Meetings are held on the third Saturday of each month (except for March & August, when there is no meeting), at the Lecture Theatre at Collins Barracks, doors open at 2.00 pm for a 2.30 start.
Our meetings are open to the general public. We welcome a donation of 3 Euro towards costs (no donation requested for those under 16). There is a raffle (no obligation), we try to make at least one of the prizes relevant to the First World War (book, DVD etc). We come from all walks of life, and range in WW1 knowledge from casual listener to gifted enthusiast.
Forthcoming Meetings:
2019
13 April: Josephine Heffernan, A First World War Nurse. By Brian White.
In the town of Rimaucourt, France, in 1918, Josephine Heffernan lost a bracelet, which was not found until 2002, thus began a worldwide search that ended in Bray. The search
was filmed by France 2 TV and involved the United States, France and Ireland. The
bracelet was returned to Josephine?s family in 2017. The family had Josephine?s photo albums containing many unseen images of
her of WW1 and her life in the United States Army Nursing Corp.
Brian White is Chairperson of the Bray Cualann Historical Society and the author of a
number of books on local history. Brian has assisted with a number of TV programmes including Terry Wogans Ireland, Tracks and Trails, Japanese TV on
European Culture and the BBC radio ?World War One at Home? series
18 May: The Absolution of the Munsters. By Gerry White.
15 June: Trench Warfare in the Fourteen Acres. By Stephen Callaghan.
Previous Meetings:
February 2012: Cavalry in the Great War. Michael Carragher.
April 2012: Royal Irish Rifles. Members of the Royal Irish Rifles Association.
May 2012: One Family, Four Soldiers, Three Armies. Trevor Adams.
June 2012: The Problem of Human Remains at Gallipoli. Video.
July 2012: Researching Irish Soldiers. John Goodman.
September 2012: Fr. William Doyle S.J. M.C. An Irish Padre of the Great War. Carole Hope.
October 2012: Tactics & Strategy of the Great War. Video.
November 2012: In Search of 2nd Lt. Joseph Lowe MM. Ian Lowe.
December 2012. A trip along the Western Front. From Mons to Verdun. Trevor Adams.
January 2013. Life as it was lived in the days of war?: Some accounts of the First World War from the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland. Ian Montgomery.
February 2013. Captain Albert Ball VC RFC. Bill Fulton.
April 2013. Gallipoli - The April Landings. Foster Summerson.
May 2013. 'Barbed Wire Disease'. John Reynolds.
June 2013. 'Our Silent and Forgotten Guests' WW1 Royal Navy burials in Fingal and locality. David Grundy.
July 2013.'For Right & Glory' Myles Abraham. DCM MM. Rachel Abraham.
September 2013: 'The UVF and the formation of the 36th (Ulster) Division'. Dr. Timothy Bowman.
October 2013. The Second battle of Ypres, 1915. By John Goodman.
November 2013. The Story of the 6th Leinsters, Gallipoli, Salonika and Palestine. Ian Lowe.
December 2013. San Fairy Ann: Motorcycles and British Victory. Michael Carragher.
January 2014. The Battle of Le Pilly, 18 - 20 October, 1914. Michael Desmond.
February 2014. Putting Them in Their Place: Writing Irish Nurses into Factual Great War Literature. Alice McDermott.
April 2014. Hidden Stories of the Great War: The Letters of 1916 Project. Susan Schreibman.
May 2014. World War I and the Connaught Rangers: An overview of the Formation of the Six Battalions, their Engagements and Legacies. Damien Quinn.
June 2014. A talk on German Ace Oswald Boelcke. By Bill Fulton.
July 2014. 1914 And all that: So why was there a First World War? By Trevor Adams.
September 2014. The Shamrock Fund. By Brian White.
October 2014. "Irish Aviators of World War 1". By Joe Gleeson.
November 2014: The Leinsters and the Christmas Truce. By Ian Lowe.
December 2014: The Battles of Verdun, St Mihiel and the Argonne: Same place, different years, different armies. By Trevor Adams.
January 2015: The 9th Royal Irish Fusiliers - The evolution of a New Army Battalion. By Quincey Dougan.
February 2015: Tunnelling on the Western Front. By Rob Fitzmaurice.
April 2015: "The Gallipoli Campaign, the Irish Experience and Commemoration". By Mal Murray.
May 2015: "Some Kind Hand" A Cemetery Pilgrimage; the First Two Years". By Steve Binks.
June 2015: "The Men of Wanderers Rugby Football Club" in WW1. By John Goodman.
July 2015: The Machine Gun Corps. By Bill Fulton.
September 2015:Thoroughbred Irishmen: Black Watch Volunteers in Dublin Before the Great War? By Ian Montgomery.
October 2015: 'The [English]man who saved Paris': Two critical days in August 1914"
By Michael Carragher.
November 2015: The Struggle for Hill 55 - The Leinster Regiment, Ypres 1915. By Muiris de Buitleir.
December 2015: Gallipoli - The Final Days. By Foster Summerson.
January 2016: Irish Memorials of the Great War. By Michael Pegum.
February 2016: A Visit to Salonika or how I went to find 2nd Lt Jones and found the 10th Irish Division as well. By Trevor Adams.
April 2016: Irish Nurses in World War 1. By Marie McCarthy.
May 2016: Beneath a Turkish Sky: The Royal Dublin Fusiliers and the Assault on Gallipoli. By Philip Lecane.
June 2016: The Royal Newfoundland Regiment. By Bill Fulton.
July 2016: Initiation by Gas: 16th (Irish) Division at Loos April 1916. By Carole Hope.
September 2016: The life and times of Stillorgan born Gt. War artist, Sir William Orpen. By Dominic Lee AMPA
October 2016: "The 2nd Leinsters, a Battalion of 'The Old Contemptibles', who they were and what became of them. By John Goodman.
November 2016: The Leinsters, The Somme and a VC. By Ian Lowe.
December 2016: A World Without Men: Women on the Home Front. By Rachel Abraham.
January 2017: "Polish Legions on the Eastern Front in World War I - History and Legacy" By Marcin Hasik.
February 2017: "Lt. Michael A Higgins; Leinster Regiment. A Family Reminiscence" By Denis Kirby.
April 2017: The Forgotten Soldiers: The story of Prisoners of War in World War One. By Thomas Murphy.
May 2017: 'Betty Stevenson (and the role of women in the Great War)' By Bill Fulton.
June 2017: "Edward Roe; A Westmeath Old Contemptible". By Ruth Illingworth.
July 2017: 'Finding a lost Leinster'. By John Goodman.
September 2017: 'Toffs in the Trenches (and above them)' By Michael Pegum.
October 2017: "The Blue Army on the Western Front, 1917-1918" By Marcin Hasik.
November 2017: Due to travel disruptions the planned talk could not take place. Ian Lowe entertained the attendees with various Gt. War anecdotes.
December 2017: Irish Golf and Golfers: Experiences of War and Revolution 1914-16. By Bill Gibson.
January 2018: Investigating Offaly's
Casualties of the Great War By Stephen Callaghan.
February 2018. 'The Irish at the Battle of St. Quentin - March 1918', by Nigel Henderson.
April 2018. 'WW1 in the Irish Sea', by John Goodman.
May 2018: Irish Munitions Industry In The First World War, by Chris Owen.
June 2018: 'Torpedoed, The sinking of the RMS Leinster', by Philip Lecane.
July 2018: 'Field Marshall Haig', by Gerry White.
September 2018: 'Tanks in WW1', by Michael Carragher.
October 2018: 'The Forgotten Victors: The 2nd Leinsters in the Battle for Vimy Ridge' by Denis Kirby.
November 2018: Special Armistice Meeting, full details in due course.
December 2018: Polish Armed Forces in the Russian Army in the World War One. By Marcin Hasik.
February 2019: Haig's Tower of Strength: General Sir Edward Bulfin-Ireland's Forgotten General. By Brigadier John Powell.
