Tipperary Servicewomen in The Great War

More than 80 percent of the c.60,000 First War Army Service records for women who served between 1917-1921 were completely lost when their archive was later damaged in a German bombing raid on London in the 1940s. The number of surviving records for Irish-born women who served with the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (later Queen Mary’s Army Corps) consequently only totals just over 500 names – mostly those of lower ranking young women and, sadly, the memory of the contribution they had made in the First World War continues to be in danger of being completely sidelined and forgotten – not only by the historical record and knowledge of the general public – but even by their own descendents to-day. It is a topic that local history and / or family history societies can help to redress.

Drawn from every level of society and from every creed and background, these ladies had come forward from all 32 counties of Ireland to offer skills at every level of ability in addition to high-tech expertise in key areas such as the telecommunication networks in France (telegraph and telephone) which linked frontline battlefields to Army Bases.

Listed here are the women from Tipperary who served with the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps as researched and provided by author and historian Barbara Walsh.

Members of Queen Mary’s Army Auxiliary Corps wear steel helmets while in trenches constructed for shelter in the event of an aerial attack at Rouen, France, on 18 June 1918.

You can use the search box to search all entries. Click on the + to expand an entry.

Name	Birthplace and Address	DOB & address in 1917 if different	Religion	Civilian Profession	Military Profession	Applied	Service dates	Where served and post war	Army No	Category	Notes
FLEMING, Margaret	Whitechurch, Carrick-on-Suir	1/08/1880 (Note age)	RC		Waitress	May 1917 Joined in Manchester	Sept 1917 to Sept 1919	Postings are missing , but listed in file for Jessica Wilbank re. departures ex. Ballykinlar	16402	B
DELANEY, Annie	Dublin Road, Nenagh	15/07/1895 5, Murray’s Cottages Inchicore, Dublin	RC		Waitress / promoted to Clerk	Oct 1917	Feb 1918 to Oct 1919	Bostall Heath, Dublin and Cork	32818	A	Sought Free Passage to Vancouver Canada in Nov.1919
DOUGHERTY, Alice	Co. Tipperary	20/10/1899 Castle Caulfield, Co. Tyrone /also Newton Hall, Chester	C of E	Father a gardener	Housemaid	Jan 1918 Joined in Manchester	Mar 1918 to Apr/May 1919	Chadderton, and Bostall Heath	35538	B
KELLY, Margaret	Ballingarry, Thurles	7/09/1898	RC	Domestic Servant Father a Porter	Waitress	Feb 1918 Joined in Bristol	April 1918 to May 1919	Remount Depot at Shirehampton in Bristol	36613	B	Fined for AWOL
RYAN, Kathleen Mary	Towns Parke, Cahir	30/05/1898	RC	Some missing records Father a Labourer	Cook	April 1918 Joined in Manchester	June 1918 to (Oct? 1919)	Chadderton, Bostall Heath, Larkhill, Woolwich	39299	B
MALCOMSON, Susan	Co. Tipperary	15/04/1888 (Note age) 4, London Rd., Bexhill on Sea	C of E		Waitress	March 1917?	May 1918 to Aug 1918	Abbeville	39480	B	Discharged for misconduct
BYRNE, Celia Mary	Clonmel. Central Hotel, 46/47 Gladstone Street, Clonmel	29/09/ 1898 Highbury, London (work)	RC	Temp Clerk in Ministry of Munitions Father a deceased Chemist/pharmacist	Forewoman Clerk	Apr 1918 In London	May 1918 to Jan 1920	Havre, Camiers and Wimereaux	39500	A	Received official equivalent of a ‘Mentioned in despatches’. Seems to be attached to American Expeditionary Force in France
KENNEDY, Frances	Rathcabbin	10/06/1897 Sydney Avenue, Blackrock, Co.Dublin (workplace) and Lelagh Cottage, Graige, Birr, King’s County (Offaly)	RC	Housemaid and cook Father a police pensioner	Waitress	Jan 1918	June 1918 to ?	No record of postings May not have served	42092	B	Record missing
KENNEDY, Mabel Catherine	New Street, Carrick	8/04/1896	RC	Clerk, French speaker Father a Clerk of Petty Sessions	General Clerk	Sept 1918	Nov 1918 to Jan 1919	Probably Dublin (postings missing)	52803	A
McBETH, Florence	Main Street, Templemore	11/11/1899	C of E		Shorthand/ typist	Oct 1917	Sept 1918 to Feb / or June 1919	Bombing School Templemore (Letters re. discharge date and dole entitlements)	52883	A

Work was categorised into separate sections:

A = office clerks; B = catering / cleaning; E = Telephone & Postal Services /Lines of Communication; C = Drivers; D = Unskilled; F = Miscellaneous; G =Technical. The higher ranking officers (the Officials /Administrators) are marked in the chart as: Off/l.

Irish author and historian Barbara Walsh has written a wonderful account of their experiences. Irish Servicewomen in the Great War: From Western Front to Roaring Twenties (Pen & Sword Books, Yorkshire and Philadelphia, 2020). When the call went out in 1917 for volunteers willing to serve both at home and on the Western Front in a newly founded Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps, young women from every province of Ireland responded just as eagerly as those from homes in Scotland, England and Wales.

Searching the archive

newid	Surname	Forename	Rank	Serial No	Regiment or Service	Residence	Date of Death	Died	Location	Unit	Age	Born	Enlisted	Next of Kin	Cemetery	Grave or Memorial	Notes	Newspapers Books etc
2	Abbott	Alfred A	Company Sergeant Major	8076	Royal Scots Fusiliers	Bruff, County Limerick	18/01/1915	Died of wounds	Limerick	2nd Battalion		Aldershot, Hampshire	Templemore, County Tipperary	Brother of W.H.Abbott (Bandmaster), of 25, Roseneath Place, Edinburgh.	Lillers Communal Cemetery, France.	II.A. 2.
3	Abbott	Charles Thomas	Company Quartermaster Sergeant	5808	Royal Irish Regiment	Carrick-on-Suir, County Tipperary	24/05/1915	Killed in action	Tipperary, Waterford	2nd Battalion		Secunderabad, East India	Birr	Son of the late H. G. Abbott; husband of Margaret Helen Abbott, of 9, The Terrace, Tramore, Co. Waterford. See F. R. Gorbey, his brother-in-law, also killed in action.	Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Belgium.	Panel 33		De Ruvigny’s Roll of Honour; Abbott, Charles Thomas, Company Quartermaster Sergeant, No 5080(sic), B Company, 2nd Battalion, Royal Irish Regiment. Son of Graves Abbott, Sergeant, 1st Battalion, Royal Scottish Fusiliers. Born in Secunderabad, India, 13th September, 1881. Enlisted 15th April-1896. Served in the South African War (Medal with clasps), in India and with the Expeditionary Force in France and Flanders. Killed in action 24 May-1915. He married at Karachi, 9th December-1908, Margaret Helen, daughter of John William Gorbey of Carrick-on-Suir and had a son and two daughters; Henry Graves, born Agra, 17th November-1910. Agnes May, born Agra, 2nd October-1909; and Ellen Rewa, born on the troopship ‘RIWA’ in the Bay of Biscay, 26th December-1911. Sergeant Abbott’s brother-in-law, Corporal Frank R Gorbey, D. C. M. , was killed in action 23 April-1915.
4	Abbott	Duncan William Sidney Elphinstone	Captain		York and Lancaster Regiment		26/09/1915	Killed in action	Cork	10th Battalion	36	Oakwood, Rochestown, County Cork		His widow is listed as Mrs Florence L (nee Cooper, married 1915 at Barnet, Middlesex) Holman, Norvic, Church Crescent, Church End, Finchley, W.	Loos Memorial, France.	105 and 106		De Ruvigny’s Roll of Honour, 2.-1; Abbott, Duncan William Sydney Elphinstone, Captain, 10th (Service) battalion, The York and Lancaster Regiment, 3rd son of the late Major Duncan Dunbar Abbott, of Rockenham, County Cork. Born at Oakwood, Rochestown, County Cork, 23 July, 1879. Educated at Rosscarbery College, County Cork. Gazetted Lieutenant, 5th (Militia) Battalion, The Royal Munster Fusiliers in 1897, and served in the South African War of 1900-02 (Medal). Shortly after the outbreak of war in 1914 he was gazetted temporary Captain 17th October, 1914; went to France with his regiment 10th September, 1915, and was killed in action 26 following while leading his company at the Battle of Loos. Buried at Loos. His Commanding Officer wrote;”He died leading his men bravely and wonderfully, and all the men and his brother officers feel his loss very keenly.” The Adjutant; “I last saw my dear chum in a trench where he had been carried…We have indeed lost a brave leader.” The men of his company, wrote that they felt that with him at their head they could anything, and would have followed him anywhere. He married at St Mary’s Church, Finchly, London, N., 6 February, 1915, Florence (Church End, Finchley), only daughter of the late Henry Cooper.Irish Independent; Captain Duncan W Abbott was the third son of the late Major Duncan D Abbott, Passage West, County Cork. He was attached to the York and Lancaster Regiment.Irish Independent; Captain D W S E Abbott, York and Lancaster regiment, killed in France on Sept 26, was the third son of the late Major Abbott, of Rockenham, County Cork.Cork Examiner. 07/10/1915. 1725. Abbott-Killed in action in France, leading his men, on Sunday, September 26th, 1915, Captain Duncan William Sydney Elphinstone, York and Lancaster Regiment (10th Service Battalion) third son of the late Major Duncan Dunbar Abbott, and Mrs Dunbar Abbott, of Rockenham, Passage West, County Cork.
5	Abbott	Frederick James	Lance Corporal	8598	Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders		25/09/1914	Killed in action	King's County/Offaly, Queen's County/Laois	1st Battalion		Birr, Queen's County	Dublin		La Ferte-Sous-Jouarre Memorial, France.		Name listed as Abbott (Commonwealth War Graves Commission.) Abbot (Soldiers Died In The Great War) . Formerly he was a Lance Corporal with the Royal Scots Fusiliers where his number was 8186
6	Abbott	John	Private	19603	Gloucestershire Regiment	Waterford	07/06/1917	Killed in action	Cork, Waterford	8th Service Battalion		Waterford, County Cork	St Paul's Churchyard, London		Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Belgium.	22 and 34
7	Abbott	John Arthur	Private	CH/11488	Royal Marine Light Infantry		25/01/1917	Death certificate- On the night of 25th, or morning of 26th January, on the high seas. Died from shock and exposure. Body found by S.U(?). O. Buncrana who caused the body to be buried. Death registered on 10/02/1917, by Registrar James McCormick.	Donegal	H.M.S. "Laurentic"	35	Barnwell, Cambridge		Son of Alexander and Jane E Abbott, 19, Fletcher Road, Acron Green, Chiswick, W. Born at Cambridge. Previously served 12 years in R.M.LI., rejoined in 1914.	Upper Fahan (St Mura’s) Church of Ireland Churchyard, County Donegal.		D.O.B. 30/12/1881.
8	Abbott	Lionel Albert	Petty Officer Stoker	300401	Royal Navy		23/03/1917	Killed or died as a direct result of enemy action.	Clare, Galway	H.M.S. "Laforey."	33	Kilrush, County Galway		Son of the late Samuel and Jane Abbott, of 49, Stafford Road, Bow, London; husband of Julia Abbott, of 1 Bank Terrace, Branscombe, Beer, Devon, address later changed to 5 Bond Street, Yepvil, Somerset.	Chatham Naval Memorial, U.K.	23	D.O.B. 25/01/1883. Born in Kilrush, County Galway-pre war records when he was with the Rifle Brigade and the Navy. Born Clare-1911 Census in Yeovil, Somerset.
9	Abbott	Michael	Private	7595	Connaught Rangers	Lecarrow, County Roscommon	21/12/1914	Killed in action	Roscommon, Westmeath	A Company, 2nd Battalion	53	Athlone, County Westmeath	Athlone, County Westmeath	Son of the late Thomas and Margaret Abbott, of Toberdan, Lecarrow; husband of Mary Anne Abbott, of Galeybeg, Lecarrow, Roscommon.	Le Touret Memorial, France.	43		Freeman’s Journal, 18/05/1915. Killed in Action.-Official intelligence was received in Athlone yesterday of the death in action of Terence Quinn and John Lyons, Irishtown, Athlone, and J(sic) Abbott of Lecarrow. Deceased were soldiers in the Connaughts.
10	Abbott	Robert	Private	F 28147	Army Service Corps	7 Leslie's Building, Phibsboro, Dublin	09/04/1917	Died of rheumatism at North Dublin Union.	Dublin		35	Dublin City		Son of Alfred and Martha Abbott, 7 Leslie's Buildings, Dublin.	Glasnevin (or Prospect) Cemetery, Dublin.	St. Bridget's. DK. 319.	Served under the alias Costello. Pre-war occupation-Painter.
11	Abbott	Vivian Hartley Church	Private	646187	Canadian Infantry	Kildare-1901 Census, address on enlistment Mission City, B.C.	21/08/1917		Kildare, Tyrone	D Company, 29th Battalion	34	Tyrone	Vancouver, B.C.	Son of the Venerable the late Archdeacon of Clogher, Ireland, and his wife, the late Charlotte E. Church; husband of Eleanor Bell Abbott (nee Riddell), of 51, Myrtlefield Park, Belfast, Ireland (wifes address-Mission City on his enlistment document). Served in South Africa	Vimy Memorial		DOB 05/10/1881. Occupation-Surveyors Chainman. Update from Dennis Burke, 24/03/2022-Canada War Graves Registers-Previously reported wounded and missing, now for official purposes presumed to have died. Battalion engaged in severe fighting in Lens Sector, Approx. area of operations, N.13.B. and N.14.A. Sht. 36c. S.W.
	Surname	Forename	Rank	Serial No	Regiment or Service	Residence	Date of Death	Died				Born	Enlisted		Cemetery