The starting point of this project was to collect names from all published and online sources available. A team of library staff worked with Jimmy Taylor, military historian, to research and verify the Wexford casualties. We are indebted to the many research hours put into this project by Jimmy Taylor, author of 'The 1st and 2nd Royal Irish Rifles in the Great War'.
The team consulted with other local and national historians in the development of the website. Dr. Joseph Quinn, PhD, military historian, provided expert assistance to the development of the project.
Historian Tom Burnell provided advice and permission to extract the Wexford names from his recently published 15 volume series, 26 County Casualties of the Great War. This comprehensive publication was invaluable to the work of the project team. We also thank Jim Herlihy, Patrick Hugh Lynch and Hugh McShane for providing County Wexford names from their research.
Records Used
Ireland’s Memorial Records 1914-1918, published in eight volumes in 1923, was a contemporary record created to preserve and commemorate the memory of the thousands of Irishmen who died during the war. It was compiled by the Committee of the Irish National War Memorial under the direction of the Earl of Ypres., and recorded that 18,946 died from the twenty-six counties of Ireland.
However over the years, with the release of other records online, historians realised that while Ireland’s Memorial Records was valuable, it was not complete. It did not record US, Royal Air Force, Canadian and other Commonwealth casualties nor Mercantile Marine casualties.
We now also have access to
- http://www.findmypast.ie - Ireland’s Memorial Records 1914-1918
- http://www.cwgc.org - Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
- http://www.ancestry.co.uk - UK Royal Navy War Graves (Results for Wexford)
- http://www.ancestry.co.uk - Soldiers Died in the Great War 1914-1919 (Results for Wexford)
- http://www.ancestry.co.uk - De Ruvigny's Roll of Honour, 1914-1919 (Results for Wexford)
- http://soldierswills.nationalarchives.ie - National Archives Soldiers' Wills website.
- http://ourheroes.southdublinlibraries.ie - Irish officer class of the British Army, alongside the privates and NCOs listed among them who distinguished themselves in the field or were killed in action.
- http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie
- http://www.irishgenealogy.ie
These latter two sites were invaluable as they enabled us to verify place of birth and age in many instances.
Presbyterian Church Roll of Honour published in 1921 transcribed by Edward Connolly and used with permission of the transcribers.
Hardcopy Sources used:
- Burnell, Tom. 26 County Casualties of the Great War, Ireland, Create Space Independent Publishing Platform, 2017.
- Kenny, Brian & Mary. News from the front, Gorey and the Great War. Wexford, 2014.
- Seery, Seamus & Seery. Joseph. World War I. Journal of the Taghmon History Society. No. 3. (1999).
- Taylor, James W. The 1st Royal Irish Rifles in the Great War. Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2002.
- Taylor, James W. The 2nd Royal Irish Rifles in the Great War. Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2005.
- Fitzpatrick, David. Ed. Ireland and the First World War. Lilliput Press and Trinity History Workshop, 1988.
Local Historical Societies and historians were consulted.