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
Mayor’s Foreword
Gabhann an leabhrán seo le taispeántas a chíorann
tionchar an Chéad Chogadh Domhanda ar cheantar an
Iúir agus Mhúrn.
This booklet accompanies an exhibition which looks
at the impact of the First World War on the Newry and
Mourne area.
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.
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.
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
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 1st Battle
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
Réamhrá an Mhéara
Gabhann an leabhrán seo le taispeántas earraí agus
cáipéisí a léiríonn úinéireacht talaimh in iardheisceart
an Dúin. Déanann an taispeántas iniúchadh ar an
bhorradh a tháinig ar an Phointe, Ros Treabhair,
Droichead Mhaigh Eo agus a leithéid de lonnaíochtaí
agus baintear úsáid as seanléarscáileanna agus
doiciméid mhaoine le stair na mbailte fearann a
thabhairt chun solais, Baile Uí Thuathaláin agus
Fionnúir san áireamh.
Tagann an chuid is mó de bhunábhar an taispeántais
ó Chnuasach Reside, bailiúchán ollmhór d’fhoinsí
cartlainne a bhaineann le stair dheisceart an Dúin a
bronnadh ar Iarsmalann an Iúir agus Mhúrn sa bhliain
2002. Tugann an chartlann le fios saol oibre agus spéis
i stair na háite a léirigh an Mhaor G.W. Reside, ailtire
ar an Iúr agus a bhean chéile Margaret Reside (née
Fisher), nach maireann, aturnae sa cheantar seo.
Tugann an taispeántas léargas dúinn ar shaibhreas an
ábhair atá sa Chnuasach; déanann an dá alt sa leabhrán
cur síos ar ghnéithe áirithe dá luach mar acmhainn
thaighde ar stair áitiúil agus theaghlach.
Private John Beattie
John Beattie (right) is listed on Newry’s Roll of Honour. From Carnagat,
Ba
mo Spinning
bhuíochas
a ghabháil
lethe
gach
Johnmhaith
worked inliom
Bessbrook
Mill. After
enlisting in
Royalduine
Irish
Fusiliers,
he was sent sa
to Salonica
where he
sustained
a fractured
spine
a bhí páirteach
taispeántas
seo,
rud atá
lárnach
caused by shrapnel and was admitted to hospital on 10th October 1916.
d’aidhm
na hiarsmalainne:
a cuid
chur ar
He
was brought
back to Ireland and died
in thebailiúchán
King George VaHospital,
Dublin,
27th January
1918.
fáil doonphobal
an cheantair
agus do chuairteoirí.
Courtesy of Martin Grant
An Comhairleoir Michael Ruane
Méara Chomhairle an Iúir agus Mhúrn
Mayor’s Foreword
serve the ‘colours’. The Town Clerk, W.M. Cronin,
was tasked with compiling the information. This
was
over the following
weekswhich
with the
Thiscarried
bookletout
accompanies
an exhibition
looks
assistance
of
the
Royal
Irish
Constabulary,
whose
at landownership in south-west Down through
recent
experience
as census
enumerators
must
documents
and artefacts.
The
development
of have
proven
invaluable
in
overcoming
the
logistical
Warrenpoint and Rostrevor is examined in the hurdles.
The
information
been collated,
rank,
exhibition,
while having
other settlements
suchthe
asname,
Mayobridge
regiment
and address
of the
866 men and
woman
and townlands
including
Ballyholland
andone
Finnard
are
serving
were
set
out
alphabetically
in
an
illuminated
explored through early property maps and documents.
scroll, with space left to add the names of those yet
to
Theenlist.
bulk of material on display comes from The Reside
Collection, a large collection
of archival material
April
1915,
a public
On
the evening
of 28thof
relating
to the history
south
Down
which was
demonstration
was
held
in
a
Town
Hall
‘toThe
donated to Newry and Mourne Museumpacked
in 2002.
suffocation’
. In attendance
of theinmen
archive
reflects
the workingwere
livesrelatives
and interest
local
named
on
the
list,
soldiers
home
on
leave,
Boy Scouts,
history of the late Major G.W. Reside, an architect
in
Belgian
refugees
–
Fr.
Timmerman
included,
members
Newry, and his late wife Margaret Reside (neé Fisher),
the local
clergy both Roman Catholic and Protestant
aoflocal
solicitor.
and leading citizens of Newry. The Council Chairman
Hugh
John McConville
was
the Roll of
The
exhibition
showcases
thepresented
wealth ofwith
material
Honour.
The
evening
included
rousing
speeches
contained in the Collection, while the two articlesand
in
patriotic
music
by local
bands
town.
this
booklet
amplify
aspects
of of
itsthe
value
for Newspaper
local and
accounts
of theresearch.
evening laud Newry as having the
family
history
highest recruitment rate per capita of population
Ireland.
Iinwould
like to thank everyone involved in this
exhibition which forms an important part of the
The information
the its
Roll
of Honour
serves asto the
Museum’s
aim to on
make
collections
accessible
a valuable
startingand
point
in building a picture of
local
community
visitors.
how Newry reacted to the challenge of war. Read
in conjunction
with Ruane
the census records and the
Councillor
Michael
information
to
be
gleaned
the local
press, which
Mayor, Newry and Mournefrom
District
Council
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
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
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
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.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Embroidered postcards
Courtesy of William McAlpine
8
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Newry and Mourne Museum Collection
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.
Courtesy of Brenda McShane
This programme is funded by the European Union’s PEACE III Programme and managed by the Special EU Programmes Body
Design: G. Watters