irishguards

2nd Lieut. A. R. Boyle is mentioned as being wounded at the crossing of the Canal du Nord on the 27 September 1918; see: Rudyard Kipling, The Irish Guards in the Great War, Vol. 1, The First Battalion (London: Macmillan, 1923; reprinted: Staplehurst: Spellmount, ca. 1996). See: www.telelib.com/authors/K/KiplingRudyard/prose/IrishGuard...

If this is the AR Boyle mentioned in Rudyard Kiplings book then he is likely to have a Medal Index Card and indeed there is a MIC for a Second Lieutenant Alexander Robert Boyle, Irish Guards held under reference WO 372/3/21286 discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/Details?uri=D1... There doesn’t appear to be another officer who served with that Regiment in the Great War that had that surname and a MIC. As he doesn’t rise above that rank of Second Lieutenant I assume he didn’t return to active service before the war ended. There is no obvious candidate on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission site. I couldn’t find an obvious notification of his discharge or resigning his commission in the London Gazette – however nor could I find one for him receiving a commission. The LDS family history web-site has an Alexander Robert Boyle, born Limavady, Drumachose, Londonderry, Ireland on the 25th June 1899 who was a Second Lieutenant in the Irish Guards histfam.familysearch.org/getperson.php?personID=I128678&a... It links him to Oxford University in 1916. His parents were Edward Maurice Fitz-Gerald Boyle, and Ethel Maude Ogilby, His father was a solicitor while his mothers place of birth is shown as The Rectory, Ballysax, Kildare, Ireland so presumably a clergymans daughter. While I struggled to find any record of his Military career in either the London Gazette or its Belfast edition, I did come across this legal Declaration in the Belfast edition dated 4th March 1927 relating to an occupied rental property in the town of Limavady, where one of the joint owners is an Alexander Robert Boyle. www.belfast-gazette.co.uk/issues/297/pages/197 www.belfast-gazette.co.uk/issues/305/pages/371 A further piece of land near the town was sold in 1936 by a Alexander Robert Boyle – at which time his address was given as 10 College Square North, Belfast. The firm of solicitors representing him is Lane & Boyle – I wonder if there is a family connection. www.belfast-gazette.co.uk/issues/797/pages/374

Great to find this picture - he was my grandfather. Sadly he died in 1954, so I never met him. All of the information above is correct as far as I know. He was wounded on 27 September 1918 (as mentioned in Kipling's book on the Irish Guards) and did not go back to the war. My father has a collection of letters he sent home from the front, all heavily redacted by the censor's pencil. In 1920/21 he returned to Balliol College, Oxford, where he began studying in 1917, and completed a degree in modern languages. He subsequently became a school master, teaching at Mostyn House School in the 1920s, and rejoined the army in 1939 or '40 in the Pay Corps in London. He spent the last few years of his life near Limavady near where his descendants still live. Rohan

Rohan Boyle Thank you for adding this information about your grandfather. You may be interested in IWM's Lives of the First World War project, where you could add in these details plus scans of the letters. There is more information at: www.livesofthefirstworldwar.org/ Kind regards, IWM FWWC

It's a beautifully shot portrait with excellent subject background separation. That separation suggests an open aperature and therefore a fast shutter speed - so the dog's leg couldn't have moved.
I think the 'ghost' is the original position of the dog's tail and maybe this was too 'between it's legs' for the owner. Seem's a bit bizarre to edit it but maybe this was a 2nd version and the owner ended up going for the original print as the edit was too obvious.
Also, I think it is an Irish wolfhound.

RealitySoSubtle Nice analysis of the shot, I have to admit that I would not have seen what you see in the technical details so thank you. It is a very nice shot and study of the handler and dog. It is indeed an Irish Wolfhound which has been the traditional mascot of the IG's! I didn't realise that they were posted to Waterford and always assumed that, as a Guards Regiment, they were posted in Britain. You live and learn.

You've mapped this at the old Artillery barracks, I think it is more likely the old Parade Ground at the Infantry barracks (since built on, also, too).

Niall McAuley Done! Thank you... :)

In 1917, the Irish Guards were certainly not posted to Waterford, they were up to their necks in it at the Western Front.

An Irish Guardsman since Jan/Feb 1909 and therefore presumably on the Army Reserve when war was declared. Arrived overseas 13/09/1914 according to MIC which also notes "assumed dead 6.11.14". De Ruvigny's notes buried at Klein Zillebeke so presumably disinterred subsequently. Came from a military family.

There is a William Brennock aged 20 listed on the 1911 census for the barracks in Belgrave, St George Hanover Square, London. Irish Guards. Born Dublin.
Civil registration shows a birth in the second quarter of 1891 in Dublin South.
Ireland, Casualties of World War I, 1914-1918 for William Brennock confirms this.

Help piece together the Life Stories of more than 8 million men and women who made a contribution during the First World War at www.livesofthefirstworldwar.org/