Forgotten soldiers: the Irishmen shot at dawn Stephen Walker (Gill and Macmillan, e24.99) ISBN 9780717141821 Shortly after the outbreak of the Great War in August 1914, James Crozier, a young shipyard apprentice from the Shankill district of Belfast, presented himself at his local recruiting office to volunteer for overseas service with the Irish Rifles. Crozier … Read more
Sir, —I read with great interest the article by Alice McDermott and Mark Power on the 10th (Irish) Division in Salonica in 1915–17 (HI 14.6, Nov./Dec. 2006), and it is good to see recognition of Irish participation on this forgotten front of World War I. However, I do take issue with their assertion of an … Read more
The most dangerous man in Britain’ or a paranoid crank? ‘The greatest fighter of the Scottish working class’ or a middle-class intellectual out of touch with working-class opinion? A Marxist ‘first, last, and always’ or a Communist Party heretic? A Scottish patriot on a par with William ‘Braveheart’ Wallace or a minor footnote to history? … Read more
And the Red Poppies Dance RTÉ1 11 November 2008 by John Gibney According to the late Frank Harte, the winners write the history and the losers write the songs. In the vexing case of Ireland’s relationship with the First World War this has a particular resonance. The broadly republican ethos of independent Ireland, rooted as … Read more
The story of Florence Lea (right), who wore this ‘On War Service’ badge (above right), is typical of the experiences of female munitions workers in Ireland during World War I. Their story is represented in the ‘Soldiers and Chiefs’ exhibition at the National Museum of Ireland by the 18-pounder shells they made, the photos of … Read more