This is a body of research undertaken over fours years and a further year in developing, editing and designing and is a unique effort to determine for the first time the identity of all the Officers, NCOs, and men of the 2nd battalion Royal Irish Regiment who qualified for the 1914 Star (the Mons Star).
The scope of the research was to determine the county of origin, age, date of death, next of kin, of all the soldiers, using information that has only become available when records have been digitised in recent years. The main source document that was used to identify a soldier who was awarded the 1914 Star was the Medal Index Card (MIC) and cascading from it included documents like Medal Rolls, Gallantry Awards, Silver war badge rolls etc.
The principle goal of the publication is to publish an Order of Battle in the form of a Nominal roll containing a soldier’s personal information. There will also be a description of what information different documents may provide. There are over 1928 soldiers included and more than 130,500 documents have been reviewed to glean all the information presented.
This publication will enhance accessibility to descendants and researchers who may have an interest in World War One and is well worth purchasing (€25 – postage & package ranges from Ireland €10/ UK €14 / USA €24 & Aus/NZ €29).
The launch takes place at The Home Rule Club Kilkenny on Thursday June 12th at 7:30pm.
