Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Hugh Doyle, 1 December 1915 Letters 1916-1923 Willie Doyle

This work was originally published by Maynooth University in Ireland in 2017. In 2026 this data, stored in a relational database was extracted and converted into this TEI/XML document.

 Austrian Centre for Digital Humanities Vienna, AT 2026

This is an open access work licensed under Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial 4.0 International license (CC BY-NC 4.0).

Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. (1873-1917) to his father, Hugh Doyle, regarding his activities before being sent to the front. Doyle informs his father that he has been assigned to the 8th Royal Irish Fusiliers, the Faugh-a-Ballagh regiment and hopes to 'clear the way' for God's grace when he is among them. Doyle also writes about the weather and his companion chaplain in the brigade, Fr Kelly. After detailing his travel arrangements Doyle writes about Lord Kitchener's remarks regarding the calm nature of the Jesuit order. Fr Willie Doyle served as a military chaplain with the 8th Battalion of the Royal Irish Fusiliers, 16th Irish Division. In April 1916 he was recommended for the Military Cross (MC) for helping to dig wounded men out of a collapsed shelter under fire. He moved to the 8th Battalion, Royal Dublin Fusiliers around Christmas, 1916. He was killed during the third battle of Ypres while going to the aid of a wounded man near Frezenberg and his body was never recovered. His name is commemorated on the Tyne Cot memorial, Zonnebeke, Belgium.

 Irish Jesuit Archives IE-IJA-J2-83-1 https://letters1916.ie/item/3875 English Willie Doyle 1915-12-01 Woking, Surrey, England Hugh Doyle Melrose, Dalkey, County Dublin, Ireland Male 1917 World War I (1914-1918) World War I (1914-1918)

The data in these XML files was generated based on a data dump from the Magellan database (https://github.com/Maynooth-Center-for-Digital-Humanities/Magellan). Each database record has been converted to a JSON file (https://github.com/letters1916static/letters-data/tree/main/json). The element section of the JSON file contains the TEI-encoded contents of the letters. The TEI XML has been cleaned and made well-formed using a Python script (https://github.com/letters1916static/letters-data/tree/main/src).

 8thRoyal Irish Fusiliers 49 thBrigade16 thDivisionWokingSurrey 1 December 1915 My dear Father, This mustonly be a short noteas I am in a stateof transition at present.I am writing fromthe Head Chaplain'shome (Fr Mason) whereI slept last night,and this morning 2 reported myself to the Commanding Officer of the 49 th Brigade, General Longe, who was extremely kind and gave me a really warm welcome. He nominated me to the 8 th R.I. Fusiliers - the famous "Faugh - a - Ballagh" regiment, so I hope soon "to clear the way" for God's grace when I get among them. I have charge of two Battalions, nearly 1,000 strong each, of whom 3 I hear, there are some500 Dubliners, includingmany old friends, Iam sure. I amgoing over now toreport to Colonel Brownwho lives in MorehamptonRoad, a regular fireeater of the old school,and get my quartersin the Barrack. Thiswill only be for afew days as we underorders to march to anew camp, Wakely,Surrey. The prospectat present is most 4 cheery; rain is fallingin sheets and blanketstoo! I believe therewere roads here once butthey have long sincevanished beneath mudand water — however weare well fortified andrather revel in slush &wet. I am very lucky inhaving as companionchaplain in the Brigadea splendid Tipperarypriest, Fr Kelly, with aheart as big as himselfand he is huge. Ibelieve he is bringingan elephant to the Front 5 as all the horses struckwhen they saw him. Weare fast friends alreadyand as he has beenhere some months hehas given me manyuseful hints. We are bound forFrance, which I thinkwill please you, butwe do not sail tillJanuary. At presentwe are under marchingorders for another campand leave this in a (Excuse repetition.) 6 few days, our des-tination being Witely,Surrey. I heard in Londonyesterday that some timeago Lord Kitchener askedthe Provincial for 25more chaplains: I can'tquite understand youJesuits, he said; a mancomes in, listens to hisorders in silence andcarries them out exactlywithout a word ofcomplaint, no matterhow unpleasant theduty may be. You 7 must be either a finebody of men or verydeep! which shows thateven the great Kitcheneris afraid of the cunningS.J. The Queen is coming downto Aldershot tomorrow toreview the 16th Divisionso I shall have anopportunity for thefirst time of seeingan army on parade,not to speak of aview of her graciousMajesty. I suppose 8 I am safe ingiving her your love.I shall write as oftenas I can but donot write to me tillI send you my newaddress. As regardsmyself I am as fitas a fiddle, as happyas a sky-lark andstill going strong. Love to all andsunday souls. Ever your loving sonWill. My proper address isRev William Doyle, C.7. Woking, Surrey, England Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Hugh Doyle, 1 December 1915 Melrose, Dalkey, County Dublin, Ireland Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Hugh Doyle, 20 July 1916Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Hugh Doyle, 23 September 1916Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Hugh Doyle, 1 December 1915Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Hugh Doyle, 10 December 1915Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Hugh Doyle, 17 March 1916Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Hugh Doyle, 24 March 1916Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Hugh Doyle, 29 April 1916Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Hugh Doyle, 19 June 1916Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Hugh Doyle, 26 October 1916 Willie Doyle Letter from Father Willie Doyle to Hugh Doyle, 10 March 1916Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Hugh Doyle, 20 July 1916Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Hugh Doyle, 23 September 1916Letter from Fr Willie Doyle SJ to Provincial Thomas Nolan, 13 May 1916Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Fr Provincial Thomas V. Nolan, 25 January 1916Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Fr Provincial Thomas V. Nolan, 25 February 1916Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Hugh Doyle, 1 December 1915Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Hugh Doyle, 10 December 1915Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Fr Provincial Thomas V. Nolan, 31 December 1915Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Hugh Doyle, 30 December 1915Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Hugh Doyle, 15 January 1916Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Mai, 22 January 1916Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Hugh Doyle, 25 January 1916Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Hugh Doyle, 4 February 1916Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Hugh Doyle, 10 February 1916Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Mai, 11 February 1916Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Hugh Doyle, 17 March 1916Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Hugh Doyle, 24 March 1916Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Hugh Doyle, 29 April 1916Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Hugh Doyle, 19 June 1916Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Hugh Doyle, 26 October 1916Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J., 16 April 1916Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Fr Provincial Thomas V. Nolan, 12 December 1915Postcard from Fr Willie Doyle SJ to Sister M. Anthony, 7 April 1916