Remembering Riverstown woman who died during WW1
Sligo woman Emily Barlow will be remembered this week, 100 years after her drowning when a boat she was travelling on was torpedoed by a German submarine. Emily, daughter of John and Margaret Barlow from Riverstown, was among the 567 people who drowned on the 10 th October 1918 when their boat the ‘RMS Leinster’ was struck in the Irish Sea.
She went down just outside Dublin Bay at a point 4 nautical miles (7.4 km) east of the Kish light. Over 500 people perished in the sinking – the greatest single loss of life in the Irish Sea.
The Royal Mail Steamer Leinster operated from Kingstown (now Dun Laoghaire) and Holyhead in Wales. On board was the crew, civilians, soldiers and postal staff who were sorting the mail. To mark the occasion, An Post are issuing a commemorative stamp this week to mark Ireland’s greatest maritime disaster. Emily Barlow’s body was recovered and buried in Deansgrange Cemetery in Kingstown.
Other Sligo people who lost their lives on the Leinster were:
Frederick Chrystal, Lizzie Anne McLynn from Sligo and Joseph Walsh, Tubbercurry.