Ireland's Memorial Records

The city of Ypres owns an original version of Ireland's Memorial Records. These records were made on the initiative of Field Marshal Sir John French, Governor General of Ireland (1919-1922). During the 1st and 2nd Battles of Ypres he was the commander-in-chief of the British Army. The British government honoured him with the title of First Earl of Ypres, and French in turn invented the town of Ypres with a copy of the Records.

In 1923 the Records were published as a list of some 49 000 names, arranged alphabetically in eight leather-bound volumes, and richly illustrated by the Irish artist Harry Clarke. Today, the books are displayed in their accompanying cabinet in the permanent exhibition of the In Flanders Fields Museum.

However, preliminary research showed that more than 10 000 Irish victims fell on Belgian soil, while the Records situate their deaths in France. Correct data were added for these victims. A completion of the Irish Records is the subject of ongoing research. With the support of the Irish Embassy, Irish guest students are working on the improvement, refinement and completion of the Irish Records. This supplement is part of the List of Names, a project of the In Flanders Fields Museum, which strives for an inclusive registration of all victims - civilians as well as military, and without distinction of nationalities - who lost their lives because of WW1 in Belgium.

This search engine unlocks the information contained in the published Records.

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