Name of soldier : Salvator Gavillet Name of descendent : Maria Smith Like many, Salvator Gavillet enlisted for the Great War in the belief that he was boosting the case for Irish independence and Home Rule. However, when he came home, the atmosphere had changed and a much more separatist movement led by Irish RepublicansContinue reading “Salvator Gavillet – Home Ruler who fought at the Somme but felt forgotten by Ireland”
Tag Archives: WW1
Thomas Morgan – A wartime horse handler from Mountjoy Square
Pictured above : Mary Morgan wearing the World War One medals of her son, Thomas. Elsewhere in this section, Breda Gaynor describes tracking down the grave of her relative, Thomas Masterson, an Irish born US soldier buried in Belgium. Such is the close connection of north Dublin and the Great War, that Breda also hadContinue reading “Thomas Morgan – A wartime horse handler from Mountjoy Square”
John Walker – With the Tyneside Irish at the Somme
Name of relative : John Walker Your own name : Helen Dje John Walker’s story is a good illustration of the struggles and opportunities of working class life in Ireland and England in the late 19th century. From Kilkenny, John moved to Durham in England where he enlisted with the Tyneside Irish Battalion and foughtContinue reading “John Walker – With the Tyneside Irish at the Somme”
John Masterson – Longford born US soldier and how his Flanders grave was found
This is the story of a Dublin woman in search of the grave of her granduncle who died in Belgium in 1918, and who was unaware that an author in Belgium was trying to find relatives of the same man. The author Patrick Lernout was compiling a book about the Flanders Field American Cemetery inContinue reading “John Masterson – Longford born US soldier and how his Flanders grave was found”
The Lion and the Shamrock 