Tracing First World War ancestors

British Army Service Records Most researchers tracing an Irish First World War ancestor will start with the Army Service Records, the largest of all the British services. Their poor survival […]

From imperial rebels to pledged defenders of the realm

In the spring of 1914, Ulster’s political antagonisms reached fever pitch. The British government sent military reinforcements to guard key installations in the north of Ireland, while Royal Navy gunboats […]

‘Why not join the Royal North Downs?’

On 9 August the Newtownards Chronicle posed this question to the young men of the district. The newspaper was referring to the reserve battalion of the Royal Irish Rifles, the […]

Women and war in Ireland, 1914–18

Irish women were well placed to adapt quickly and efficiently to the challenges initiated by Britain’s declaration of war against Germany in August 1914. The country’s existing network of philanthropic […]

From Mons to Ypres: Irish battalions in the BEF, 1914

Eight infantry regiments of the British Army recruited in Ireland, each of which maintained a peacetime complement of two ‘active’ battalions and at least one battalion of reservists. The exception […]