RailwayLegislation 161

Irish Railway Record Society

MILITARY SERVICE and the GS&WR Staff 1914-1923

by Peter Rigney

Many thousands of travellers pass daily by the plaque on Heuston’s platform two which commemorates Great Southern and Western Railway employees who died in the First World War. Ninety-seven names are recorded on the plaque from the 755 staff members who served in the British armed forces (the vast majority in the army). In 1914 The GS&WR employed over 9000 staff or one third of Ireland ’s railway workers. It was one of Ireland ’s largest employers. The experience of those who fought in the First World War has been written about extensively during the last two decades. However little attention has been paid to the social and economic aspects of wartime Ireland and, in particular, to the influence of the labour market on military recruitment. The records of the GS&WR contained in the IRRS archives allow such discussion as well as an examination of the employment of demobilised ex-servicemen after 1918.

Unlike the other European powers, with mass armies based on compulsory military service, Britain depended on a small professional army. After the battles of late 1914 this force was severely depleted and needed to be replenished with fresh recruits who had volunteered at the outbreak of the war. At this time it was commonly asserted that the war would be over by Christmas 1914. As the Western front settled into the stalemate of trench warfare, further soldiers were needed, but by 1916 it was apparent that conscription would have to be introduced in Britain . Conscription was not applied in Ireland and an attempt to do so in 1918 failed utterly amid widespread political resistance. From 1915 recruitment efforts in Ireland were intensified by targeting workplaces. This involved more than just persuading workers to enlist. Mass enlistment made labour scarcer and dearer. -Employers had therefore to be persuaded to release workers and to make do with less labour. A particular problem faced by recruiters in Ireland was that rural dwellers and especially agricultural labourers were most reluctant to enlist.

Servicemen may be divided into reservists, voluntary enlisters and conscripts. Reservists joined the GS&WR after completing their term of military service, and remained liable to recall to their unit. These men went to war in August 1914. Enlisters joined after the outbreak of war and were sent to a theatre of war after some months’ training. Conscripts were compulsorily called up and as such did not exist in Ireland .

In November 1915, the viceroy Lord Wimbourne, then newly in charge of recruitment, wrote to the railway companies asking them to cooperate with the recruitment campaign.

“You will understand the situation better than the men themselves, and a few words from you will carry great weight. Will you speak to them and make it clear that this is no ordinary war but a fight by the Allies for their very existence, and so help them to realise how vital it is that a far larger number of recruits should be forthcoming?”

Sir William Goulding, chairman of the GS&WR replied on behalf of all the companies. He asked for ‘an assurance that your Excellency will not call upon any railwayman who has returned himself as willing to enlist if the company employing him is unable to dispense with his services’. This assurance was given. A similar undertaking had been given to English companies in September 1914 The arrangement gave the companies a veto on the enlistment of staff members.

The remainder of this article appears in IRRS Journal number 161, published October 2006.