The National University of Ireland First World War Centenary Roll of Honour and Essays

Ronan McGreevy & Emer Purcell

At the beginning of the First World War, many Irish men were enticed to enlist by the promise of home rule, while others may have joined up to secure a decent living; however, by 1918 and the end of the war, the political landscape in Ireland had changed radically and those who had served in the British army found themselves relegated to the shadows of a war that was rarely discussed. In 1919, the National University of Ireland compiled a war list of all students, graduates, and staff of University College Cork, University College Dublin, and University College Galway, who had died or served in the Great War. As part of the NUI’s Decade of Centenary programme, the original Honour Roll is reprinted here along with a collection of explanatory essays. A substantive introduction accompanied by a selection of individual personal profiles brings the men recorded in the roll to life. In addition to the NUI’s list, the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland’s Honour Roll is also reproduced along with an essay on NUI doctors who served during the war. For the first time, a list of the chaplains from St Patrick’s College Maynooth is presented and their lives examined. NUI’s women students, graduates, and staff and the ways in which they contributed to the war effort is also explored. Until recent decades, the history of Irish men and women who served in the First World War was often neglected, especially in the first years of the fledgling Irish state. In 1919, the NUI Honour Roll preserved the names of these men; over one hundred years later, this book shines a light on the men and women who gave their lives or made a huge personal sacrifice during the First World War.

Associate Editor: Tom Burnell

Contributors: Patrick Casey, Kevin Cullen, Joe Duignan, Barbara McCormack, Ronan McGreevy, Fionnuala Walsh.