1885 - 1916
CPL David Wallace Crawford
1887 - 1916
Lce-Corpl John Joseph Nickle
1894 - 1916
Pte 17911 Morton Neill
1897 - 1916
Lieut Edward Stanley Ashcroft
1883 - 1918
2nd Lieut Samuel James Ireland
- Age: 27
- From: Lisburn
- Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 17th Btn
- K.I.A Thursday 12th October 1916
- Commemorated at: Thiepval Memorial
Panel Ref: P&F1D8B &8 C.
Samuel James Ireland was born on the 21st January 1889 in Lisburn, Northern Ireland. His parents John Ireland and Sarah Ann (nee Potter) were both born in County Down and were married on the 28th March 1888 in Great Victoria Street Presbyterian Church, Belfast. Samuel was the eldest of four children, all born in Antrim; his siblings were John, Emily, and William, as well as an older half-sister, Sarah.
In 1901 the family is living at 136 Rugby Avenue, Cromac, Antrim. His father John is aged 35, a carpenter, born Co.Down, mother Sarah Ann is aged 36, born Co.Down, children born Antrim, Samuel J. 12 a scholar, Sarah Anne 10 a scholar, John 7 a scholar, Emily 5 a scholar, and William 3.
The family are still at the same address at the 1911 Census. His father John is aged 45, a carpenter, mother Sarah Ann is aged 45. They have been married for 23 years and have had five children, all of whom are declared in the household; Samuel 22 is a clerk, Sarah 20, John 17 a scholar, Emily 15 a scholar, and William 13 a scholar.
Samuel was a student at Queens University, Belfast. As his service record has not survived, the dates and full details of his service are not fully known. However, according to the Queen’s University Book of Remembrance, Samuel’s occupation was ‘mercantile’ when he began Officer Training at Queen’s University, Belfast, on 03rd May 1915; he received his commission on 29th October 1915.
Samuel was one of seven junior officers who joined the 17th King’s (Liverpool) Bn on the evening of 03rd July, just after the first day of the Battle of the Somme.
He was serving in the 17th Battalion, The King’s Liverpool Regiment when he was killed in action on the 12th October 1916, aged 27, during the Battle of the Transloy Ridges which was part of the ongoing Somme Offensive.
17th Bn War Diary: Battle of Transloy Ridge –
11-10-16 - Gird Trench/Gird Support – Battalion in front line and support trenches. British bombardment of enemy front line system commenced about midday. Hostile shelling was intermittent throughout the day.
12-10-16 - Our bombardment continued. Enemy reply weak. 2.5 p.m. Zero hour. Attack on German front line system commenced. Enemy wire was found to be uncut and attack was unsuccessful. Hostile machine gun fire was very heavy and caused many casualties. Battalion H.Q. and Support Trench were heavily shelled throughout afternoon and evening. […] During this action all communication had to be carried out by runners and carrier pigeons as all wires were being continually cut by enemy shelling.
Casualties: 5 officers killed, 5 officers wounded, 38 OR killed, about 225 OR wounded/missing etc.
Graham Maddocks, in “Liverpool Pals” p.140, adds: “As the whistle blew, the 17th Battalion left its trenches to move forward. […] As soon as the attacking waves left their trenches the enemy artillery began to register on them, and at the same time, the defending infantry commenced a murderous rain of fire. […] Although their numbers had been depleted by the British bombardment, they were trained and experienced soldiers, well dug in on high ground, and for the most part, looking out on uncut wire. As such, it was virtually impossible for them to miss the City Battalion men struggling to advance in the mud towards them. The 17th Battalion, on the left, was particularly badly hit, as its portion of No Man’s Land contained a slight rise in the ground, and as the troops emerged onto it they were silhouetted against the sky and became easy targets. Those on the left of the attack, who managed to avoid the hail of bullets and make it to the German wire, then found that it was totally uncut, and thus trapped, they too became easy targets, to be picked off almost at the enemy’s will. It was hardly surprising that, seeing the first waves being wiped out, some of the following waves turned back and made for their start lines. These lines were now packed with other waves of troops, however, and the fleeing men added to the congestion already there, and became easy prey for the German gunners. There is some evidence also, to suggest that at this stage, the British trenches were also being hit by their own heavy artillery shells which were falling short.”
Samuel James' body was not recovered or was subsequently lost as he has no known grave and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, France.
The Thiepval Memorial, the Memorial to the Missing of the Somme, bears the names of more than 72,000 officers and men of the United Kingdom and South African forces who died in the Somme sector before 20 March 1918 and have no known grave. Over 90% of those commemorated died between July and November 1916.
On 01st August 1932 the Prince of Wales and the President of France inaugurated the Thiepval Memorial in Picardy. The inscription reads: “Here are recorded the names of officers and men of the British Armies who fell on the Somme battlefields between July 1915 and March 1918 but to whom the fortune of war denied the known and honoured burial given to their comrades in death.”
His death was reported in the Belfast News-Letter on 21st October 1916
THE ROLL OF HONOUR.
Belfast Officer Killed.
SECOND-LIEUTENANT S. J. IRELAND, The King’s (Liverpool Regiment), killed in action on the I2th inst., was a son of Mr. John Ireland, 46, Victoria, Road, Sydenham, Belfast. Before the war the deceased was in business in Belfast with Messrs. Young & Anderson, Donegal Street. He entered Queen’s University Officers’ Training Corps, Belfast, in 1915, and in October of that year was posted to commission in the King’s (Liverpool Regiment). After receiving his commission he attended a school instruction in the city, and then joined his battalion in England, subsequently proceeding to the front on 4th July. He was gassed and received shell shock on 31st July, and on recovering rejoined his regiment. He was 27 years of age.
Also two days later in The Northern Whig on 23rd October 1916
IN MEMORIAM
S. J. Ireland (King's Liverpool Regiment), Killed in Action 12th October, 1916
If I should tell you, now, the day is breaking
Over the sad, drenched fieIds beside the river.
Where once you walked and planned your life and poetry—
Would you not hear me still, would you not come ?
Or have you taken with you dream, and poetry
That none will ever write, since it was yours—
Taken them down into that world darkness
Where you lie now so quietly, at rest, and alone?
All that you had you gave—your life, your youth.
Your youth's ambition— gave it ungrudgingly.
They have taken all, and left you dead and heedless
Of what may be.
You lie there patiently, sharing a secret glory,
Far from these woods that knew you,
these sad, drenched fields, this sad, grey river.
Unknown, unvisited, by a few remembered,
In your last deep sleep in your cold, earthy bed.
FORREST REID.
Soldiers Effects to father John, Pension record has no award.
The Northern Whig of 09th December 1916 featured Samuel's name among the fallen:
QUEEN’S UNIVERSITY OF BELFAST.
The Names Of The Dead.
S. J. Ireland second-lieutenant the King’s Liverpool Regiment;
His family placed a notice on the first anniversary of his death in the Belfast Telegraph on 12th October 1917:
OUR HEROES – IN MEMORIAM.
IRELAND—In ever loving memory of our dearly beloved son, Second-Lieutenant S. J. Ireland, King's Liverpool Regiment, killed in action on the 12th October, 1916: also our dear daughter, Sadie. who departed this life on the 14th February, 1912.
The dead who died for England
Sleep far beneath the waves;
In foreign lands, on foreign strands,
In consecrated graves.
Then brush aside the tears that stand,
And let us proudly give—
He dies a sacred death who dies
That we and England live.
Lonely for those we love.
Oh! Phrase as old as death;
Do they lean from the golden bar of Heaven
To catch one whispering breath?
From some star divine for a dwelling-place
Do they yearn for the desolate hearth?
Does memory thrill through the sift of space
To a sad song sung on earth?
Sadly missed by their loving Father, Mother, Brothers, and Sister.
“ Granian.” Kensington Road, Knock.
His name was included in the Belfast News-Letter on 31st March 1919 :
NAMES OF THE FALLEN.
King’s (Liverpool Regiment) - S. J. Ireland, 51603, J.;
Samuel is also commemorated on the family headstone at Knockbreda Cemetery, Belfast and on the following Memorials;
Queens University, Belfast
McQuiston Presbyterian Church Roll of Honour
Ireland’s Roll of Honour
His father, John, died on the 05th July 1938.
His mother died on the 19th January 1942.
We currently have no further information on Samuel James Ireland, if you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us.
Killed On This Day.
(110 Years this day)Monday 1st May 1916.
L/Sgt 15959 Neville Brookes Fogg
32 years old
(109 Years this day)
Tuesday 1st May 1917.
Pte 33195 George Allen
30 years old
(109 Years this day)
Tuesday 1st May 1917.
L/Cpl 17823 Harry Cuthbert Fletcher
27 years old
(108 Years this day)
Wednesday 1st May 1918.
Pte 300188 Albert Charles Bausor
31 years old
(108 Years this day)
Wednesday 1st May 1918.
Pte 64776 Gerald Blank
20 years old
(108 Years this day)
Wednesday 1st May 1918.
Sgt 57831 Leonard Conolly
25 years old
(108 Years this day)
Wednesday 1st May 1918.
L/Cpl 94253 Ernest Firth
22 years old
(108 Years this day)
Wednesday 1st May 1918.
Pte 49533 Henry Rigby
32 years old
(108 Years this day)
Wednesday 1st May 1918.
Pte 17721 Charles Henry Squirrell
26 years old
(107 Years this day)
Thursday 1st May 1919.
Pte 91536 John Alfred Croft Kelly
26 years old