Irish in English Army WW1

[Frazer]

Offhand, I can think of a few reasons why people joined up under an assumed name, for example, evading debts, responsibilities, running away from home, deserting spouse.  Fear of IRA reprisal was probably the least likely reason. 

[Martin Briscoe]

Offhand, I can think of a few reasons why people joined up under an assumed name, for example, evading debts, responsibilities, running away from home, deserting spouse.  Fear of IRA reprisal was probably the least likely reason. 

Most of the ones that I have seen with an alternative name have been Irish names.  So either there are a higher proportion of Irish people "evading debts, responsibilities, running away from home, deserting spouse" or there is another reason.

It is not huge numbers but you do see them when you have visited a thousand or so war graves.

Martin Briscoe

[Frazer]

And that's the basis for your presumption that they were afraid of the IRA?  I think you mustn't fully understand how things were in Ireland at that time.

[aghadowey]

Most of the ones that I have seen with an alternative name have been Irish names. So either there are a higher proportion of Irish people "evading debts, responsibilities, running away from home, deserting spouse" or there is another reason.

Martin Briscoe

Think it's possible that some of the soldiers with 'Irish' surnames could have been from families who lived in mainland U.K. for generations- think how many 'Irish' surnames there were in places like Liverpool, Cardiff, etc.

[harribobs]

just my 2d

i've never come across threats from the IRA being a reason to use an alias, i have certainly seen a lot of alias's used in 1914/5 and aghadowey quite rightly says there were tons of 'irish' names common in the mainland UK

soldiers of both sides of the political division fought and died together as brothers

[scrimnet]

I always thought that the Black and Tans and B Specials were the most hated. A lot of players from both sides used service in HM Forces as "training"...

[harribobs]

I always thought that the Black and Tans and B Specials were the most hated. A lot of players from both sides used service in HM Forces as "training"...

probably right mate, but then we're not talking about WW1

[scrimnet]

The players using the Forces as training went on through the ages...

[Frazer]

I always thought that the Black and Tans and B Specials were the most hated.

Neither the Black 'n' Tans nor the B Specials were part of the regular army and weren't set up until around 1920, well after the end of WW1.