Complete with photographs of headstones and service information on each soldier, this thorough database of 43 separate burial sites from county Tipperary will be of great interest to anyone studying the genealogy of families with military links.
Tipperary Casualties Of The Great War
The total number of military and civilian casualties in World War I was about 40 million: estimates range from around 15 to 22 million deaths[1] and about 23 million wounded military personnel, ranking it among the deadliest conflicts in human history.
The total number of deaths includes from 9 to 11 million military personnel. The civilian death toll was about 6 to 13 million.[1][2] The Triple Entente (also known as the Allies) lost about 6 million military personnel while the Central Powers lost about 4 million. At least 2 million died from diseases and 6 million went missing, presumed dead. This article lists the casualties of the belligerent powers based on official published sources.
Casualty statistics for World War I vary to a great extent; estimates of total deaths range from 9 million to over 15 million.[3] Military casualties reported in official sources list deaths due to all causes, including an estimated 7 to 8 million combat related deaths (killed or died of wounds) and another two to three million military deaths caused by accidents, disease and deaths while prisoners of war. Official government reports listing casualty statistics were published by the United States and Great Britain.[4][5] These secondary sources published during the 1920s, are the source of the statistics in reference works listing casualties in World War I.[6][7][8][9][10] This article summarizes the casualty statistics published in the official government reports of the United States and Great Britain as well as France, Italy, Belgium, Germany, Austria and Russia. More recently the research of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) has revised the military casualty statistics of the UK and its allies; they include in their listing of military war dead personnel outside of combat theaters and civilians recruited from Africa, the Middle East and China who provided logistical and service support in combat theaters.[11][12][13][14][15] The casualties of these support personnel recruited outside of Europe were previously not included with British war dead, however the casualties of the Labour Corps recruited from the British Isles were included in the rolls of British war dead published in 1921.[16] The methodology used by each nation to record and classify casualties was not uniform, a general caveat regarding casualty figures is that they cannot be considered comparable in all cases.[17] First World War civilian deaths are "hazardous to estimate" according to Micheal Clodfelter who maintains that "the generally accepted figure of noncombatant deaths is 6.5 million."[18]
From 1809 Finland was an autonomous Grand Duchy in the Russian Empire until the end of 1917. Finland's autonomous status meant that Finns were exempt from conscription into the Russian Army, though approximately 800 Finns voluntarily served during World War I.[87] According to data regarding Finnish war casualties, 317 Finns were killed between 1914 and 1917.[88]
Ireland was a part of the United Kingdom during World War I. Five-sixths of the island left to form the Irish Free State, now the Republic of Ireland, in 1922. A total of 206,000 Irishmen served in the British forces during the war.[93] The number of Irish deaths in the British Army recorded by the registrar general was 27,405.[94] A significant number of these casualties were from what, in 1920, became Northern Ireland. While 49,400 soldiers died serving in Irish divisions (the 10th, 16th and 36th), although not all of the men serving in these divisions were natives of Ireland and many Irish who died in non-Irish regiments are not listed.[95][96] For example, 29% of the casualties in the 16th Division were not natives of Ireland.[94] Neither does it include Irish emigrants in Britain who enlisted there and are not categorised as Irish. Australia lists 4,731 of its first World War soldiers as having been born in Ireland and more than 19,000 Irish-born soldiers served in the Canadian Corps. According to research done by John Horne of Trinity College Dublin, there are at least 30,986 soldiers who were born in Ireland that died; however, that's considered a "conservative" estimate and is very likely to raise.[97]
Britain recruited Indian, Chinese, native South African, Egyptian and other overseas labour to provide logistical support in the combat theatres.[100] Included with British casualties in East Africa are the deaths of 44,911 recruited labourers.[101] The CWGC reports that nearly 2,000 workers from the Chinese Labour Corps are buried with British war dead in France.[102]
"Tipperary, a county of Ireland, province of Munster, bounded N by King's and Queen's counties, E by Queen's county and Kilkenny, S by Waterford and Cork, and W by Limerick, Clare, and Galway; length from N to S is 73 1/2 m, breadth 39 1/2. Area, 882,398 acres, or 1420 square m. The lands of Tipperary have always been ranked amongst the most productive in Ireland. It has, however, been always a great grazing county. It has also extensive tracks of bog and mountain. S of a range of bog, and between the small town of Kinnenaule and the county of Kilkenny, is the coal district. The high hills adjoining Limerick are called the Keepe mountains, from the highest of them. In this district are lead and copper mines; and some parts of it afford fine mill-stones. The rivers are the Suir, and its tributaries. Chief towns, Clonmell, Cashell, Roscrea, Nenegh, Tipperary, and Carrick. Pop. 353,402."[From The New London Gazetteer]
"COUNTY TIPPERARY, an inland county in the province of Munster, Ireland, is bounded N. by Galway and King's County, E. by King's County, Queen's County, and Kilkenny, S. by Waterford, and W. by Cork, Limerick, Clare, and Galway. It lies between 52 12' and 53 9' N. lat. and 7 20' and 8 26' W. long. Its greatest length from N. to S. is 70 miles, and from E. to W. 40 miles. The area is 1,659 square miles, or 1,061,731 acres, of which 843,887 are arable, 178,183 uncultivated, 23,779 under continuous plantations, 2,359 in towns, and 13,523 under water. The population in 1841 was 435,553, in 1851 it was 331,567, and in 1861 it had fallen to 249,106. The poor-law valuation in 1851 was 618,148, and the general valuation in 1861 was 670,525. The number of persons from this county who emigrated from Irish ports between May, 1851, and December, 1865, with the expressed intention of not returning, was 110,248, or 33 per cent. of the population at the former date......More" [Description from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland (1868) Transcribed by Colin Hinson 2018]
Disease was a bigger killer of British troops than combat, exacerbated by the poor supply of inadequate rations and a scandalously deficient medical establishment. The troop return of the Gold Coast Regiment is instructive. By the time it returned to West Africa at the end of its service the regiment had sustained 50% casualties in a force 3,800-strong. Those killed in action numbered 215 whereas 270 had died from disease. The wounded totalled 725, those invalided by disease 567.
At the outbreak of war the British, together with Indian troops, resolved to protect oil supply in the region by occupying the area around Basra at Abadan. This evolved into a series of campaigns towards Baghdad against the Turkish forces as Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) was part of the Ottoman Empire. Meetings in late 1914 and into 1915 led the Viceroy and Indian government at Simla to reconsider the limited involvement of troops and they decided to order further advances with a view to securing the Shatt-al-Hai, a canal connecting the Tigris and Euphrates river and potentially capturing Baghdad. The British government disagreed and wished to conserve forces for the Western front. The Viceroy was given permission to act as it wished, but told in no uncertain terms that no reinforcements should be expected.The initial success experienced by the British and Indian forces quickly disintegrated in the face of Ottoman opposition. The Siege of Kut-Al-Amara began on 7th December with the besieging of an 8,000 strong British-Indian garrison in the town of Kut, 100 miles south of Baghdad, by the Ottoman Army. These campaigns produced few tactical benefits, indeed the catastrophic defeat at Kut in 1916 was a major setback. Badhdad was eventually taken in March 1917.The conditions in Mesopotamia were dreadful. The climate, sickness and disease produced large losses in addition to battle casualties. About as many men died of disease as were killed in action. The Mesopotamia front was part of a strategy hoping for success at lower cost than the Western Front but no decisive victory was achieved.
By 30th August the Battalion was at Coucy le Chateaux, about 70 miles south of Mons. Resting only for ten minutes in every hour the retreat continued south-westwards with the Germans following at a distance. The only close fighting by the Battalion with the Germans was at Landrecies on 25th August. The retreat finally stopped on 6th September at Rozoy, about 30 miles south-east of Paris and some 150 miles from Mons. At Rozoy the Irish Guards faced the Germans and halted their advance as part of the greater affair known as the Battle of the Marne.
The 2nd Battalion was in England at the start of the war and crossed over to France in August 1914. The 2nd Battalion was never out of ear shot of the guns throughout the whole war. As a result the Battalion suffered heavy casualties in battles such as at Festubert, Rue de Bois, Ypres and St. Quentin. 1916 saw the 2nd Battalion involved in the Battle of the Somme, beginning its campaign on 14th July. The Battalion achieved its targets and held its ground. After a few weeks in reserve in early August the Battalion was back on the front line on 20th August. On 22nd September 1916 Private Thomas Bacon, 2nd Battalion, Royal Munster Fusiliers, was killed in action. September 1916 was to be the most costly month for the 2nd Battalion with many officers and men killed.[9] 2ff7e9595c
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