelkapelle British Cemetery. Condon is said to be the youngest victim of the War and to have died at the tender age of fourteen, or if you believe the census returns for 1901 and 1911, eighteen. He joined the army in 1913 and whatever chance he had of being accepted at the age of fourteen I find it hard to believe that an eleven year old would be accepted. The claim is strongly disputed on two grounds, one that Condon was eighteen and not fourteen as disclosed from documents including his birth certificate, census records (on the 1911census he is shown as a fifteen year old general labourer) and other sources and secondly, some people believe that the body buried in this grave is that of Rifleman Patrick Fitzsimons 6322 4^th Battalion Royal Irish Rifles, and not John Condon 6322 Royal Irish Regiment. Identification was made by means of markings on a boot (6322 RIR) and is said to have been misinterpreted as referring to the Royal Irish Regiment. However poor John Condon knew nothing of the controversy which was to arise a hundred years after his tragic death.

We visited the largest British War Memorial in the world, the Thiepval Memorial, which displays 73,335 names of those whose graves were never found. The Tyne Cot Memorial where 34,888 names are displayed and the Menin Gate Memorial where 54,388 names of those who have no known grave are displayed.

Wreaths were laid by members of the party at Tyne Cot and Menin Gate. The evening ceremony at the Menin Gate was particularly moving. The presence of an All Black Maori Choral Group added to the atmosphere as well as that of a Scottish Piper. Other places visited included German and French Cemeteries, the vaults of St. Nicolas Church in Messines where Adolf Hitler was treated during the First World War and the St. George Memorial Anglican Church in Ypres where many British schools have placed plaques listing their war dead and where French and Field Marshal Herbert Plumer are commemorated.

On our final day we visited the battlefield at Waterloo and climbed the mound at Hameau du Lion from which there is a splendid view of the battlefield. The interpretive centre houses not only the original 19^th century diorama which is painted on a 360 degree globe so that you can walk around and see what is happening in any part of the battlefield, but also a modern version of this where you can view a 180 degree screen and see the re-enacted battle in three dimensions, which is most impressive. So too is the army of life size models of soldiers of the period fully equipped and armed as they were at Waterloo, which line the approach to the mound.

We finally stood on the spot where Napoleon stood watching his hopes and aspirations being dashed on the field at Waterloo.

We would like to thank Colonel Richard Heaslip and Killester Travel for their excellent service throughout.

U.K. MINISTRY OF DEFENCE LAUNCHES SEARCH FOR RELATIVES OF DUBLIN WORLD WAR 2 CASUALTY

The U.K. Ministry of Defence has launched a search for relatives of 25 year-old Dubliner Sub-Lt. Edmund Seymour Burke who was killed in action in the Barents Sea in July 1941 when the Fairley Fulmar II aircraft he was flying crashed into the sea after it developed a mechanical fault.

Edmund Seymour Burke was born in Dublin on August 11^th 1916.  After completing his education, he became a tea broker and in July 1940 enlisted in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. A year later Sub-Lt. Burke was a member of the Fleet Air Arm serving with 800 Squadron on board  the aircraft carrier HMS Furious  which participated   in Operation “EF”  in the Barents Sea in July 1941.

Operation “EF” entailed the passage of the high-speed minelayer, HMS Adventure to Archangel with a large load of mines, while the air groups of the two aircraft carriers, HMS Furious and HMS Victorious struck at the presumed concentration of shipping in the two northern ports of  Petsamo and Kirkenes respectively on 30 July 1941 used by the Nazi Gebirgs Korps Norge. The strike was intended to be a surprise attack but the Arctic midnight sun conditions in midsummer meant that the element of surprise using darkness was not possible. As the fleet was sighted by a shadowing German Do-18 shortly before launch, the strike on Kirkenes was a disaster as the Luftwaffe were waiting  resulting in the loss of thirteen aircraft in the attack on Kirkenes and three on Petsamo, one of which was flown by Sub-Lt. Burke with Telagraphist/Air Gunner Leading Airman James Beardsley, DSM. This aircraft developed engine problems shortly after taking off  from HMS Furious and crashed into the sea about six miles from land. The crew members bailed out and were seen getting into their dingy which washed ashore several days later but both occupants were dead.  Their remains were buried in an ‘unknown’ grave on the Rybachiy Peninsula in northern Russia.

According to Ms. Louise Dorr from the Ministry of Defence’s Joint Casualty and Compassionate Centre, not a lot of information about Sub-Lt. Burke is contained in his records other than his date of birth and civilian occupation with no information about his parents or other family. The Centre would like to hear from anyone who may be able to help it trace the whereabouts of his family and anyone with information is asked to contact Ms. Dorr on +44(0)1452 712612 extn. 5465 or email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . 

Panhard AMLs Withdrawn from Service 

 

On 1 May 2013 all Panhard AML 90 and AML 20 vehicles currently in service with the Irish Defence Forces became non-operational and were withdrawn from service. Panhard armoured vehicles were first introduced into service with the Irish Defence Forces in 1964 and soon afterwards, AML 60s were deployed on overseas service with UNFICYP in Cyprus.

 

Over a period of almost fifty years, the Panhard armoured fleet has seen extensive service both at home and abroad including firing in action in the Battle of At Tiri in Lebanon in 1980, as a Quick Reaction Force (QRF) to injured civilians during the Grapes of Wrath offensive in Lebanon in 1996 and were used in an armoured reconnaissance role during violence in Monrovia, Liberia when intensive rioting began in 2004. 

 

Following an upgrade programme in the 1990s which included dieselisation and re-turreting, the operational life of the vehicles were extended. However the Panhard fleet of AML 90s and 20s has now reached the end of its operational life and so has been withdrawn from service. 

Civil Defence and 1916 Anniversary Celebrations

David J Murnaghan

The historic days of 1916 were remembered and celebrated during the year 2016. A contingent of Civil Defence Officers and Volunteers taking part in the Easter Sunday parade marched through Dublin and past the saluting stand at the General Post Office. Throughout the country Civil Defence volunteers took part in many commemorative events during 2016.

In honour of the role played by Civil Defence Volunteers during the year, Mr. Paul Kehoe TD, Minister with responsibility for Defence authorised that a commemorative medal be commissioned for Civil Defence to be awarded to members in active service during the year 2016.

 The medal has a dulled silver metallic finish. The obverse of the medal has the Civil Defence crest with the harp placed centrally surrounded with the words "Cosaint Shibhialta - Cómoradh Cháisc 1916". The reverse has the 19/20 16 logo which was used during the year 2016. The green ribbon has narrow stripes of orange and white in the centre running vertically.

Dublin Civil Defence commissioned and presented a commemorative 1916 'coin', with a silver finish, to its Volunteers. The obverse has the standard Civil Defence crest. The reverse displays a scene showing women members of Civil Defence marching past the General Post Office at an Annual Easter Parade held during the Cold War period.

by Derek Young

From COIN AND MEDAL NEWS, January 1989

In May 1939 the Irish Prime Minister (Taoiseach), Eamonn de Valera, declared that in the event of war, the 26 counties of Ireland, then under his government’s jurisdiction would remain neutral and added that “we believe that no other position would be accepted by the majority of our people as long as the present position exists”. The “present position” referred to the partition of Ireland which has always been a bitter bone of contention between the Irish and British governments.

by Patrick J. Casey

Stillorgan at the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914 comprised a small village with 415 residents inhabiting 101 houses. The village stood at a junction on the main Bray Road surrounded by a variety of stately homes and villas. The total population of the parish was 1,558.

by Keith Beattie

A remarkable new book has just been published by Robert Thompson, a well known Irish war historian. Robert has written a series of books which take a detailed look at the men who died during the First World War, 1914-1918, fighting for the Allied forces. In his own locality, he has covered Bushmills, Portrush, Portstewart, Kilrea, Ballymoney and Coleraine but his next book takes him across the border to Co. Donegal.

by Liam Dodd

Mr. French asked the Under-Secretary of State for War, whether he is aware that John Joseph Coleman number 10677, 3rd Battalion Royal Irish Rifles, who recently enlisted at Gorey, Co. Wexford, is only a little over fifteen years of age and an only son; whether his mother, who is a very poor woman, has claimed his discharge and seeing that boys of fifteen years old are not eligible for the Army, will he order his release?

by David Lloyd & Michael Kavanagh

Monday, 23rd of November 1992 saw the inauguration of a scheme of awards for Irish fire service personnel which marks the State’s recognition of long service devoted to the savings of lives and property. On that day in the Templemore Arms Hotel, Templemore, Co. Tipperary, Mr. Michael Smith, T.D., Minister for the Environment presented long service awards to seventy three (73) qualified serving and retired members of the Tipperary North and Tipperary South County Council fire brigades.

by Liam Dodd

Census of Ireland 1901, form Y, hospital return. County of Dublin. Parliamentary Division North Dublin. Poor Law Union North Dublin. Townland Phoenix Park. Ward Arran Quay. Hospital Royal Infirmary.

by James Scannell

In September 1940, King George VI created the George Cross to recognise civilian heroism for the men and women of the Commonwealth whose courage could not be marked by any other honour. The silver cross, bearing an image of St. George slaying the dragon and the words “FOR GALLANTRY“ was designed by Percy Metcalfe and is struck at the Royal Mint. The reverse of the medal is plain and bears the name of the recipient and the date of the award and is worn before all other decorations except the Victoria Cross.

by J. Morton

It was during a visit to the East Lighthouse on Rathlin Island, or Altacarry Light as it was known to the locals, that I first heard of HMS Drake. On my way over from Ballycastle to Rathlin by boat one of the boatmen, pointing to a buoy in Church Bay, told me that it marked the wreck of the Drake, a British warship which sank there during the 1914-18 War. I could not recall having ever heard of the Drake but thought that it might be interesting to find out what kind of warship she had been and how she came to end up on the bottom of the sea off Rathlin.

by Ken Kinsella

At the monthly meeting on the 6th June 1924 the Rathdown Rural District Council granted permission to Mrs. Belinda Barrington Jellett, “Clonard House”, Sandyford, Co. Dublin to erect a Celtic cross at Kilgobbin cemetery (old) in memory of the officers and men from the district who fell during the Great War.

by Liam & Conor Dodd

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