Recalling the ‘forgotten 15’ who fell in the Great War

Fifteen parishioners of St Nicholas’ Collegiate Church in Galway City, who died during the Great War of 1914 to 1918, will be the subject of a talk at Galway City Museum later this year.

Carol Flanagan, a volunteer at the Museum, is researching the stories behind the ‘forgotten 15’ and would welcome any information from their families or people who may have a personal connection with them.

Following their deaths, the men’s names were carved on a three-metre-high cross that stands in St Nicholas’ Collegiate Church.

The cross was dedicated in February 1920, when Ireland was in the middle of the War of Independence. During the memorial service,  Rev James Fleetwood-Berry, Rector of Galway, paid tribute to them, concluding with “no one knew them and loved them as I did – some of them I carried in my arms long ago at that old font and baptised”.

One of those commemorated on the memorial was the rector’s only son, Captain Edward Fleetwood-Berry of the Gurkha Rifles, who was killed in action on April 17, 1916 during the battle of Bait Aisa in Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq). He is buried in a military grave near Kut, which his father describes as a “lonely and nameless grave in the desert, beside the waters of the ancient Tigris”.

Another of those commemorated is Alexander Young of Oranmore, a veteran of the Boer War and recipient of the Victoria Cross, who was killed in action during the Battle of the Somme on October 19, 1916.

The others named on the cross are brothers Edmond and Cecil Holmes; brothers Charles and Tom Coy; John Beresford Campbell and his son, Donald; George McCormack; Hubert Patrick Fisher; George Jones; Joseph Barnett; Cecil de Burgh Persse; James Ryan; and Richard Kinkead.

If you are a relative of, or have a connection to any of those commemorated on the cross, Carol Flanagan would love to hear from you. Contact her by post, c/o Galway City Museum, Spanish Parade, Galway or email museum@galwaycity.ie