Major Willie Redmond killed in action

Flanders, 12 June 1917 - Major Willie Redmond has been killed while fighting in the Great War in Flanders.

Major Redmond, MP for East Clare and the younger brother of Irish Party leader John Redmond, died on 7 June 1917 from wounds suffered in the battle for Messines Ridge. He was leading his regiment – the 6th Battalion of the Royal Irish Regiment – when he was shot.

Willie Redmond had been an MP for East Clare since 1892 and was, prior to that, an MP for both the Wexford and North Fermanagh constituencies.

On the outbreak of war, he joined the Royal Irish Regiment when, after training in Fermoy, he was dispatched to the Front.

Two nuns and three young girls dressed in black stand with their heads bowed at the graveside of Major William Redmond M.P in Locre, Belgium. (Image: National Library of Scotland)

‘The welfare of Ireland’
Messages of sympathy for the Redmond family come from the King and Queen, Lord Wimborne, Sir Edward Carson, Sir James Craig and many others across all sides of the political divide in the United Kingdom.

A crowded Requiem Mass was held at Westminster Cathedral and tributes and public sympathy continue to pour in.  He was also remembered at a mass in the church of St Francis Xavier, Upper Gardiner Street where six trumpeters from the Royal Irish Fusiliers sounded the Last Post.

Willie Redmond’s last wishes, held by his solicitor and signed December 1916, thanked his wife and emphasised his Catholicism.

He also outlined his reasons for going to war: ‘I shall like all my friends in Ireland to know that in joining the Irish Brigade and going to France I sincerely believed, as all the Irish soldiers do, that I was doing my best for the welfare of Ireland in every way.’

He was buried at a convent in Loecre, Belgium.

[Editor's note: This is an article from Century Ireland, a fortnightly online newspaper, written from the perspective of a journalist 100 years ago, based on news reports of the time.]