LOCAL IRISH MEMORIALS

Friends of poet, Tom Kettle, had a bust sculpted for display at St. Stephen's Green in Dublin. There were various delays, including objections from the Commissioners of Public Works to the words, "Killed in France." The inscription reads, "Tom Kettle, Irish patriot, died in Ginchy 1916."

Among the locations of Irish public memorials are Belfast, Virginia, Cork, Coleraine, Bangor, Drogheda, Enniskillen, Portlaoise, Limerick, Longford, Tullamore, Sligo , Cahir, Clogher and Bray.

A public memorial in Cahir, Co. Tipperary is a Celtic Cross, commemorating the war dead from, 'Cahir and the surrounding district.' Seventy six men are listed. Research into these men would give an interesting insight into the effects of the First World War on that part of the country.

Lansdowne Road rugby ground in Dublin has a war memorial to the Irish rugby players who died, but does not list their names. Most were killed serving with 'D' Company, 7th Battalion, Royal Dublin Fusiliers at Gallipoli.



Schools with impressive war memorials include Portora, Enniskillin, Co. Fermanagh and Bandon Grammar School, Co. Cork. Despite the large number of past pupils who served in the war, very few Catholic schools appear to have war memorials, except Clongowes Wood College, Co. Kildare where the chapel contains a number of commemorative brass tablets.



The memorial at Queens University, Belfast comprises a Winged Victory sustaining a stricken youth. Casualties from Trinity College, Dublin are commemorated by the Hall of Honour (1928) and the adjacent Reading Room (1937). Dr. Gerald Morgan of Trinity College, Dublin recently arranged for the names of college porters and gardeners who were killed in the war to be added to the college war memorial. Portraits of Engineering graduates killed in the War, line the stairway of the Museum building.

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