As mentioned in ‘Would not start from here’, the War Diary appears to have been written in an exercise book. Compiling it was the job of one of the officers. The handwriting is reasonably legible. To help the reader, place names are generally written in capitals. I thought that tracking the journey of the 2nd…
All posts in Military
Would not start from here
When the Great War started, Patrick, from Roscommon, was living in England. He was in Dewsbury, Yorkshire. As a reservist, he could live where he liked. Most of his close relatives were in Dewsbury, so that is where he went after completing his eight years of service in the Army in October 1910. His Battalion…
Irish soldiers
At the Battle of Waterloo, in 1815, estimates of the numbers of Irish born soldiers in the British Army vary from a third to a half. There were many exclusively Irish regiments. As stated in ‘Advantages of birth’, a life in the military offered certain attractions to the poor. (Regular food and clothing being the…
Advantages of birth
The term ‘advantages of birth’ normally refers to those who were born into wealthy families. People who had decent clothes and good shoes. People who always had enough to eat. People with secure jobs, or those who did not need to work. People who lived in warm, dry houses, and slept in comfortable beds. People…
Always a Private
Promotion can come quickly in times of war. Opportunities abound to show leadership qualities. There are many cases of men rising from Private to Lieutenant and beyond. Reaching the level of Major was possible. As previous articles have shown, the level of attrition of both officers and other ranks was high. As recorded in “Ancre”,…
Why as well as what
One of the characters in Alan Bennett’s play ‘The History Boys’ expresses the sentiment that history is just one thing after another. (I am not repeating the exact quote. It is easily accessible on line!) And, at one level, so it is. I have tried to convey in these blogs that history has a profound…
Guardian angel
In ‘Wilfred Owen & Patrick Stanley’ I referred to the fact that Patrick’s guardian angel worked a long and very busy shift. I have been examining the records of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (https://www.cwgc.org/ ) to see just how busy. CWGC records the names of 14,811 men who died in the Great War whilst…
Third Ypres
Some historians call it the Battle of Passchendaele. Some call it the Third Battle of Ypres. The fact that three battles were fought in the same area is significant. It serves to emphasise the static nature of much of the Great War. Patrick fought in the Second Battle of Ypres, in 1915 (covered in ‘After…
Following in the footsteps
I visited Roscommon in 2014. I wanted to see for myself the places that my grandfather Patrick would have called home. I wanted to stand where he had stood. I wanted to walk where he had walked. The photos that I took on that trip have featured in these articles at regular intervals. In 2018…
Bogs in Belgium
According to my Ordnance Survey Ireland map, Clooneenbaun in County Roscommon (where members of my family lived until 1908) sits on the 70 metre contour line. Lough Creevin, I km to the north, is 64 metres above sea level. Lough Slye, just south of the N61 is at 57 metres. As explained, and illustrated, in…