World War One not only cost millions of lives, but it would also re-shape the social and political landscape of Europe. In country houses throughout Ireland and Britain, it changed patterns of life that had been going on for centuries.
Prof Terry Dooley, director of the Centre for the Study of Historic Irish Houses & Estates, and Dr. Chris Ridgway, curator of the Castle Howard stately home in North Yorkshire discussed how the landed gentry were affected by the war.
They started by talking about the people who lived in these country houses at the start of the war.
Questions they addressed in the course of the discussion include:
At the time of the Great War, was the Irish aristocracy largely similar to its British equivalent?
Did the Irish aristocracy have any political influence?
How did the Irish aristocracy think of their own national identity - where they Irish or British first?
Was there a tradition of military service in Irish aristocratic families?
How did these aristocrats in Ireland respond to the outbreak of war?
Did they view the war as an opportunity to reassert their authority?
James Prest (Copyright: Castle Howard)
The First World War affected the lives of many residents of these grand country estates. Chris Ridgway talked about the experience of James Prest.
- He worked on the family farm on the Castle Howard estate (Yorkshire)
- In 1916 he joined the Durham light infantry, later became a prisoner of war in enemy-occupied Belgium.
Were employees obliged to provide a son for the war effort?
Eoghan Corry who has a great interest in WW1 contends that employees were put under pressure to provide volunteers for the war. We played a clip from Eoghan stating his case and our guests reacted to what he had to say.
Michael Howard (Copyright: Castle Howard)
Members of the Howard family were also caught up in the conflict. For example, Michael, who was an adventurer who lived in Canada. He had also seen action in the Boer War.
When World War One broke out, he rejoined his old regiment and served in France until his death in 1917.
To find out the human impact the war had on the Irish aristocracy, Terry Dooley looked to Ireland's premier aristocratic family - the Dukes of Leinster. He talked about the military career of Desmond Fitzgerald who attended Eton and Royal Military College at Sandhurst and joined the Irish Guards in 1909. He was killed at Calais in March 1916.
His death was celebrated as an act of heroism at his home in Kildare. He had fallen with the sons of former tenants of the estate, a sign of the democratisation of war.
Many noble families in Ireland suffered great losses during the war. There was a 'lost generation' of heirs to these country estates.
Database of Irish landed class who served and died in WW1
At NUI Maynoth Terry Dooley is creating a database of members of the Irish landed class who served and died in the war.
'The Country House and the Great War: the European Experience'
Click here for conference programme
Aspects of Irish Aristocratic Life: Essays on the Fitzgeralds and Carton House edited by Terence Dooley, Patrick Cosgrove and Karol Mullaney-Dignam (UCD Press)