Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES has digitised and released copies of more than 9,000 wills belonging to Irish soldiers who fought for the British Army in World War I.
Although about 35,000 Irish men died in action, only 9,000 wills have survived. These are the only official documents held in the National Archives which directly concern the soldiers of World War I. There are plans for the English and Scottish equivalents to be put online shortly but the Irish project is the first to be completed.
Archivist Hazel Menton told TheJournal.ie that the project took four years and involved the individual scanning of each envelope and piece of paper.
The British Army provided several alternative ways of making a will, including forms in their service book and separate pre-printed forms. Soldiers were encouraged to make wills because it simplified the settling of their affairs after their deaths.
Included in the collection are 29 wills from soldiers who died in the South African war of 1899-1902. These are quite different from the wills of soldiers of World War I as many are accompanied by letters to their families and loved ones.
The archivists describe them as “newsy, informative missives” from the soldier to his mother, girlfriend, sister or brother that give an insight into the lives of the men fighting in South Africa, their family, home life and concerns.
Most of the soldiers were very young and did not have wives or children, and in many cases the beneficiary was their mother or father, siblings or the friends serving with them.
The poignant moments captured in the letters that have survived give us unprecedented access into the hearts and minds of Irish soldiers who fought during the two wars. The whole collection can be perused here.
On 23 November 1899, Patrick Campion wrote to his mother to wish her a ‘Happy Xmas’.
…do not fight on Sunday, they might not fight on Xmas day…
He died less than a month later, on 15 December 1899.
Joseph Robinson died in South Africa on 23 September 1901. In his emotional October 1899 letters to his sweetheart Susan in Virginia, Cavan, he asks her to stay faithful and not to marry until he returns.
He was also fond of marking his pages with x’s (or kisses).
Jack Madden wrote numerous letters to a Biddy Whelan of 24 Castle Street, Bray before his death on 27 October 1914. In one note, he showed his Irish side by telling his love he missed his cup of tea.
Others are more serious as he talks about orders and feeling “much happier” for taking her advice and going to his duty. It is clear from one of his notes that his mother had died and he was not coping with the news.
The page that marks him calling Biddy his “heir” is denoted with an X.
In the next page, he asks her not to think bad of him and that she may as well have the money he earns. He also returned two pawn tickets and orders to “tell the man I am gone to the front and I would not like to lose it”.
In the 12-page run-on letter, he enclosed photos and asked Biddy to show them to his father and tell him to “keep the heart up”. “We will all meet again I hope,” he added.
Biddy I do miss you fighting with me now. No matter we will fight again please god. Biddy don’t forget about what I say about the letter sa soon as you read this don’t forget forget me.
World War I soldier Michael Egan of the Irish Guards 1st Battalion asked his sister to pray for him every day until she heard of his death. “For I am going to the front. I am leaving London the morning I am going to France…”
The handwriting changes on page two and the soldier explains he had “his chum” write the first page.
He was killed in action on 1 November 1914.
Private James O’Connell, who died on 15 August 1915, wrote to his mother on 20 April of the same year.
I have a nice time of it here nothing dont trouble me and very fond of the army. It would be a lot better for me that I listed years a go if I come home safe…
The ‘will’ part of the letter was then underlined.
James Purvis gives an insight the process of drawing up wills.
Dear Mother we have got everything ready we have got our field badges sewed into our coats and we have got our small book and the little disks for going round your neck it is about the size of a penny with you…And in the small book there is a place for making your will so I am making mine out for to leave to you so you can divide it the way you think fit if anything happens to me you would have all the money and clothing that belongs to me.
Purvis, who was part of B Company of the 6th Battalion, Royal Irish Fusiliers, also described the women up in Dublin. He claimed they would miss his company when they left because they feed and clothe them.
However, most of the correspondence from World War I was more simple, and often, was just a form filled in by soldiers. This will for James Delaney was simply signed with ‘his mark’ X.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Why do they have to wait until the busiest weekends to do the work on the train lines? Could they not do that work at night during the week days and have it ready to bring people here and there during bank holidays?
@David Corrigan: They already do a lot of work at night, but for some work a 6 hour window is just not long enough, I presume. If it takes 2 hours to replace a gearbox you can’t do it in 4 separate bursts of 30 minutes.
@Sean O’Dhubhghaill: But they try and fit all the repairs into a 3 day weekend instead of doing it on a 5 day week. Kinda blows your theory out the window, eh?
@David Corrigan: No, they frequently work around the clock. A few years ago a small bridge needed replacing near my brother’s house. August bank holiday, they started at about 7.00pm on Friday and worked through, with floodlights, and finished about 4.00pm on the bank holiday Monday. Virtually 60 hours continuous work, in shifts. The bridge soan itself was gone for about 36 hours as the replaced the anchorage and supports. This type if work needs a large and continuous chunk of time, and can’t be done in a standard 9 to 5 day. So a decision us taken to disrupt ‘leisure’ traffic over a bank holiday rather than the working hours of 10s of 1000s of commuters during a working week. Some people may not like that decision, but you can’t please everybody. A shorter time disrupting fewer people.
@David Corrigan: One line closure over the weekend by Iarnrod Eireann on the Belfast line. And one closure by NIR (makes sense to do both works at the same time).
Being a regular traveller on that line, I can tell you it is a lot busier during the week than it will ever be on any weekend.
People complain these lines should be electrified and upgraded. But when a push comes to shove they don’t want the inconvenience. I’d say expect a lot more of this over the next couple of years as electrification and infrastructure upgrades are brought in.
@David Corrigan: It’s three days where it’s not busy with commuter traffic. Disrupting the majority of people on days off is better than disrupting them and businesses for work commutes I assume is the logic
@Sean O’Dhubhghaill: why do all these repairs specifically this weekend? These problems didn’t arise overnight, if they checked as they should, they should have prevented any possible fault before the fault happened, it’s called prevention.
You don’t wait until an airplane engine fails for you to repair it, it has mandatory service and diagnosis after a certain amount of time. the same goes for rail infrastructure. The fact that they had to repair them after they broke means that they didn’t check and keep track of them before so they can do a planned repair maintenance instead of a reactionary repair. That’s the problem
@J Ven: The bridge hadn’t broken. It hadn’t fallen. It was checked and deemed to need replacing. The continual repairs over the previous 100+ years were not enough anymore. So…… it was replaced. And it was decided to cause minimum disruption be doing it at a weekend where fewest people use it. (Am I correct in saying that every track is ‘walked’ and checked at least once a week??).
@Sean O’Dhubhghaill: how do other countries with 24/7 public transport manage their infrastructure maintenance without huge interruptions? Why is public transport here in Ireland treated as the ugly stepchild and not given adequate priority and funding? It’s beyond a joke that there’s only one North-South line on the east coast of this Ireland. It seems the motto is “Ah sure, it’s grand, who’d need alternatives, they have one railway, they should be happy”
@Larissa Caroline Nikolaus: Entire London tube lines are closed periodically. Entire stations closed.
@David Corrigan: The figures show that the least amount of customers are affected if they use weekends including bank holidays.
@J Ven: These are upgrades to the lines. As part of Dart + and the new Enterprise services to and from Belfast.
@Larissa Caroline Nikolaus: They do exactly the same as Irish Rail and close likes and stations at weekends particularly bank holiday weekends.
@Larissa Caroline Nikolaus: Cities like London have multiple lines going to most areas the way the web of lines are built. So closing one section isn’t as big a deal as here. Iarnrod Eireann and their contractors can only manage what they have. If you need extra lines and major upgrades well then that’s government infrastructure nation development plans, etc. So talk to your local TD. I’m sure he/she will oblige.
That’s like saying the Road Haulage truck driver people should be building new motorways.
It’s obvious from some of the comments here that project management and logistics are not strong points of some journal readers.
@Fr. Fintan Stack: Neither are they strong points amongst the people who manage public transport here in Ireland. Or it wouldn’t be the misery it is
@Larissa Caroline Nikolaus: hmmm. I’d be interested to hear how you would manage say a piece of work that requires 40 hours work, like replacing track sections or upgrading or replacing singling infrastructure.
@Larissa Caroline Nikolaus: They are very effective in Irish Rail considering the hoops they have to jump through.
That would be two easy to do day are brain dead in this country full stop ✋️
@Alan Moloney: says the man who can’t spell….
@Alan Moloney: says the lad who cant even spell correctly…..prime example of the brain dead here folks!
@Tom Newell: your one yourself
@6gRrQtLn: we are very funny today
@Alan Moloney: “You’re” or “you are” not “your”.
@Tom Newell: your one of them
@Eamon: what
Fair enough that works need to be done, but then provide viable alternatives and not a “limited” bus service
@Larissa Caroline Nikolaus: A limited bus service in conjunction which the regular bus service.
having had to do bus transfers before, there are enough buses for all the passengers.
Sadly the transfers by bus were caused by sad events and had nothing to do with Irish Rail.
Typical and typically.
We apologize for the convenience caused, due to technical difficulties…
God , I remember that deadly statement at least twice a week a decade ago… I bet that did not change.
Why are we not allowed comment on the contraversal issues?
Car share to minimise emissions, at an air display, PC BS. All the Best.
I hope they have a stealth fighter jet
This seems to happen regularly over bank holiday weekends, nearly yearly, massive overtime for all involved, Do we have an emergency Bus network reserved for these occurrences, or are buses taken from regular routes, depriving, regular bus passenger’s of their services.
have your say