Welcome to Wexford Great War Dead

During the Great War, 1914 – 1918, a large number of men from Co. Wexford fought and died in the conflict which has been described as  'the war to end all wars'. This conflict resulted in a catastrophic loss of life and had dire and lasting consequences for generations across Europe.

In Wexford, the local newspapers of the period are full of the obituaries of those men and women, military and civilian, who died as a result of the war.

Until recently, it was believed that just over 500 men from Co. Wexford, who had enlisted in the British military, died fighting in the land war on the Western Front, Middle East and at Gallipoli. Research now shows this number drastically understates the loss of life for County Wexford.

Due to advances in digital archiving and on-line research tools, we now have access to Naval Service, Royal Flying Corp and Mercantile Marine records, as well as digitised birth, marriage and death records for the period. These advances in technology and research methods allow us to develop a fuller picture of the devastation caused to families and communities in County Wexford by The Great War.

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Where have all the young men gone?


When we scan the Census forms
In twenty twenty one and wonder,
Where have all the young men gone?
Then we remember.  Ypres, Mons,
And the Somme.

They went to war a hundred years ago
Brothers, Fathers, and Uncles, we never grew to know.
Where have all the young men gone?
They lay at rest in Ypres, Mons,
And the Somme

The Volunteers answered Redmond's call,
When Britain's back, was against the  wall.
Never returned to where they came from
Now at peace in Ypres, Mons,
And the Somme.

Today crowds who stand and silently wait, for the
Last post and reveille, at the Mennin Gate.
Read men’s names and the regiments they came from
Who lie in graves, unmarked, at Ypres, Mons
And the Somme.

That mournful sound as buglers play.
The Last Post in Mennin at the end of day.
Their memory in towns and villages will live on.
As they rest quietly now, In Gallipolli, Ypres, Mons,
And the Somme.

To commemorate the hundredth anniversary of the end of The Great War  1914--1918. In Memory of. Pte Thomas Byrne. 1900. 6th Bn. Royal Irish Regt. Killed in Action at Passchendale, Ypres. 5th August 1917.
Tom O'Byrne, (Nephew) August 2018.

Born on January 21st

Cheevers, Patrick

Date of Birth
Address
Campile, Co. Wexford.
Service No.
14122
Rank
Sergeant
Regiment
Kings Liverpool Regiment
13th Battalion
Date of Death
Circumstances of Death
Killed in Action France and Flanders
Other Biographical Details

Son of James and Catherine Cheevers nee Hanlon of Horeswood, Campile, Wexford.

Murphy, Thomas

Date of Birth
Service No.
2634.B.
Rank
Seaman
Regiment
Royal Naval Reserve
SS Florizel
Date of Death
Circumstances of Death
Killed by a huge explosion at Halifax, Nova Scotia
Other Biographical Details
Mother: Ellen, William Street, Wexford, the son of George and Ellen Murphy née Neville. His father was a fisherman. The 1901 Census shows the family at 38 William Street, Wexford. Thomas was then an apprentice.

Sample Records

Moore, William

Date of Birth
Address
Bagenalstown, Co Carlow.
Service No.
10534
Rank
Private
Regiment
Royal Irish Regiment
1st Battalion
Date of Death
Circumstances of Death
Killed in Action Salonika
Other Biographical Details

Son of Laurence and Anastasia Moore nee Fowler.

Sherwood, Richard Atwell

Date of Birth
Address
7 Parnell Street, Wexford.
Service No.
9220 (7220 Pension Record)
Rank
Sergeant
Regiment
Royal Irish Regiment
2nd Battalion
Date of Death
Circumstances of Death
Killed in Action France and Flanders
Other Biographical Details

Son of John and Esther Victoria Sarah Sherwood née Atwell, ex-R.I.C. Sergeant, 7 Parnell Street, Wexford. Brother of John above. Buried Bailleul Communal Cemetery (Nord) in France.

Barton, Charles Erskine

Date of Birth
Alias
Ernie
Address
Ruane, New Ross
Rank
Captain
Regiment
Royal Irish Rifles
4th Battalion
Date of Death
Circumstances of Death
Died from gas poisoning at a military hospital in France. Buried at Pas de Calais.
Other Biographical Details

Son of C.W.Barton, D.L. of Glendalough House, Annamoe, Co. Wicklow. Husband of Norah Deane Barton, 4 Mount Pleasant Villas, Bray, Co. Wicklow. Brother of IRA officer, Sinn Fein member and Anglo-Irish Treaty signatory, Robert Barton, who also was an officer in Royal Irish Rifles. Son of Charles William Barton and Agnes Alexandra Frances (née Childers). He was raised at Glendalough House with his Childers cousins, including the famed Irish Nationalist Robert Erskine Childers. In 1903 Ernie married Norah Grace Greene of Bank House in County Wicklow, making their home in Oldcourt, Wexford. While Ernie was leading his men in the trench warfare in France, his mother Agnes passed away. It's unknown if the news ever reached Ernie. Just two weeks later, he was killed in a German gas attack while entrenched on French soil. Captain Charles Erskine Barton, Royal Irish Rifles, is buried with his fellow soldiers, both Irish and English, at the Terlincthun British Military Cemetery in France. His younger brother Thomas is also buried on French soil with Irish soldiers and English soldiers in a British military cemetery.

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