ECONOMIC & SOCIAL STATUS

Many returning veterans found that they were distrusted by their fellow countrymen because they had served in the British army.

Many men were invalided and of those fit for work (physically at any rate), some did return to their old jobs which had been 'kept' for them. Of the 645 Guinness employees who joined up (72 were Royal Dublin Fusiliers), 370 did return to take up their jobs. The army had a scheme whereby ex-servicemen could continue their education. Within a year of the war ending however, 35,000 ex-servicemen in Ireland were receiving an unemployment payment. Some enlisted in the Irish Army, but over 20,000 Irishmen re-enlisted in the British army, whose proportion of Irish-born soldiers in 1921 was as high as in 1913, notwithstanding the War of Independence.

Poor housing, high unemployment and some discrimination in State jobs led to the formation of various Old Comrades Associations to try to relieve the plight of many veterans. A Royal Dublin Fusiliers Old Comrades Association was formed in the late 1920s. Thousands of veterans found that they were 'surplus to requirements' and, either unable to find work, or no longer accepted by their community, they emigrated in the hope of a better life abroad.


<<prev  |