Memorial for soldiers who fought in British army

HEADSTONES TO to commemorate 43 Irish men and women who fought in various wars and are buried in unmarked graves at Glasnevin Cemetery are to be erected next month.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission has paid for the headstones in accordance with its policy that everybody who fought for the British army in either of the two World Wars should receive a lasting memorial.

The Glasnevin Trust, which manages the cemetery, is appealing for the relatives of those involved to come to an unveiling ceremony on Remembrance Day, November 11th.

Each of the 41 men and two women fought but were not killed in the wars ranging from the Boer War to the second World War. All of them died as a result of illnesses or injury in the aftermath of war.

The Glasnevin Trust’s historian Shane MacThomais said the fact that these soldiers did not die in direct combat only added to the poignancy of their story. “It is terrible sad that so many of these people died after the war ended,” he said.

He has researched each of the histories of the soldiers involved using the UK’s National Archives in Kew, London.

Edward Bolger (36) fought in both the Boer War and the first World War. He was wounded in the head in Ypres, lost his left eye and ear and was paralysed in the hand. He was repatriated to Dublin but drowned in the river Liffey on Christmas Eve 1916.

William Coleman (45) was killed when he fell from a train in Rugby, England, returning home to bury a child who had died. A widower, he left two orphans who were not entitled to a military pension because their father had not died in combat.

The cause of death for Edward Heffernan (30), who died in January 1919, was given as exhaustion. He had his upper jaw and tongue shot off at the Battle of the Somme. “He died probably because there was no penicillin. His body just gave out,” said MacThomais. Others died of influenza, pneumonia, consumption and other illnesses.

The strangest death is that of 55-year-old Englishman Robert Glaister. He was stationed at Cobh, Co Cork, and was on shore leave in Dublin when he caught up in the Easter Rising. He was shot by an Irish-born British soldier at a checkpoint.

The soldier, John Whyte, was later court martialed and found guilty of manslaughter. He, too, is buried in Glasnevin.

The veterans were buried in the cemetery in “unpurchased graves”, some because they had no living relatives, others because their families could not afford to erect a headstone.

The project was started last year when the graves of four ex-servicemen were identified and headstones erected.

We will remember them: appeal for relatives to attend ceremony

Pte Robert Abbott (age n/a) Army Service Corps, died 1917, rheumatism

Pte Joseph Bannister (19) Royal Air Force, 1919, influenza

Pte Joseph Berry (28) Royal Dublin Fusiliers, 1919, influenza

Pte Edward Bolger (36) South Lancashire Regiment, 1916, drowned

Gnr John Burke (29) Royal Garrison Artillery, 1919, consumption

Cpl Edward Byrne (age n/a) Royal Dublin Fusiliers, 1918, influenza

Sgt Richard Byrne (40) Royal Irish Fusiliers, nephritis

Gnr Thomas Campbell (28) Royal Artillery,1947, tuberculosis

Pioneer Michael Carroll (45) Royal Engineers, 1919, pneumonia

Fireman James Carter (age n/a), Merchantile Marine Reserve, 1919, heart failure

Pte Kathleen Cartwright (age n/a) Auxiliary Territorial, 1943, heart failure

Sgt Patrick Casey (30) Royal Irish Fusiliers, 1919, consumption

Pioneer William Coleman (45) Royal Engineers, 1915, fell from train

Mrs Anne Connor Women’s RAF (36), 1919, influenza

Sgt Joseph Conroy (36), Royal Warwickshire Regiment, 1917, dropsy

Pte Alfred Coulahan (33) Labour Corps, 1919, heart disease

Aircraftman James Daly RAF Volunteer Reserve, 1946, tuberculosis

Gnr Christopher Dennis, Royal Garrison Artillery, 1917, bronchitis

Pte Richard Domican (28) Royal Army Medical Corps, 1915, pneumonia

Rifleman John Donovan (age n/a) Royal Irish Rifles, 1920, phthisis

Lance Cpl James Doran (33), Royal Dublin Fusiliers, 1918, heart failure

Pte Edward Doyle (27) Royal Dublin Fusiliers, 1918, haemorrhage

Pte William Doyle (34), Leinster Regiment, dropsy 1919

Gnr John Duggan (40), Royal Garrison Artillery, 1919, haemorrhage

Pte Patrick Duignan (21), Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, 1920, tuberculosis

Stoker Denis Dunne (43), Royal Naval Reserve, 1918, consumption

Sgt Patrick Dunne (19), Royal Dublin Fusiliers, 1916, meningitis

Pte Michael Dunne (56) Royal Sussex Regiment, 1944, tuberculosis

Pte John Ellis (30), Royal Dublin Fusiliers, 1914, pneumonia

Rifleman Michael Ennis (age n/a) Royal Irish Rifles, 1916, haemoptysis

Pte Christopher Farrell, (age n/a) Northumberland Fusiliers, 1918, influenza

Lance Cpl Patrick Farrell (31), Connaught Rangers, 1915, wounded in France

Lance Cpl Patrick Flanagan (23), Royal Dublin Fusiliers, 1918, lung disease

Pte Henry Flynn (35) South Lancashire Regiment, 1914, septic poisoning after leg amputation

Robert Glaister (55), Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, 1916, shot in Amiens Street

Pte Michael Gunning (35), Royal Irish Regiment, 1918, consumption

Gnr Michael Hayes (36), Royal Garrison Artillery, 1918, decline

Pte Edward Heffernan (30), Royal Irish Regiment, 1919, exhaustion

Cpl Joseph Holmes (age n/a) Royal Army Service Corps, 1919, heart failure

Pte James Hutton (26), Leinster Regiment, 1917, phthsis

Lance Cpl Richard Hyland (age n/a), Royal Defence Corps, 1918, pneumonia ricketts

Pte Michael Johnston (age n/a), Royal Irish Fusiliers, 1918, consumption

Pte John Kearns (27), Royal Army Veterinary Corps), 1919, tuberculosis