IRISH SERVICEWOMEN IN THE GREAT WAR

By Barbara Walsh, published by Pen & Sword Books Ltd.

When the call went out in 1917 for volunteers willing to serve both at home and abroad in a newly founded Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps, there were women from throughout Ireland who responded. Many had experienced loss due to the conflict. The author argues that their willingness to serve was a narrative that became ignored in popularised versions of that politically volatile era. She examines their role in WW1 and how their story winds up within the interwar period that followed. Honor Connelly, who oversaw the work of Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps clerks and cooks in the Fermoy unit, presents as an example of one of the many who emigrated following their dispersal from the corps.