Ireland and the WW1 Endgame

David Snook our speaker talks about how he has endeavoured to improve his understanding of Ireland’s part in the WW1 endgame. Geographically, Ireland was right in the middle as the British and US governments overcame the U-boat threat and transported food, war material and two million US troops to Europe. The U-boat defeat led to the German army defeat on the Western front.

The talk will cover U-boats in the Irish Seas 1917-18 – Transporting the US Army to France 1918 – Dublin Mail and Rail 1882-1920 David Snook was born in Bristol in the 1940s. He trained as a mechanical engineer and moved to Rush, Co Dublin in 1982. He received an M.Litt. from University College Dublin in 2003 for a thesis on Irish merchant seamen from the Great War period. David’s grandfather was in the Royal Navy from 1904 to 1919. He survived the sinking of HMS Goliath in the Dardanelles and served at Jutland From 2008, David, assisted by his family, created an online searchable database of 20,000 Irish born merchant seamen active in the British merchant marine in the period 1918-21. Identity cards held by Southampton Archives provided the details which included a passport style photo.