Continuing its contribution to the Decade of Commemorations, the Representative Church Body Library, Dublin, has digitized an unusual collection of letters written by ten soldiers serving at the Western Front at Christmas 1917, who were also parishioners of the Church of Ireland parish of Dundela in east Belfast, as its December Archive of the Month. While other letters that were written from the Front are found in other repositories and in private custody, the survival of a collection in a parish context is rare.
Kenny McKeague, grandson of William James Milliken met with Dr Susan Hood in Belfast, October 2015
November 2015: Letters from the Western Front
To read more about this unusual archive:-
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Beneath a Turkish SkyThe Royal Dublin Fusiliers and the Assault on Gallipoli
By Philip LecaneIt was the First World War’s largest seaborne invasion and the Irish were at the forefront. Recruited in Ireland, the Royal Dublin Fusiliers were ordered to spearhead the invasion of Gallipoli in Turkey. Deadlocked in trench warfare on the Western Front, the British High Command hoped the assault would Germany’s ally out of the war. Using letters and photographs, this book tells the story of the ‘Dubs’ officers and men called from an idyllic posting in India to be billeted on the civilian population in England. They then set off on what was presented as a great adventure to win glory and capture Constantinople. The book also gives the story of the Turkish defenders and the locality being invaded. Accompanied by the Royal Munster Fusiliers, packed aboard the SS River Clyde, the ‘Dubs’ landed from ships boats on the fiercely defended beach at Sedd-el-Bahr. The song The Foggy Dew says, “It were better to die beneath an Irish sky than at Suvla or Sedd-el-Bahr.” This book tells the story of the forgotten Irishmen who died beneath a Turkish sky in what was Ireland’s D-Day.
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Beneath a Turkish SkyThe Royal Dublin Fusiliers and the Assault on Gallipoli
By Philip LecaneIt was the First World War’s largest seaborne invasion and the Irish were at the forefront. Recruited in Ireland, the Royal Dublin Fusiliers were ordered to spearhead the invasion of Gallipoli in Turkey. Deadlocked in trench warfare on the Western Front, the British High Command hoped the assault would Germany’s ally out of the war. Using letters and photographs, this book tells the story of the ‘Dubs’ officers and men called from an idyllic posting in India to be billeted on the civilian population in England. They then set off on what was presented as a great adventure to win glory and capture Constantinople. The book also gives the story of the Turkish defenders and the locality being invaded. Accompanied by the Royal Munster Fusiliers, packed aboard the SS River Clyde, the ‘Dubs’ landed from ships boats on the fiercely defended beach at Sedd-el-Bahr. The song The Foggy Dew says, “It were better to die beneath an Irish sky than at Suvla or Sedd-el-Bahr.” This book tells the story of the forgotten Irishmen who died beneath a Turkish sky in what was Ireland’s D-Day.
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Hi-resolution browsable maps for all 32 counties from Lewis Topographical Dictionary of Ireland 1837.