Below is a recent post by a person who uses the name John Granville on the Listowel forum.
There might be people reading this who have an interest in these things. We, in NKRO,
would love to find someone interested in doing this research and we would post it
on our soon- to -be- revealed website .
I watched some of the ‘Nationwide’ programme on Mon. night about the
number of Irish people who died in World War I. As the camera panned
down the list of names I spotted that of John Barry of Listowel who was
killed in action in France on March 17th. 1917.
Curious to know a little
more, I did a little research.
Anthony Gaughan hasn’t much to say about the period in his book except that hundreds from the area joined the British Army and died in the Boer War and in World War I, especially at Gallipoli. He doesn’t mention any names. (p.152, Listowel and its Vicinity)
I didn’t find any more information about John Barry but I discovered that Kerry County Library archives has a list of Kerry related fatalities from WWI, 674 in all, listed alphabetically.
Some of the entries have linked photographs of the deceased, a piece of official documentation or, sadly, a letter from a mother or relative to the authorities requesting information about a missing loved one.
The following is a typical entry:
STACK, EDWARD PAUL.
Rank: Lance Corporal. Regiment or Service: Royal Irish Rifles. Unit: 2nd Battalion.
Age at death: 20. Date of Death: 26-October-1914. Service No: 9950.
Supplementary information: Son of John and Ellen Stack, of Church St., Listowel, Co. Kerry. Born in Listowel, County Kerry. Enlisted in Cork.
Killed in Action. Grave or Memorial Reference: Panel 42 and 43.
He has no known grave but is listed on the Le Touret Memorial in France.
There are many more from Listowel. Like the above, many died very young and have no known grave. It would be interesting to know how
many from Listowel, urban and rural, lost their lives in that awful conflict
and also, of course, those who fought and survived