Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Hugh Doyle, 15 January 1916 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 Irish Jesuit Chaplain, Fr Willie Doyle SJ (1873-1917) to his father, Hugh Doyle, regarding his activities before being sent to the front. Doyle writes that the men have received new kit and will now be able to deploy at a moment's notice. After noting the arrival of a Canadian regiment in the camp Doyle recounts getting hit by a practicing sniper. 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-J2-83-16 https://letters1916.ie/item/3884 English Willie Doyle 1916-01-15 Bordon Camp, Hampshire, England Hugh Doyle Melrose, Dalkey, Dublin, Ireland Male 1917 World War I (1914-1918) Faith 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).

 J2/83 (162) Borden CampHants 15/1/'16. My dear Father, My next letterwill, I hope, give youdefinite news of thedate of our departure,which is rumoured tobe on the 31st of thismonth, our destinationbeing, as far as weknow, Bethaine in Francewhere the rest of the16th Division are quartered. There has been much activity in the Brigade recently. First of all the men's teeth were overhauled, whether in view of the large quan— tities of German sausage we shall capture in Berlin, or to make sure of being able to take a firm grip in the calves of retreating foes, is not stated. The men have also been supplied with new kit; gas masks are ready and a few days ago we drew our service ammunition so thatwe are ready to move atthe proverbial momentnotice. I shall notbe sorry to get a move,for though the days slipby fast enough it seemsto me to be years sinceI left Ireland. Besidesmy real, and in a wayconsoling, work will onlybegin then, though Fr.Kelly and myself arenot exactly idle withsome 3,000 Catholics tolook after, not includingthose in other regiments. A Canadian regiment has recently come intoCamp; they seem to bebeasties, as already theyhave murdered two menand a third was stabbedyesterday, in fact thingsare lively, to put itmildly, and nearly asexciting as the actual Front. It may interest you toknow that I was beauti—fully plugged by sixbullets yesterday — twothrough the heart, a couplein the head and minorcasualties; wounds quitehealed now, thanks. Iwas out watching asham battle, whenpassing a furze bush a hidden sniper suddenlyrose and emptied hismagazine into mypoor unoffendingbody, evidently thinkinghe had bagged ageneral, at least. MayI put on record herethat I felt profoundlygrateful that thecartridges were blank,else I should have beenvery like a fire—bucketby this. The last Isaw of the hostilesniper was a form J2/83(17) flying madly downthe hill, hotly pursuedby a dozen of myown men , who were near athand, some of themwere trying to fixbayonets as they ran,but what happened tothe man who shot thepriest history does notstate. I shall write again whenI hear about our move—ments to let you knowdefinitely. All well on board — muchlove to yourself and everybodyEver your lovingWillie. Bordon Camp, Hampshire, England Letter 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 1916 Melrose, Dalkey, Dublin, Ireland Letter from Father Willie Doyle to Hugh Doyle, 10 March 1916Letter 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 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 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