Kilkenny Peace Park Memorial
Eire
For a photograph of the unveiling of the War Memorial at Kilkenny MacDonagh Station on 1 October 2018 select here.
The Kilkenny Great War Memorial Committee was founded in 2011 to promote and honour the memory of 820 Kilkenny men and 5 women who gave their lives for the cause of freedom in Europe 1914-1918.
With the help and partnership of the Kilkenny Local Authorities the site for this long overdue memorial is located at the Peace Park just off Michael St, Kilkenny on the banks of the River Nore. This is a fitting site to honour publicly our own flesh and blood who selflessly made the ultimate sacrifice in the war to end all wars.
These citizens of Kilkenny were from all walks of life and from all religions. They were united in conflict and death did not distinguish their origins. After 100 years of oblivion they will now be remembered forever in a place worthy of their great sacrifice. Almost one third of these citizens have no known grave. Many of these young men were still teenagers.
500 Kilkenny Reservists marched off the war in August 1914. Over 3,000 men and women with Kilkenny connections served in World War One.
Sadly, in March 2019 the Kilkeeny Peace Park Memorial was vandalised. A statement to this effect was issed by The Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.
In addition to the memorial in Kilkenny Peace Park, another War Memorial commemorating the same names, was unveiled at Kilkenny MacDonagh Station on 1 October 2018.
3 soldiers of the Yorkshire Regiment are commemorated on these memorials.
(3 other Yorkshire Regiment soldiers are named on the memorial, - Edward Keeffe, Archibald MacDonald and Patrick Walsh, but it is assumed either that they served and returned or that they served in another regiment.)
Corporal Frank Lord
60833. 2nd Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment. Son of Henry and Sarah Annie Lord, of Bury, Lancs. Died 27 September 1919.
Buried CASTLECOMER CHURCHYARD.
Lieutenant Christopher Butler Prior-Wandesforde
4th Battalion Yorkshire Regiment. Son of Capt. R. H. and Mrs. Prior-Wandesforde, of Castlecomer House, Castlecomer, Co. Kilkenny. Killed 27 June 1917. Aged 20.
Buried ACHIET-LE-GRAND COMMUNAL CEMETERY EXTENSION.
(Volume 7, Page 145 in "Ireland's Memorial Records")
(For more detailed information on Lieutenant Prior-Wandesforde, see the Memorial for Kirklington, St. Michael's Church (North Yorkshire).
Lance Corporal Alfred Thomas Woodhams
15629. 6th Battalion Yorkshire Regiment. Son of William and Eliza Woodhams, of 12, Skeeby Terrace, Richmond, Yorks. Killed 22 August 1915. Aged 20.
Born Kilkenny, Enlisted Richmond (Yorks).
Commemorated on Panels 55 to 58, HELLES MEMORIAL.
