The Association has developed an extensive casualty database and is able to offer a research service providing information on all Irishmen who were killed during the First World War. An extensive archive is also available containing information on thousands of soldiers of the Ulster Division who served and survived the Great War.
Details available include:
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If killed, date and place of death can be provided and it may be possible to arrange a photograph of the individual grave or memorial. Background notes on Regiments and Battalions are also available.
Charge/Donation
To cover the time and work involved in researching each enquiry a minimum donation is requested of £15.00 per enquiry. The proceeds from this donation further the valuable work of the Association. Unfortunately it cannot be guaranteed that each research enquiry will be successful and refunds cannot be issued. If unsuccessful, each enquirer will be forwarded helpful addresses and information. each enquiry will be kept on file in case new sources emerge.
For specialist research or for multiple enquiries the Association should be contacted to provide quotation. Please note that this service remains free to 'Friends of the Somme'. Details of membership can be found by clicking on the 'Friends of the Somme' logo on the navigation bar at the left hand side of the page.
Background
During the summer of 1916, two volunteer divisions from Ireland saw action in the trenches of northern France for the first time. The engagement was the Battle of the Somme, a campaign destined to go down in history as one of the bloodiest battles ever fought.
The first was the 36th (Ulster) Division. Raised from the staunchly Protestant and Unionist Ulster volunteers in the north of Ireland, determined to maintain Ireland in the United Kingdom, this Division lost five and a half thousand men in the first tow days of July whilst capturing the supposedly impregnable Schwaben Redoubt at Thiepval.
In September, the 16th (Irish) division was alloted the task of capturing the heavily defended villages of Guillemont and Ginchy. The 16th men were Roman Catholics from throughout Ireland who had served with the Irish National Volunteers in an effort to secure independance from Britain. At the outbreak of the First World War thousands volunteere for the common struggle including six hundred men from the Falls Road area of West Belfast who enlisted in the famous Connaught Rangers. By the ninth day of September, four thousand were lost.
From 1917 onwards these two Divisions, comprised of Irishmen who three years earlier were preparing to fight each other, joined together to become one of the most famous fighting teams Ireland has ever produced.
Fifty thousand Irishmen died during the great War of 1914-1919. Thousands more of Irish descent in the old Empire countries and the United States of America served and fell in the titanic struggle. Throughout Ireland, North and South, barely a household remained unaffected.
The Somme Association
Seventy-five years later a charitable Company has become established under Royal Patronage to co-ordinate research into Ireland's part in the First World War and to provide a basis for the two communities in Northern Ireland to come together to learn of their common heritage.
Sponsored by the Community Relations Council, the "Association" employees carry out a thorough research programme comprising oral history interviews with veterans of the Great War, the assimilation of a computer archive of details of the Irish casualties of the War, and the recording of a wide range of literature, artefacts, and memorabilia relating to the war. The Association publishes a high quality journal and produces books and articles on the Irish Divisions. Tours to the battlefields are promoted, particularly for schools and youth groups and the Associaition employs a guide at the Ulster Memorial Tower in France who is responsible for co-ordinating the annual Somme Anniversary Commemorations.
The Association built and runs the Somme Heritage Centre at Newtownards, which is the base of operations.
Officers
Honorary President: |
Her Royal Highness Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester |
Vice-President: |
The Right Honourable the Viscount Brookeborough, D.L. |
Patrons: |
The Most Honourable the Marchioness of
Dufferin and Ava Thomas H. Savage, C.B.E. |
Chairman: |
Dr S.I.G. Adamson, M.B.E, M.B., B.Ch., B.A.O., D.C.H. |
| Secretary: | I.Vincent |
| Treasurer: | Colonel W.R.H. Charley, O.B.E., J.P., D.L. |
| General Manager: | W.C. Ervine |
| Office Administrator: | Mrs Carol Walker |
