Cover image: OCN Level 2 People’s History Course participants
Newry and Mourne Museum, as a Newry, Mourne and Down District Council service, is committed to providing a high-quality, dynamic and inclusive learning and recreational resource for the local community and visitors to the area. As the district’s collective memory bank, the Museum collects, preserves and interprets the diverse material and cultural heritage of Newry and Mourne in order to cultivate and promote pride, understanding and enjoyment of local cultures and traditions. The Museum seeks to meet the needs of the people of, and visitors to, Newry and Mourne, so that they may be able to enjoy the learning and recreational benefits of their heritage.
As part of an 18-month Heritage Lottery funded project examining the local impacts of the First World War on the Newry and Mourne area, the Museum offered free accredited OCN Level 1 and Level 2 courses to the local community. In total, almost seventy participants achieved the qualifications. The Heritage Lottery funded project also included the opportunity for six volunteers to receive training in conducting historical research, as well as gaining an insight into how museums care for, manage and interpret their collections.
This booklet contains articles written by some of the participants who completed the OCN Level 2 “People’s History” Course and two of the First World War Project Volunteers. The Museum would like to thank Karen Brennan and the team from Community Change who facilitated the OCN “People’s History” training, which was funded by the Department for Social Development, the SS Nomadic Trust and the EU’s Peace III Programme.
In the mid-1990s I decided to get myself organised; write a will, etc. As the eldest sibling I inherited the family papers, which included two 1904 grave cards for Blaris Old Burial Ground, Lisburn. I knew of one grave but not the other. I sought the assistance of the groundsman, who pointed to an old sandstone gravestone, which read, “Here lyeth the body of Thomas Bradshaw who departed this life the 7th of Sept. 1777 aged 71 years. Here lyeth the body of Agnes Bradshaw who departed this life February the 1st 17... aged 64 years”. My search for Thomas began.
Creating a family tree seemed the best starting point. Rummaging through an old leather case of papers I found Freemason certificates dating back to 1829 and 1840, from which I was able to identify my great-grandfather and great-great-grandfather. At Freemasons’ headquarters, Dublin I spent a day reviewing their records, where I found new family members – including a William dating back to 1782.
My family tree now included: my father James > Robert > George > John (1809-85); but still a long way off Thomas. Using Family Tree software I started searching the internet, where I accumulated a lot of information about early Ulster Bradshaw settlers.
The next stage was visiting local genealogy sources, including the Centre for Latter Day Saints (CLDS), the General Register Office (GRO) and the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI). At PRONI I viewed, on microfilm, records for First Lisburn Presbyterian Church, in which I found Thomas’s 1706 baptism record, plus those for his siblings.
Lease records at PRONI were also a good source of information. For instance, a 1767 Land Lease: George Bradshaw snr., Annacloy, Blaris:
“The natural Life and Lives of John Bradshaw eldest son of George Bradshaw aged 24 years, of David Bradshaw second son of the said George Bradshaw aged 18 years and ….for during the natural lives of the longest liver of them”
Until 2008 progress was slow, so in order to attract information I created a website, www.bradshaw-ulster.co.uk. Publishing on the internet was not difficult and within weeks contacts were made and information exchanged. A nineteenth-century family tree lodged at the CLDS, Salt Lake City was received for George and Mary Bradshaw, Blaris married c.1772 – their grandson Harvey is buried in Thomas’s grave. Family links started forming and have continued ever since.
In the 1960s my father was contacted regarding the new M1 motorway planned to pass through Old Blaris Cemetery, requiring graves to be moved. Searching Thomas may not have happened!
Over one million people left Ireland during the years of the Great Famine (1846–1852). The term ‘emigration’, with its connotation of deliberate, calm progress from one country to another, ineffectively describes this movement of people, especially during the panic stricken flight of 1846–1847, when the impulse to leave was so strong the destination was irrelevant.
Newry became the emigration centre for southern Ulster and northern Leinster. Emigration booking agents competed for trade in human cargo with Francis Carvill at the core of this business. The Carvill family acted as emigration agents for those emigrating to North America during the worst years of the Famine and their office was at 9, Sugar Island, Newry. Carvill’s brother, William, was a merchant trading from his own depot in St. John, New Brunswick, Canada. The brothers traded in timber, Indian corn, rosin and tar from Canada with a return commodity of Irish emigrants bound for Canada.
The famine gave rise to a significant increase in emigration from southern Ulster and north Leinster. Evidence exists of only one ship departing for a transatlantic voyage from Newry, the Sarah Parker. All other sailings were from Warrenpoint which was regarded as the deep water port for Newry. Statistics published in recent years have shown that Warrenpoint was the port of embarkation of some 5,000 emigrants who sailed directly to New York in the years 1846–1850. Other emigrants travelled via Warrenpoint to Liverpool on such boats as the Sea Nymph or Hercules, which sailed three times a week, before securing a passage across the Atlantic. Destinations for the emigrants were Quebec, New York, New Orleans, St. John, New Brunswick, Baltimore and Boston.
In 1846 there were six transatlantic sailings from Warrenpoint, nineteen in 1847, nineteen in 1848 and twenty-nine in 1849 departing from 25th February until 24th November. Thom’s Directory recorded that a total of 1,947 emigrated to the United States and Canada from Newry in 1847.
The increasing demand extended the period of departure to every month of the year, instigating increased risk to emigrants, particularly from adverse weather. At the height of emigration in 1848, the Ayrshire chartered by James Ferguson of Merchants Quay in Newry, departed Warrenpoint on the 24th November. With approximately six weeks sailing to New York, it arrived around 7th January and, at the peak of winter, the emigrants had no means to support themselves.
A memorial at Warrenpoint harbour commemorates all emigrants that left via Warrenpoint during the years of the Famine.
The Newry, Warrenpoint and Rostrevor Railway received government approval in 1846 with the first train leaving Warrenpoint for Newry on the 28th May 1849. It was hoped that the railway would bring much needed employment to the area and further afield. The area was renowned for its scenic beauty and the coming of the railway encouraged rapid growth in the town as a holiday destination. Travel by train was convenient and cheap and, as it became accessible to all, the development of the railway became instrumental in the town’s growth by attracting day trippers and tourists for longer periods.
A list survives of Excursion Traffic to Warrenpoint for the summer season between Sunday 27th April 1924 and Sunday 28th September 1924. Part of the Newry and Mourne Museum collection, it shows a total of 39,145 passengers, who travelled from Belfast, Dublin and Derry. The varied occupations of the travellers can also be seen. Many came from weaving and flax spinning industries where the work was hard; shifts were usually twelve to fourteen hours a day. Sunday Schools also planned trips to the seaside for the children.
There was a major rise in employment in the hospitality industry during this period. Relevant information can be gleaned from Newry Reporter Year Books and Warrenpoint Trade Directories, 1866–1952. The number of hotels/lodging houses in Warrenpoint increased from five in 1866 to thirty nine in 1913. This growth was maintained until 1952 apart from a slight decline in 1947, during the Second World War. Significant growth also occurred in confectionery, grocery, public houses and the postal service. These services were necessary to facilitate the increases in tourism in the area brought by the railway. Between 1913 and 1920 boatmen were also busy providing trips for the many visitors. Today in Warrenpoint we have two hotels, five guest houses/self catering, three supermarkets, four confectionery shops, one posting establishment (although many shops now sell stamps) and only one boat cruiser.
The decision of Dr Beeching, Chairman of British Railways, to close many of the railway stations in Northern Ireland caused a decline in day tourism and excursions to many of the seaside towns.
Date. Apl. 27. May 24. June 6. ” 15. ” 11. ” 11. ” 12. ” 20. ” 14. ” 14. ” 15. ” 18 ” 18. ” 19. ” 19. ” 20. ” 22. ” 24. ” 26. ” 27. ” 27. ” 28. ” 28. ” 29. ” 29. ” 29. July 2. ” 3. ” 4. ” 4. ” 5. ” 6. ” 7. ” 15. ” 15. ” 16. ” 16. ” 17. ” 18. ” 18. ” 12. ” 19.
Name of Party.
West Belfast Social Club B & C D Rly Head Office Staff Methodist Sunday School I.N.F (Banbridge) Pres. S. S. and United S. S. Methodist S. S.
St. Mark’s S.S. General Excursion Crescent Pres. Church S.S. St. Aiden’s S.S Oriel Hall Assen. Social Club Sunday School Markethill Pres. S. S. Drumcree & Dobbyn S.S. Seagoe Sunday School 1st. & 3rd. Armagh Pres. S.S. A.O.H Division 45 Poyntzpass, Scarva & Tyrone S. S. United Pres. S.S. Sunday School Party Parish Church S.S. Young People’s Guild “
Newforth Weaving Coy St. Vincent De Paul (St. Patrick) St. Mathews Confraternities St. Vincent De Paul Choral Festival
Irish Life & General Assurance Coy St. Mark’s S.S. Miss Wall’s School Party Unitarian S.S. Worker’s Union, Derry Christ Church Jnr. Choir Mullavilly S.S. Ballymore S.S. Tullyallen S.S. Moira Pres. S.S. United Sunday School Knocknamuckley S.S Kildarton S.S. Demonstration at Warrenpoint
Girls Friendly Society
Stations From. Belfast Belfast Armagh Banbridge Dungannon Vernersbridge & Annaghmore Portadown Killylea & Tynan Belfast ” Dublin Keady Markethill Portadown ” Armagh Belfast Poyntzpass Portadown Trew and Moy Lurgan Goraghwood Newry D.B Belfast Lisburn Belfast Armagh Poyntzpass, Goraghwood, L’Gilly Dublin Armagh Hamiltonsbawn Banbridge Derry Lisburn Tanderagee ” Loughgilly Moira Banbridge Portadown Armagh Leitrim,Ballyward B’roney, Katesbridge Portadown Howth
No. of Passengers. 400 30 405 369 1,013 704 1,796 540 400 949 718 641 400 693 695 600 1,400 300 772 546 1,952 29 16 203 648 1,233 332 78 98 837 52 99 573 19 578 736 119 137 877 371 127 1,178 69
Date. ” 20. ” 20. ” 24. ” 26. ” 26. “ 26. “ 26. “ 30. “ 31. “ 31. Aug. 2. ” 3. ” 3. ” 9. ” 9. ” 9. ” 10. ” 10. ” 15. ” 16. ” 16. ” 17. ” 17. ” 21. ” 23. ” 28. ” 31. Sept. 7. ” 7.
Name of Party.
Stations
From.
Howth Pipers Band
St. Vincent De Paul Rev. Howard’s Party Tanderagee & Gilford Pres. S.S. Waringstown S.S. Pres. Sunday School Scarva Sunday School Sunday School Royal Ulster Rifles Church of Ireland S.S Congregational Church St. Vincent De Paul St. Michane, Halston St. New Northern Spinning & W. Coy Salvation Army S.S, St. Paul’s Sunday School Tullylish Parish Confraternity Irish National Foresters Excursion to Warrenpoint York St. Flax Spinning Co. Jardines & Co’s Workers St. Vincent De Paul Mr. Stewart’s Party Thomas St. S.S. Tullylish Pres. S.S. Mr. McKinley’s Party St. Vincent De Paul St. Vincent De Paul Traffic, Goods, Passr. & Loco. Staff
Armagh Monaghan & Glaslough Tanderagee Lurgan Dungannon Scarva Antrim Armagh Dundalk Lisburn Armagh Dublin Belfast Lurgan Tanderagee Laurencetown Keady Newry, D.B. Belfast Dromore Armagh Cookstown Portadown Laurencetown Portadown Armagh ” Dublin Passr. Goods Engineer’s Loco.
Date. Sept. 14. ” 14. “ 21. “ 17. “ 17. “ 21. “ 23. “ 28. “ 31.
Name of Party.
St. Vincent De Paul Ancient Order of Hibernians D.U.45
Workers’ Excn.
Associated Society Loco. Engineers Rev. G. Slipper’s Party St. Vincent De Paul Royal Hippodrome Staff
No. of Passengers. 316 440 567 509 165 48 202 451 92 142 76 213 811 649 346 596 479 134 2,424 221 310 136 106 1,605 567 139 217 198 415 300 150 490
Stations
From.
Brought Forward Armagh Belfast Cookstown, Stewartstown, Coalisland, Dungannon Derry Newry B.B. Armagh Belfast
Carried fwd. 37,237 Total 39,145
No. of Passengers. 37,237 216 750 178 385 51 239 89
1866 1913 1915 1920 1940 1945 1950 1952
Academies 0 4 3 5 3 0 0 0
Auctioneers / Antiques 0 3 4 4 2 1 1 2
Bakers 5 0 0 0 0 1 1 2
Barber 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
Baths 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Blacksmiths 6 3 3 3 0 1 2 1
Boatmen 0 15 14 11 0 0 0 0
Bog Oak Manurfacturers 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Book sellers and Stationers 5 0 0 0 0 0 1 5
Boot and Shoe Makers 9 6 5 4 7 5 4 3
Butchers 3 3 3 2 6 4 4 6
Builders, &c 1 7 7 7 9 9 8 7
Carpenters 0 0 0 0 1 1 3 0
Car owners 0 0 0 0 7 0 7 0
Carters/Carriers 0 4 6 6 1 0 0 0
Chemists and Druggists 1 1 1 1 3 3 5 5
China Glass and Earthenware dealers 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Coachbuilder 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0
Coal Merchants 5 4 4 4 2 3 2 1
Confectioners 1 13 11 10 2 3 2 1
Contractors 1 0 0 7 9 9 8 7
Cycle Agents 0 3 3 4 0 0 0 0
Dental Surgon 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1
Doctors/Surgons 1 3 3 4 6 2 5 9
Drapers/Outfitters 0 5 5 8 13 6 9 1
Dressmakers/Tailoress/Milliners 8 5 4 3 1 0 3 3
Electrical Services 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1
Fancy Goods Dealers 0 3 3 4 1 0 0 0
Flour Beaters 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Fishmongers 0 2 1 1 0 0 0 0
Fowl dealers 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1
French Polisher 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0
Fruiterers 0 3 3 3 3 2 3 2
Garages 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 0
Grocers 39 20 20 20 12 15 21 17
Habardashers 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Hairdressers 1 2 2 2 4 1 3 4
Hardware Dealers 0 2 2 2 1 1 1 2
Hotels/Lodging Houses 5 39 32 27 36 25 30 30
Laundries 0 3 2 3 0 0 0 0
1866 1913 1915 1920 1940 1945 1950 1952
Marine Stores Dealers 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0
Market Garden 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1
Masons 0 3 3 3 0 0 0 0 Masseuse 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0
Maternity Nurses 0 2 2 2 3 2 5 4
Nursing Home 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1
Mineral Water Works 0 2 1 1 1 0 0 0
Newsagents 0 5 4 5 0 0 0 0
Painters 2 5 5 4 3 2 2 3
Pawnbrokers 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Physicians 1 3 3 4 6 2 5 9
Photographers 0 2 3 3 0 0 0 0
Publicans/Spirit dealer 15 18 19 17 13 22 10 9 Plumbers 0 3 4 4 0 0 0 0
Posting Establishments/Postmen 4 11 11 10 1 3 5 5
Restaurants 0 7 7 9 0 0 9 11 Saddlers 1 2 2 2 2 0 0 0
Ship owner 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 Shopkeeper 4 0 0 0 21 0 0 0 School Teachers 0 2 3 5 2 0 0 0 Soap and candle manufacturers 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Solicitors 0 3 3 5 6 6 6 6 Stationers 0 4 4 5 0 0 0 0
Tailor 0 3 3 3 2 0 0 0 Tobacconists 0 5 6 8 0 0 7 0 Undertaker 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 Watchmaker/Jeweller 0 2 3 2 0 0 0 1
Factories 1 2 2 8 9
This postcard was sent home from France in 1917 by my wife’s great-grandfather, William Forbes Minnis, to his daughter Kathleen Mabel Minnis, aged 19 years.
William was born in the townland of Loughadian, near the village of Loughbrickland in County Down. He married Essie Ann --- on the 24th December 1897 and moved to Belfast where he set up home at 126 Blyth Street, just off Sandy Row. They had seven children together: Kathleen, Gertrude, Essie, Margaret, Thomas, Mary and William, Junior.
William survived the war and died 17th September 1938 and is buried in the city cemetery. His wife, Essie, died in 1942.
Mary (Mamie), one of William and Essie’s daughters, married Sammy Thompson (an exRoyal Merchant Naval officer). On 6th December 1971 the I.R.A. placed a bomb in Great Victoria Street in Belfast and blew up a building and damaged the Salvation Army Citadel
beside it. Mamie Thompson, who was a Salvation Army Member, entered the building to try and save some of the contents. When the roof collapsed, Mamie was killed. Her funeral was held in Belfast on the 9th December 1971.
During the First World War, silk postcards were bought as souvenirs by soldiers on the Western Front. Local French and Belgian woman embroidered the different motifs onto strips of silk which were then sent to factories for cutting and mounting on postcards.
Other examples of silk postcards from the First World War
On 7th May 1915 R.M.S. Lusitania was struck by a German U-Boat torpedo as she moved along the southern coast of Ireland, destined for Liverpool. The Lusitania was an extremely impressive ship in her time at 787 feet (240 metres) long, with a displacement of 44,000 tons when fully laden. She was a passenger ship but designed with the ability to be fitted with arms so she could, if necessary, double as a warship. Owned and operated by the British Cunard company, it was designed to push naval architecture and marine engineering into new and uncharted territory and it would prove (along with her sister ship the Mauretania) to be the yardstick by which every passenger ship for years thereafter would be measured.
However, regardless of her impressive scale and design, a torpedo, which struck the starboard bow, was enough to send the Lusitania to the bottom of the ocean. The first explosion was quickly followed by a second, coming from inside the ship, that caused her to begin sinking rapidly. So rapid was her descent that only six of her forty-eight lifeboats were deployed in time and, in the end, out of the 1,959 individuals on board, 1,198 lost their lives at sea. There were 764 survivors, though three of these would die later from their injuries. News of the horrors of the event spread worldwide overnight and the district of Newry and Mourne was one of many areas that mourned the loss of their own.
Newry and Mourne crewmen on-board the Lusitania were:
• Bernard Cassidy, born in Newry, fireman
• Michael Corboy, Newry, fireman
• Isaac Linton, Newry, fireman
• Patrick Loughran, Queen Street, Newry, trimmer
• Frank McAteer, Warrenpoint, fireman
• Thomas McCann, Dromintee, fireman
• John McEvoy, Jonesborough, greaser
• Michael McGuigan, Monaghan Row, Newry, trimmer
• Andrew McKendrey, Nicholson’s Court, Newry, trimmer
• Patrick McKenna, Mary Street, Newry, fireman
• Peter McNulty, Jonesborough, trimmer
• Terence McParland, Forkhill, fireman
• Edward Ryan, Burren, fireman
Of these Individuals only McEvoy, McKendrey and McKenna survived the incident. In an interview McKendrey told a local newspaper reporter that although the torpedo was completely unexpected, “passengers and crew alike maintained a wonderful calmness”. He explained that it was only by the virtue of a well-trained crew and his ability to swim that he survived. Nevertheless he considered it a miracle that he had survived at all.
Stephen McNulty, brother of the above-mentioned trimmer, Peter, was the only passenger from the Newry and Mourne area. He also perished in the sinking, but unlike his brother, his body was recovered and buried in one of the mass graves in The Old Church Cemetery, Cobh.
There were also a number of men from surrounding areas who had lucky escapes. William O’Hagan (a native of Warrenpoint who lived in Liverpool) was Chief Bedroom Steward on the Lusitania. William O’Hagan was talked out of going by his wife, after she had a premonition that the Lusitania would sink. Daniel Dow, of Warrenpoint, the regular Captain of the Lusitania, was on leave at the time of the disaster.
Daniel Dow was the son of John Dow, land steward at Narrow Water, Warrenpoint. He captained the Lusitania from August 1913 to March 1915. From 1917 until his retirement in 1919, he commanded the Royal George, which was involved in the transportation of troops between India and the Persian Gulf, British and German East Africa, South Africa and Salonika. He died in 1931.
Reports on incidents such as the Lusitania were portrayed in an (understandably) negative light by local newspapers. Germans were portrayed as ‘pirates’ or the ‘Hun’. One report claimed that “German sea conscripts laugh when women, children and babies drown”. It goes on to state that “the murders of women and children in home waters cannot go unnoticed and must instil that feeling of hatred against the brutal Hun, which will bring
many to the colours”. The sinking of the Lusitania was therefore one of a number of incidents that worked to the advantage of British recruitment agencies. The sinking is often also considered to be one of the central reasons for America eventually entering the war, largely because there were 128 Americans on board who perished during the incident.
Copy of a medal struck by Karl Goetz, a German metalworker, to commemorate the sinking of the Lusitania. The copies were made by Harry Gordon Selfridge of Oxford Street, London, to win sympathy for the Allies and to raise funds for war charities.
The sinking of the Lusitania is an episode often thought to be clouded in conspiracy and intrigue. Some have noted that the second explosion and surprisingly quick descent may be indicative of hidden munitions (which would have breached US neutrality), making her a fair target for a U-Boat attack. At the time the Germans claimed that this was the case as justification of their actions. It is now confirmed by the cargo manifest which lists ammunition among other things, as well as diving teams finding physical evidence, that there indeed was a large stash of munitions on board. Nevertheless it is more widely believed that the second explosion was actually caused by the ship’s boiler exploding and not a result of these hidden munitions. There are those that go even further to suggest that the Lusitania was deliberately put in danger by Britain, in a hope that, if attacked, it would bring America into the war. This, however, is an argument that has been wholly refuted and rejected by most professional historians.
Whatever the details of the incident may be, the Lusitania was only one of a number of ships to be sunk by German U-Boats in the Irish Sea throughout the war. In fact the area would consequently come to be known as ‘U-Boat Alley’. One of the last boats to be sunk there was the R.M.S. Leinster on 10th October 1918. This was the first time a mail-boat going between Ireland and Britain had been attacked by a U-Boat. The mail-boat went down in less than five minutes and a relatively improvised yet rapid rescue operation took place. A special meeting was held in Newry Town Hall to express indignation at the sinking of the Leinster and one of the local newspapers declared, “Nowhere in Ireland, perhaps has the diabolical crime occasioned more abhorrence and consternation than in the Frontier Town, having as we have so many associations with ‘those who go down to the sea in ships’”. At the meeting, the following resolution was agreed: “The people of Newry, in public meeting assembled, do express abhorrence at Germany’s foul crime against humanity by sinking
the Irish mail steamer Leinster and murdering the innocent men, women and children, who were travelling on the passenger boat; they tender to the families of the bereaved their sincerest sympathy, and call upon the manhood of Ireland to assist in avenging the crime.”
Only four weeks later the war would be over and U-Boat alley would return to being, quite simply, the Irish Sea.
The sinking of R.M.S. Lusitania by a German U-boat caused an international outcry. The tragedy was used to encourage recruitment to the armed forces, especially in Ireland.
The Gallipoli campaign, April 1915 to January 1916, is widely acknowledged as one of the great disasters for the Allied powers during the First World War. The campaign was intended to take control of the Dardanelles Strait and Western Turkey in order to seize Constantinople (modern Istanbul) and push the Ottoman Empire (Turkey) out of the war. There was stalemate on the Western Front by the end of 1914 and the campaign in Gallipoli was borne out of a desire among the Allies to find a new approach to defeating the Central Powers. Winston Churchill, as First Lord of the Admiralty, pushed Admiral Carden, commander of the British Naval Forces in the Mediterranean, to plan a naval attack that would take Allied ships through the Dardanelles into the Sea of Marmara where they could take Constantinople. The thinking was that this would open a new Front and force Germany to split their forces further. It was decided that a solely naval campaign would not succeed and that a land force should be deployed to assist, and so, on 25th April 1915, the hastily prepared landing of Allied troops on the Gallipoli peninsula took place.
The contribution of Irish soldiers to the First World War had, for a long time, been somewhat forgotten but approximately 210,000 Irish men served in the British Army throughout the First World War with around 140,000 of these men signing up as volunteers after the war had broken out. During the Gallipoli campaign alone approximate figures suggest that over 4,000 Irish soldiers were killed with about 569 from the Royal Dublin Fusiliers alone. In fact, the force that was to land at Cape Helles included the 1st Battalions of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers, Royal Munster Fusiliers and Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers. The Royal Dublin and Munster Fusiliers were the first to disembark from S.S. River Clyde and of the first approximately 200 to land, 149 men were killed and 30 wounded almost immediately. The case of the Dublin Fusiliers illustrates this initial loss very clearly: of 25 officers and 987 men, only 1 officer and 374 men made it ashore. After the land action in Gallipoli fell into trench warfare, a second attempt at taking the peninsula was made with a landing at Suvla Bay in August 1915. Here the 10th Irish Division also saw action. The 10th Irish Division was made up of new service battalions, part of what was known as Kitchener’s New Army and included many of the Irish men who volunteered for service following the outbreak of the war.
Among the Irish soldiers deployed during this iconic and ill-fated campaign were a number of men who hailed from the Newry and Mourne area. Gunner Henry McConaghy, Newry, served with the Royal Field Artillery and was with the 29th Division at the landing in April 1915. His brother William also served as a Signaller in the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers. Newry brothers Samuel and John Mallaghan served as privates with the 1st Battalion Royal Dublin Fusiliers and both lost their lives in Gallipoli in April 1915.
Lance Corporal Thomas Lundy, son of George and Mary Lundy of Church Street, Newry, served with the Royal Dublin Fusiliers and was also deployed in Gallipoli. The Royal Dublin Fusiliers had participated in a major action between 28th June and 2nd July at Gully Ravine. It was an attempt to advance north but while the initial attack bore some success the Turks hit back with a counter attack on the 28th and 29th June resulting in major causalities for the battalion. Lance Corporal Lundy was killed on 29th June 1915. A Memorial Certificate was presented to his parents after his death. This certificate is now in the possession of Newry and Mourne Museum.
Another local man to pay the ultimate sacrifice at Gallipoli was Captain William Harald Barker. Born at the Vicarage, Rostrevor in 1881, William was the only son of Canon Barker, Vicar of Kilbroney, and Adelaide Barker. Educated in Hertfordshire, Barker subsequently joined the British Army serving in Gibraltar, Malta and Aden until November 1905 when he went to India. Here he stayed until October 1910. He then held the post of Adjutant to the Lancashire and Cheshire Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA) Territorial Force and was promoted to Captain in January 1914. When the First World War broke out, Barker re-joined his company at Woolwich and was appointed adjutant to the 24th Siege Brigade, with which he went to Gallipoli in July 1915. He was later temporarily attached to ‘A’ Battery, 69th Brigade, R.F.A. It was during this attachment that he was wounded on 4th November 1915; he died of his wounds the following day in the First Australian Clearing Station at Anzac. A number of letters relating to Captain William Harald Barker are held at Down County Museum.
The contribution of soldiers from Newry and Mourne to the Gallipoli campaign and, the war as a whole, is reflected in the number of local men who distinguished themselves and were honoured for their conduct. For instance, Company Sergeant-Major James Alfred Rice from Warrenpoint, who served in Gallipoli, among other theatres of war, was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for gallantry in the field. Also decorated was Captain W. Arthur Moore, of Newry, who served in Gallipoli in 1915. Captain Moore was part of the Rifle Brigade, Special Reserve and had the Order of the “White Eagle” conferred on him by the King of Serbia, which as a wartime merit was conferred for conspicuous bravery in the field.
Of course, these are just a few of the local men who, hundred years ago, fought and, in some cases, died on the Gallipoli peninsula during that fateful campaign and there are many other stories that could be told. These are stories of men who, prior to the war, worked and lived in the Newry and Mourne area, and who were the fathers, sons, brothers and husbands of the local community.
Thanks are due to the staff and volunteers of Newry and Mourne Museum for their assistance with the production of this booklet:
Dr Ken Abraham
Richard Burns Declan Carroll Noreen Cunningham
Jackie Dodds Caroline Hegarty Andrew Henry Conor Keenan
Greag Mac a’ tSaoir Eamonn McArdle
Amanda McKinstry Shane McGivern Anna Savage Kelly-Marie Savage Dympna Tumilty Pauline Walsh
Thanks are also extended to all those who contributed images for the booklet:
James Bradshaw
Fred Cairns
Michael Dow
Victoria Millar, Down County Museum Dr Margaret Whittock
Booklet introduced and compiled by Dr Robert Whan © Newry and Mourne Museum, 2015
