LOCAL IMPACTS OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR
30th May 2014 _ 4th May 2015
Pin cushion, 1915
A “sweetheart” pin cushion sent home by William McGrath, who served with The Connaught Rangers, to his wife at Collins Row, Monaghan Row in Newry.
Courtesy of Catherine Savage
Réamhrá an Mhéara
Gabhann an leabhrán seo le taispeántas a chíorann tionchar an Chéad Chogadh Domhanda ar cheantar an Iúir agus Mhúrn.
Tá suim mhór sa tionscadal seo; chomh maith leis an eolas a roinn daoine orainn faoi bhaill teaghlaigh a throid, agus i gcásanna áirithe a maraíodh, sa Chogadh seo, bhronn muintir na háite rudaí ar an iarsmalann agus thug siad nithe eile ar iasacht dúinn. Léiríonn an spéis seo an dáimh atá ag daoine sa lá atá inniu ann le heachtra a tharla céad bliain ó shin. Tá an tréimhse 1914 – 1918 lárnach i stair na hÉireann. Tá an Chéad Chogadh Domhanda ar cheann de na hócáidí is tábhachtaí i nDeich mBliana na gCuimhneachán, a théann i bhfeidhm ar phobal an cheantair go fóill. Pléann na hailt sa leabhrán seo le gnéithe éagsúla den Chéad Chogadh Domhanda agus tugann siad léargas dúinn ar thionchar an Chogaidh ar bhunadh na háite seo.
Ba mhaith liom mo bhuíochas a ghabháil le gach duine a raibh baint acu leis an taispeántas go háirithe lucht na Músaem agus na daoine aonartha a thug rudaí ar iasacht don taispeántas agus leo siúd a scríobh ailt don leabhrán seo.
Comhairleoir Mícheál Ó Ruáin
An Méara, Comhairle an Iúir agus Mhúrn
Mayor’s Foreword
This booklet accompanies an exhibition which looks at the impact of the First World War on the Newry and Mourne area.
There is significant interest in this project, with local people donating and loaning objects to the exhibition, as well as providing information on family members who fought, and in some instances were killed, in the war. This vividly illustrates how an event which happened 100 years ago still resonates with us today. The period 1914 – 1918 was a pivotal one in Irish history, and the First World War is one of the key events within the wider Decade of Centenaries that still influences our community.
The articles in this booklet explore diverse aspects of the First World War, providing an insight into the war’s impact on the local community.
I would like to thank everyone involved in this exhibition, particularly the Museums and individuals who have loaned items to the exhibition, and to those who contributed articles to this booklet.
Councillor Michael Ruane Mayor, Newry and Mourne District Council
The outbreak of War
Hugh Heatley
The path of Irish politics was dramatically altered by the outbreak of the First World War in the summer of 1914. Ireland was regarded as an intractable problem, perched precariously on the cusp of political turmoil, with the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and the Irish National Volunteers (INV) planning for armed resistance. Both groups were armed with weapons smuggled from Germany which was a treasonable offence. Home Rule for Ireland appeared imminent and had sharply divided the country. Unionists were against it and the Nationalists were in favour. The assassination of the Austrian Archduke Ferdinand in Sarajevo on 28th June 1914 eventually led to Britain declaring war on Germany and Austria.
In the lead up to the outbreak of war in Europe, the situation in Ireland was changed drastically; in Ulster old enmities appeared to be forgotten as men from the UVF and INV volunteered to serve together in the British Army. Both had their own agendas, the Loyalists to support their King and maintain the British Empire and the Nationalists to support small nations like Catholic Belgium and to copper fasten Home Rule for Ireland. Sir Edward Grey the British Foreign Secretary said of the impending catastrophe, “the one bright spot in this dreadful crisis is Ireland.” But the situation was merely suspended and left unsettled.
On 7th of August that year, the INV and UVF were marching and drilling at Rostrevor. They both saluted one another and then cheered each other; a jovial tone was struck as men mixed ranks and marched off towards the village whistling ‘La Marsellaise.’ This was
Private James Joseph Tohill
Originally from Belfast and later settling in Warrenpoint, James joined the Royal Marines in October 1914 at the age of 16. He served on HMS Colossus for the duration of the war. The Colossus became the flagship of the 1 Squadron and fought with distinction at the Battle of Jutland in 1916.
Courtesy of Brendan Tohill
in contrast to earlier sectarian confrontations. Captain Roger Hall cautioned the UVF not to carry rifles or revolvers when confronted with ‘riots’, ‘street fights’, just to carry ‘batons and thick sticks’.
Within a short time many of those men would perish at the Somme, Gallipoli or other battles of the First World War.
‘Now all roads lead to France, And heavy is the tread of the living, But the dead returning lightly dance.’ Edward Thomas 1878–1917
In 1918 when the carnage was ended, many of the men who survived would return home to a transformed country. Prime Minister David Lloyd George said that these men should come home to a land fit for heroes. Cynics observed that it would take a hero to exist in it.
Newry’s Roll of Honour
Joanne Cummins and Greg McAteer
Through the dismal winter of 1914, as the war in Europe ground to a stalemate, Newry was involved in a campaign to encourage new recruits to the Western Front. Throughout the first months of 1915 the local establishment in the form of the landed gentry, clergy and professional classes entreated the young men of Newry and its outlying districts to enlist at recruiting rallies. The local newspapers are full of accounts of such rallies which invariably featured local bands, an address by a representative of the local recruiting committee, a rousing homily from a member of the clergy and the appearance of a serving officer who would recount the glorious deeds of Irishmen already at the Front.
It was emphasised that their sacrifice would be in vain, if many more men did not offer themselves up to the war effort. In a town divided along religious, political and social faultlines, the task of recruiting was made less onerous by the decision of the Irish Parliamentary Party leader, John Redmond, to vigorously support the war. Locally, Fr. Timmerman, the exiled Belgian priest, embodied the threat posed to small Catholic countries by German Imperial ambition.
While recruiting commenced briskly, reports coming back from the battlefields slowed the initial rush, with rallies failing to produce the number of recruits desperately needed at the Front. Keen to bolster recruitment Alex Fisher proposed compiling a Roll of Honour at the meeting of the Urban District Council on 30th November 1914. This would trumpet the fact that Newry had recruited so strongly at the outset of war, and would publicly honour those who had gone to
Newry’s Roll of Honour
Illuminated front cover from Newry’s Roll of Honour. The document remains unfinished; no further names were added and the date for the end of the ‘European War’ on the cover remains incomplete.
Newry and Mourne Museum Collection
thaighde ar stair áitiúil agus theaghlach.
Private John Beattie
John Beattie (right) is listed on Newry’s Roll of Honour. From Carnagat, John worked in Bessbrook Spinning Mill. After enlisting in the Royal Irish Fusiliers, he was sent to Salonica where he sustained a fractured spine caused by shrapnel and was admitted to hospital on 10th October 1916. He was brought back to Ireland and died in the King George V Hospital, Dublin, on 27th January 1918.
Ba mhaith liom mo bhuíochas a ghabháil le gach duine a bhí páirteach sa taispeántas seo, rud atá lárnach d’aidhm na hiarsmalainne: a cuid bailiúchán a chur ar fáil do phobal an cheantair agus do chuairteoirí.
An Comhairleoir Michael Ruane Méara Chomhairle an Iúir agus Mhúrn
Mayor’s Foreword
This booklet accompanies an exhibition which looks at landownership in south-west Down through documents and artefacts. The development of Warrenpoint and Rostrevor is examined in the exhibition, while other settlements such as Mayobridge and townlands including Ballyholland and Finnard are explored through early property maps and documents.
serve the ‘colours’. The Town Clerk, W.M. Cronin, was tasked with compiling the information. This was carried out over the following weeks with the assistance of the Royal Irish Constabulary, whose recent experience as census enumerators must have proven invaluable in overcoming the logistical hurdles. The information having been collated, the name, rank, regiment and address of the 866 men and one woman serving were set out alphabetically in an illuminated scroll, with space left to add the names of those yet to enlist.
The bulk of material on display comes from The Reside Collection, a large collection of archival material relating to the history of south Down which was donated to Newry and Mourne Museum in 2002. The archive reflects the working lives and interest in local history of the late Major G.W. Reside, an architect in Newry, and his late wife Margaret Reside (neé Fisher), a local solicitor.
On the evening of 28th April 1915, a public demonstration was held in a Town Hall packed ‘to suffocation’. In attendance were relatives of the men named on the list, soldiers home on leave, Boy Scouts, Belgian refugees – Fr. Timmerman included, members of the local clergy both Roman Catholic and Protestant and leading citizens of Newry. The Council Chairman Hugh John McConville was presented with the Roll of Honour. The evening included rousing speeches and patriotic music by local bands of the town. Newspaper accounts of the evening laud Newry as having the highest recruitment rate per capita of population in Ireland.
The exhibition showcases the wealth of material contained in the Collection, while the two articles in this booklet amplify aspects of its value for local and family history research.
I would like to thank everyone involved in this exhibition which forms an important part of the Museum’s aim to make its collections accessible to the local community and visitors.
The information on the Roll of Honour serves as a valuable starting point in building a picture of how Newry reacted to the challenge of war. Read in conjunction with the census records and the information to be gleaned from the local press, which carried obituaries, reports of soldiers wounded or missing in action, we can build a picture of those who enlisted. An analysis of the information shows the geographic spread of recruits from around the town, with above average concentrations coming from the
Councillor Michael Ruane Mayor, Newry and Mourne District Council
Courtesy of Martin Grant
streets around St. Patrick’s Church. We can see the regiments into which they joined, with almost half the recruits enlisting in just three regiments: the Royal Irish Rifles (223), Royal Irish Fusiliers (174) and the Royal Dublin Fusiliers (98). Although the Royal Navy is well represented, only one member of the Royal Flying Corps is recorded, William McCullough of Edward Street. One woman is listed, Edith Devenish-Meares, a nurse from Bridge Street. Twenty one recruits enlisted into Canadian regiments, possibly reflecting the level of emigration from the Newry and Mourne area.
Invaluable as it is, the Roll of Honour is frustratingly incomplete. No further names were added and its early date means that the large numbers of merchant seamen and nurses we find on other Rolls of Honour in the area have not yet enlisted. It remains mute too, on the question of the large numbers from outside the Urban District Council boundary who enlisted and served. There are also issues with the accuracy of the information collected.
In accepting the Roll of Honour, Hugh John McConville hoped that it ‘would be preserved in the archives of the Town Hall for all time’, and that ‘In years to come, when we would be in our graves, the list would doubtless be perused with pleasure and pride by those who came after them’ (sic). With the centenary of the production of the Roll of Honour approaching, it would seem an appropriate time to re-examine it with the pride for which Hugh John McConville had hoped.
Company Sergeant Major Taylor
From James Street in Newry, and listed on Newry’s Roll of Honour, William was in his mid 50s when he was killed on the 1st day of July 1916 in the Somme offensive. Serving with the Royal Irish Rifles, William was a career soldier having fought in India and in the Boer War. His son, Private John Taylor, was killed a year later in October 1917.
Courtesy of John Taylor
Local Nurses who served in the First World War
Noreen Cunningham
Although only one woman, Ethel Isabella DevenishMeares, is recorded on Newry’s Roll of Honour, many local women joined nursing regiments such as Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service (QAIMNS) and the Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service (Reserve) QAIMNS(R). Some also served in non-military organisations such as the Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD), and were trained by St. John’s Ambulance and the Red Cross.
Nurses served in all parts of the World affected by the First World War. For example Margaret Rafferty, who worked in a Belfast hospital, was called up for duty with the QAIMNS(R) in October 1915. Her career was outlined in a Newry Reporter article of 1917, titled ‘Sister Rafferty (Newry) Amongst the Gallant Bands’. After leaving Liverpool on a Hospital Ship, she travelled to the Dardanelles (Gallipoli Campaign), and in 1916 she embarked on another Hospital Ship to Egypt and India. From June 1916, until she was demobbed in March 1919, Nurse Rafferty was in Mesopotamia, primarily based in a hospital for wounded officers in Basrah (now in Iraq).
Like Sister Rafferty, Ethel Isabella Devenish-Meares, was also called up for service. Born in Newry in 1876, she entered QAIMNS(R) in 1909 and served throughout the war as Sister and Matron in hospitals in France and Belgium. She was appointed an Associate of the Order of the Royal Red Cross (ARRC) on 1st January, 1917, and a member (RRC) on 3rd June, 1919.
She was awarded the Military Medal for bravery and conspicuous devotion to duty when in charge of a Casualty Clearing Station in Flanders, in October 1917. In a resignation letter of 1923, she alludes to post war events in Ireland.; ‘… I only do occasional jobs & anyway do not suppose in our time there will be another war. & no doubt, I will be working under the Irish Free State ! The above address [Meares Court, Mullingar] will always find me. Though I will be living in England.’ (TNA, WO/399/2201).
Sister Olive Gordon, listed on Donaghmore Parish Church’s Roll of Honour, also brought distinction to her profession. She was attached to the Scottish Women’s Hospitals for Home and Foreign Service and served in Serbia, and was honoured with the Serbian Military Decoration.
Some local women served in the VAD, and a Belfast Newsletter article of 1916 reported that Queenie and Madeleine McCann were appointed VAD nurses in the First Eastern General Military Hospital, Cambridge. Queenie also drove a Red Cross Ambulance in France. Both ladies were the daughters of Arthur McCann, owner of the Victoria Bakery, Castle Street, Newry.
For these women, the First World War provided an opportunity to travel and to make a practical contribution to the war effort. For some, such as Ethel Isabella Devenish-Meares, a new career beckoned and in 1921 she became a health visitor for a Council in Kent, England.
The Countess of Kilmorey, 1914
Watercolour portrait of Ellen Constance, Countess of Kilmorey, in nurse’s uniform. Lady Kilmorey was commandant of the South Down Nursing Corps. An Ulster Volunteer Force Nursing and Medical Corps had been formed in 1913 and with the outbreak of the First World War, they were mobilised to nurse the wounded.
© Down County Museum
Evacuation of wounded soldiers in Red Cross field ambulances from a hospital in France during the First World War
Courtesy of Cathy Brooks
Margaret Anderson
From Ballinran, Kilkeel, Margaret (third from left) pictured with wounded soldiers, joined QAIMNS(R) in 1916. She was awarded the Royal Red Cross (RRC) for war service. During the Second World War she served in the nursing reserve. An obituary, following her death in 1956, described her as Mourne’s Florence Nightingale.
Courtesy of Lydia Annett
Margaret Anderson
Greetings from the Western Front: a local collection of embroidered silk postcards
Ken Abraham and Liam Hughes
Some of the most poignant pieces of memorabilia from the First World War are embroidered silk postcards sent home by soldiers serving in France and Belgium to their families and sweethearts. Embroidered postcards first appeared in Paris c.1900 but their popularity increased during 1914 – 1918.
The cards were made from strips of embroidered silk organza which were mounted onto a postcard. The embroidery was originally done by hand by local women but, as demand increased, large numbers were made by machine in factories. Brightly coloured, the designs on the cards included patriotic flags and emblems, regimental badges and colours, flowers and birds which were usually accompanied by a greeting. Cards were also produced for Christmas.
The eight silk embroidered cards featured here were sent from the Front by three brothers, Albert, Joseph and Samuel Bell to their family in Cowan Street in Newry. Joseph and Samuel were both killed, while Albert survived. Although small, this collection of postcards has the advantage of the showing a cross section of the range of cards which were available during the War.
Flags of the major Entente Powers (United Kingdom, France, Italy, Russia and Belgium) were extremely popular. No.1, in particular, shows these flags along
with the Belgian national motto L’ Union Fait la Force (‘Unity makes Strength’). The flags are combined with Irish iconography in no.2 and, in no.3, similar flags are shown on one of the more expensive types of embroidered card. This example comprises a pocket containing a miniature silk handkerchief and a small greeting card. Another type of expensive postcard included a silk envelope which, again, contained a small greeting card for a personal message. These are exemplified by nos.7 and 8.
Silk embroidered postcards also reflect the contemporary fashion for souvenirs from towns and cities. Soldiers at the Front often had cards made which featured emblems and scenes from their home towns and villages. This can be seen in card no.6 which includes the Newry coat of arms. Embroidered postcards were undoubtedly highly coveted and it may be the case that the soldiers’ families requested these to be sent home to send on their own friends elsewhere.
Soldiers from both sides of the conflict sent these postcards to their loved ones and they consequently became precious family heirlooms. They illustrate the human side of the War which contrasts with the carnage often associated with the Western Front.
postcards
Embroidered
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Courtesy of William McAlpine
A Concrete Legacy
Conor Keenan
With low iron and steel reserves at the beginning of the First World War, governments needed to be imaginative in order to prepare the necessary tools for war. This led to the development of concrete ships.
In 1917, N.K. Fougner of Norway developed the first ocean-going concrete vessel, the Namsenfjord. After consulting with him on the feasibility for a wartime fleet, the President of the United States, Woodrow Wilson, commissioned 24 vessels. The British followed, and sub-contracted their vessels to a variety of shipyards including J&R Thompson’s Ltd of Warrenpoint. The Armistice was signed on 11th November 1918, one month before the first vessel from the Warrenpoint yard was launched. As with many concrete boats it was damaged during the launch. The Hall Estate Warrenpoint Slip Record book recorded:
“Cretefarm damaged at the launch… bottom was cracked. Got off night tide…Left for Dublin in tow of tug ‘Majestic’ Monday 24th February 1919.”
All the UK vessels bore the prefix ‘Crete’ and the first two completed in Warrenpoint were the Cretefarm and the Creteforge. Like many forgotten concrete hulks, they were sunk to form the breakwater of a harbour in Candás, Spain, in the Bay of Biscay. Another remnant of this era remains in permanent anchor in Carlingford Marina, ironically not from the Thompson yard, but the Cretegaff built in the John Ver Mehr yard in Shoreham, on the southern English coast.
The expertise in building these concrete barges was not lost, and resurfaced during the Second World War creating the Mulberry harbours necessary to sustain Operation Overlord and the Battle of Normandy.
While concrete was no longer the material of choice, Warrenpoint’s speciality for wartime maritime construction continued, and the Port gained accolades for the speedy construction of the Normandy landing craft that ferried the troops from Dover to the beaches of Northern France.
The construction of reinforced concrete has vastly improved in technique and efficiency and we could yet see a return to this material. For now though, their legacy is either as abandoned river debris such as the Creteboom in Mayo’s River Moy, or as harbour walls scattered around Europe fulfilling an altogether more mundane purpose than they were designed to perform.
The ‘Creteforge’ under construction in the J&R Thompson shipyard, Warrenpoint, 1918
These ships, constructed of concrete, were launched sideways on the skids that can be seen in the picture.
BELUM.Y1332 © National Museums Northern Ireland Collection Ulster Museum
The War Dead of Bessbrook
Christine Tyrrell
The marble and granite War Memorial in the centre of Bessbrook Village, County Armagh, was unveiled by the Earl of Kilmorey on Saturday 7th April 1934.
Engraved on the memorial are the names of 86 men who fought and died in the First World War. In total, a fifth of the 410 men who enlisted from Bessbrook died in the War. They included Catholics, Protestants and Quakers.
Unveiling of War Memorial, Bessbrook Lady Kilmorey (extreme right) and Newry Women’s Branch of the Royal British Legion laying a wreath during the ceremony on 7th April 1934.
Courtesy of the Newry Branch of the Royal British Legion
In January 2008 I began a personal project to see if I could find out more about the men whose names are listed on the Memorial. Through using the online database of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and information obtained from descendants of these local servicemen, I was able to get an insight into the lives of those commemorated on the Memorial.
One of those listed is Harold Thorp. Harold, the only son of John W. and Sara Thorp, was born in Bessbrook on 17th December 1880. He was educated at Sedbergh School in Cumbria and went on to be a distinguished scholar at Oxford University, before working at the Four Courts law offices in Dublin. Harold enlisted in the Royal Army Medical Corps in 1915 and served in France. In December 1916 he was awarded the Military Medal. He died on 22nd September 1917 from wounds he had received in action and was buried in Dozingham Military Cemetery, Belgium.
William Thomas Moody, son of Andrew and Agnes Moody, lived in Latt townland, Mullaghglass. A Presbyterian, he enlisted as a boy soldier in the Royal Irish Rifles before transferring to the Irish Guards. Aged 18, William was killed in action on 27th September 1918 and was buried in Sanders Keep Military Cemetery in France.
Corporal Michael Kearney was the son of Michael and Sarah Kearney. Michael served in the 4th Battalion of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers. He survived the horrors of Gallipoli only to be killed in France on 8th November 1918, three days before the armistice. He was 27. Survived by his widow and their baby daughter, Michael was buried in Dourlers Communal Cemetery, France.
Here are only three brief examples of local men who died in the First World War. My ambition is that all the war dead of the Bessbrook district are remembered not just in marble but in the minds of the district.
With a little research, it is possible to uncover the very human stories behind the names on a cenotaph.
Corporal Michael Kearney A photograph of Corporal Kearney with his wife. Courtesy of the Kearney family
Captain Roger Hall’s Military Career
Sir William Hall, K.C.V.O., J.P.
Roger Hall of Narrow Water, my father, was born on 6th August 1894. Known to his family as Toby, he was the son of Roger Hall and Elvira Adele, daughter of John Meade of Earsham Hall, Norfolk. My father received his education at Harrow School and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. He joined the Royal Fusiliers, like his father before him, and in August 1914 was gazetted 2nd Lieutenant in the regiment. He was sent on active service to France. In February 1915 he was promoted to Lieutenant and in July 1915 he was gazetted Temporary Captain. While serving with the 1st Battalion Royal Fusiliers in the trenches near Ypres, in September 1915, he became adjutant of the battalion and was mentioned in dispatches in June 1916.
Lieutenant Roger Hall was awarded the Military Cross, for gallantry and distinguished conduct in the field, in the New Year Honours of 1917, and received the award from King George V at Buckingham Palace on Saturday 24th February 1917. Shortly afterwards he was gazetted a Captain but in May 1917 he was invalided, suffering from shell shock and the effects of
Captain Roger Hall by William Conor, RHA, RUA, ROI (1881-1968)
Captain Roger Hall is depicted wearing the ribbon of the Military Cross and dressed as a Lieutenant, bearing two pips on the epaulette of his uniform jacket. Roger was presented with the Military Cross on 24th February 1917. His promotion from Lieutenant to Captain was gazetted on 20th April 1917.
Courtesy of Marcus Hall
gas, and a breakdown of health. He was in a military hospital at Wandsworth, and then transferred to the U.V.F. Officers’ Hospital in Belfast, and afterwards to the U.V.F. Officers’ Convalescent Hospital at Gilford, County Down.
In February 1918 he was appointed aide-de-camp to Sir Herbert Mills, Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Gibraltar. The following year, on 15th February 1919, Roger married Marie de Lourdes, youngest daughter of Joseph Patron of Gibraltar. The marriage was greatly opposed by his mother and uncle, Frank Hall. Frank, along with his half-brother Roger (Senior), was involved in gunrunning during the Home Rule Crisis and guns were stored at Narrow Water Castle. Frank was Military Secretary of the U.V.F. and was involved in the organising of Ulster Day in 1912, before going to England where he joined MI5 as a spy for the British War Office. (He was the first ‘Q’ in Army Intelligence, a codename later utilized by Ian Fleming in his Bond novels.) Frank was opposed to Roger’s marriage to Marie because she was a Catholic.
Together Roger and Marie had six children: Moira, Christian, Margaret (Peggy), Roger, William (Bill) and Noël. Roger was a magistrate for County Down and County Armagh, was High Sheriff of County Down in 1926, and for a number of years after the Great War he was Master of the Newry Harriers. He owned fox hounds, racehorses and greyhounds and was also President of Warrenpoint Golf Club.
Roger died on 3rd February 1939 and is buried in Clonallon Cemetery.
The Mourne area and the Great War
Kenneth Cromie
Men from the Mourne area distinguished themselves with awards for bravery and fought in every major campaign and battle of the First World War.
One of first Mourne casualties was Private Christopher Fitzgibbon of the 1st Battalion Connaught Rangers who died on the 17th August 1914. At the outbreak of war, the Rangers, based in India, were mobilised to support British troops in France and Belgium. The soldiers, loaded onto trains were exposed to extreme heat, and a number of soldiers succumbed to severe heat exhaustion. Private Fitzgibbon was one of those who died.
The first Mourne casualty to be killed in action was Private Patrick Rogers from Kilkeel. Serving with the 1st Battalion Irish Guards, Rogers’ battalion had been involved in the retreat from Mons. He was killed in France on the 14th September 1914 during the battle of Marne, when the British Expeditionary Force and French army halted the German advance to Paris.
The first casualty at sea was Able Seaman Edward Henry Everall. Born in Annalong 1888, he went to sea at 16 years old, and served on various naval vessels before being transferred to HMS Aboukir. On the 22nd September 1914 Aboukir was patrolling the North Sea with two sister ships HMS Hogue and HMS Cressy, unaware that a U-Boat was nearby. All three ships were sunk by the U-Boat with a loss of 62 officers and 1397 men.
One of the most decorated American soldiers in the First World War was originally from Kilkeel. Joseph Thompson emigrated in 1898 at the age of 18 and entered Geneva College Pennsylvania where he became an American football star. He joined the army in 1917, and fought in France with the 110th Infantry 28th Division US Army. Major Thompson was awarded the Medal of Honor, America’s highest military award for bravery in action, near Apremont, France, on the 1st October 1918, when he guided a tank towards a German machinegun post on foot, despite intense fire. During his military career France decorated him with the Croix de Guerre, United Kingdom with the Distinguished Conduct Medal, and America with the Purple Heart and Medal of Honour.
Another highly decorated Kilkeel man was Robert Hill Hanna. Born in 1887, he emigrated in 1905 to Canada and with the outbreak of war, enlisted in the Canadian Army. In 1917 he was awarded the Victoria Cross by King George V at Buckingham Palace. His citation, recorded in the London Gazette, reported that at Lens, France, under heavy machine gun and rifle fire, he led a party against a heavily protected enemy strongpoint, capturing the position and personally killing four of the enemy.
By the time the Armistice was signed in November 1918, hundreds of men with direct links to the Mourne area had fought in the First World War, while 70 had paid the ultimate sacrifice.
Robert Hill Hanna V.C. (right) photographed with a veteran from 19th century conflicts
Courtesy of the Kilkeel Branch of the Royal British Legion
Acknowledgements
Thanks are due to the staff and volunteers of Newry and Mourne Museum for their assistance in this exhibition and accompanying booklet:
Joanne Cummins
Declan Carroll
Caroline Hegerty
Liam Hughes
Conor Keenan
Greg McAteer
Amanda McKinstry
Anna Savage Dympna Tumilty
We are grateful to those who contributed articles to this booklet.
Thanks also to the Northern Ireland Museums Council for the funds to conserve artefacts used in this exhibition.
We would also like to extend a special thanks to those who contributed to the exhibition through donations, loans, expertise or memories including:
Lillian Annett
Sean Barden (Armagh County Museum)
Cathy Brooks
Kenneth Cromie
Captain and Mrs. John Gough
Martin Grant
Marcus Hall
Sir William Hall Maud Hamill
Hugh Heatley
Nigel Henderson
Catherine Hudson
Andrew Kernaghan
Sean Madden
Joseph Meehan
Victoria Millar (Down County Museum)
William McAlpine
Brenda McShane
Ursula Mhic An tSaoir
Mr. & Mrs. Hugh Rowland
Catherine Savage Somme Heritage Centre John Taylor Lenny Taylor Tommy Todd Brendan Tohill Christine Tyrrell Elizabeth Warnock Colin Whiteside
Compiled by Noreen Cunningham, Dr. Ken Abraham and Dr. Robert Whan
Every effort has been made to correctly attribute photographs used in this booklet and accompanying exhibition.
Poster, 1918
In response to a fall in recruitment across the British Isles from 1915 onwards, various levels of conscription were introduced in a series of Military Service Acts. The threat of conscription being extended to Ireland became a contentious issue in Irish politics after 1916. This Sinn Fein election poster refers to a by-election contest precipitated by the death of the MP for Armagh South, Dr. Charles O’Neill, of the Irish Parliamentary Party.
Back cover: HMS India football team at an internment camp in Jørstadmoen, Fåberg, Norway 1916 HMS India had been sunk by a U-boat off the coast of Norway, on 8th August 1915 and the survivors were interned as prisoners of war. The photograph includes Joseph Vincent Mahood Magill (pictured front row, left) from Belfast who was a ship boy on board. Joseph and his family were evacuated to south Armagh during the Belfast Blitz in 1941 and remained there.
Newry and Mourne Museum Collection
Courtesy of Brenda McShane
Design: G. Watters
This programme is funded by the European Union’s PEACE III Programme and managed by the Special EU Programmes Body
