The wars included are all conflicts for which there is a memorial in the Republic of Ireland to persons who served. These include memorials to the Risings of 1798 and 1803, the French and Napoleonic Wars, the Crimean War, the colonial wars in Africa, India, New Zealand and Burma, the Boer Wars, the First World War, the Easter Rising, the War of Independence, the Civil War, the Palestinian Revolt, the Second World War, the Korean War, and actions on United Nations service in which Irish troops have died. Other wars will be added as memorials are recorded.

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All memorials commemorating those who died as a result of conflict are included, whether the death was in action, as a result of wounds or disease, or as a result of an accident.

Memorials include plaques, free-standing monuments such as crosses, obelisks or statues, and also paper records where these are framed and on display. Some memorials include lists of names, often with much information concerning the persons named, but some refer to groups without individual names.

Graves are not included in this inventory, nor are memorials to military persons who did not die as a result of war.

The aim of the present survey is to record an inventory of memorials in the Republic of Ireland. Memorials in Northern Ireland are to be included in an inventory being conducted by the Imperial War Museum in London (see "Useful links" page) but if the opportunity arises, or if information is contributed, memorials in Northern Ireland will be added to this site.

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In general, only what is actually written on the memorial is recorded here. This includes the full text of the inscription, including all the names listed. The regiment or unit to which the person belonged (if recorded on the memorial or if known from an entry in a book) is added in abbreviated form, to allow a search for all members of, say, a particular regiment. Details of the site of the memorial are provided, and photographs of it, together with a typed transcription of the entire inscription. These are in Adobe Acrobat .pdf format, as not all of the fonts used will be on every computer. Some of the inscriptions are in Irish, and translations into English are provided.

The database includes the following information:

1. The name of the person, as given on the memorial itself.
   
2. Which conflict was involved.
   
3. The regiment or service in which the person served, in abbreviated form. This information comes either from the memorial, or from an entry in a book concerning the person. It is not available in many cases. To understand the abbreviation, see the "Regiments" page.
   
4. Where the memorial is. The addresses of the sites (mainly churches) are provided, and map references to locate them exactly. The "Places" page allows a search by county or town. If anyone wishes for further information in order to visit a site, this will be provided on request.
   
5. All the information given on the memorial, such as rank, regiment, place of death, etc. This may be summarised, if the inscription is very long. Some memorials give a lot of information; some give only the name. If someone survived the conflict, this is stated. Otherwise, it can be assumed that the person died.
   
6. Some of those commemorated are mentioned in books. If this is stated, the "Books" page gives some detail about the book concerned. The information in this database is not complete. As explained in the "Books" page, many persons are probably mentioned in books which are not included here. Also, some inscriptions on memorials do not give enough information to identify the persons strongly enough for a connection with a book to be made.

Persons. The names of all those commemorated are to be found in the "Persons" database, which can be searched for individual names.

Regiments. The abbreviations used in the database are shown on the "Regiments, etc." list. The list can be sorted by regiment or by abbreviation. The list of persons can then be sorted by abbreviation to find all members of a particular regiment or service.

In many instances, a person is shown as having been in more than one regiment or service (e,g, RFA RFC). In this case, alphabetic sorting will be by the first-named regiment. A search using Control-F will be necessary to find any extra members of a regiment or service.

If a regiment or service does not appear on this list, it means that no member has yet been found on the memorials surveyed to date.

Books. Many of the persons named are mentioned in books. Those which give biographical detail, some with photographs, are listed on the information document which accompanies each memorial.

The books referred to are mainly published lists of casualties and rolls of honour, or histories of civilian institutions such as schools or companies which list those who served.

Addresses. The addresses of the sites of the memorials are given, and the map references. This information is also given on the "Text of the memorial" document which accompanies every memorial.

Photographs. To see a photograph of a site or a memorial, click on the thumbnail which first appears. When you click on the link "See larger image", another version of the photograph will appear in a new window. Enlarge this window to full screen to see the image enlarged. In some cases it can be made even larger by moving the cursor to the lower right corner of the image, and clicking on the icon which appears there.

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If you have visited this site before, go to the "Places" page and sort by "Date added" in descending order. The places most recently recorded will then be at the top of the list. Also see the "Website news" page for any other new information.

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To search for a person, if looking for a single person, go to the relevant section of the alphabet and search with Control-F. Alternatively, sort by name in alphabetical order, and then scroll to the relevant name. Note that one sorting arranges the entire database, so that it is not necessary to sort again if you go to another three-letter section of the database. For each person, there is a link to the memorial, where the text of the inscription can be read, and photographs of the memorial can be seen.

Note that many persons are commemorated in more than one place, so continue the search after finding someone you are looking for.

To search for members of a particular regiment or service, first go to the "Regiments, etc." page, to see if anyone from that particular regiment or service is commemorated on the memorials surveyed so far. Note the abbreviation, which will be used in the "Persons database". Then go to the "Persons" database and sort by regiment. This will sort the entire database, but it will be necessary to search each alphabetical section of the "Persons" database to find members of the regiment or service in which you are interested. Note the problem with persons who were in more than one regiment, described under "What information is given here", above.

To search for a particular place or monument, go to the "Places" page. The list can be sorted by county or date added. Follow the link to see the memorial and the text of the inscription. This page can also be used to see what has been added since you last visited, by sorting by "Date added".

To see all memorials to a particular war, go to the "Wars" page. Click on the war of interest, and you will see a list of all the memorials to that war or conflict. Since many memorials commemorate several wars, these memorials will appear when each of those wars is selected.

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Feel free to copy anything on this site, including the photographs. If they are to be used in any publication, acknowledgement would be appreciated.

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On the "Useful links" page there are some web-sites where further information may be found. Foremost among these is the site of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, which has details of the grave, or memorial on the battlefield, of almost all of those in the British and Empire/Commonwealth forces who died in the two world wars. The list of web-sites is certainly not complete. There are many other web-sites concerning regiments, services, and military history which may be helpful in providing more information.

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If you can add a record of a memorial to the inventory, please do so. Click on "How to contribute" in the menu at the top of the page to find information about this.

All contributions which are suitable will be added to the website, and the senders will be acknowledged. All of the data collected is to be passed on to the National Museum for permanent preservation.

If there are any queries, please send an e-mail through the "Feedback" page.

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Up to September, 2004, all of the sites were recorded by Michael Pegum, who lives in Dublin. His grandfather was killed in Flanders in 1916 and is buried there. A cousin of his, from Glin, Co. Limerick, was killed in the Battle of Polygon Wood in 1917, and his name is on the wall at Tyne Cot.

Visiting the battlefields led to an interest in memorials in Ireland to those who had died in wars. It soon became clear that they carried a great deal of material, of interest to family historians, which was inaccessible. It was to record these names, and make them available to anyone, anywhere, that this work has been undertaken.

Others are now adding records to the inventory, and more contributors will be welcomed (see 'How can I contribute?', above).

Other contributors

Brendan Hayden
Tadhg Moloney
Maria Murphy
John Pegum
Warren Lawless

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