Letter from Father Willie Doyle S.J. to Hugh Doyle, 4 February 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 fears over a meningitis outbreak have now passed leading to a fresh crop of rumours surrounding their departure for the front which according to a ordinance officer should be very soon. While speculating on their destination Doyle reminisces about his previous time in Belgium and hopes that he will not be sent out as a spy because of it. Before signing off Doyle talks about the type of confessions he is hearing from the men and a fire that broke out in camp. 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-J2-83-22 https://letters1916.ie/item/3887 English Willie Doyle 1916-02-04 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 (22) Borden CampHants. 4/2/'16. My dear Father, We have had nofresh cases of meningitisamong the troops for someweeks so all danger of aserious outbreak is past,the result has been afresh crop of rumoursabout our immediatedepart for warmer climates. In fact if half of thesehad come true we shouldnow be keeping company 2 with the mumies andcrocodiles of Egypt, nubbingup our forgotten Greekgrammar at Salonika,with the prospect ofsoon making the acquain-tance of Kind Ferdy, ordigging ourselves, if notinto the mud of France,at least out of it. Howeverthey say there is no smokewithout a fire, and allthings are pointing inthe same direction. Anordinance officer sent fromAldershot yesterday to inspectour rifles told us he hadgot orders to do ourBrigade first as wewere leaving for the Front 3 very soon. A few daysbefore I had heard fromthe Brigade Headquartersthat we leave on the 18th,which seems very likelyas our artillery for thewhole 16th Division stationedhere, are leaving on thathdate, and to confirmall the Colonel told mejust now that orders hadcome to close all accountsand return surplus storesto Aldershot. This willtake some days and thenwe have to stand by, readyto move at an hour'snotice. Packing fordeparture is a simpleaffair since on service 4 every man carries whathe wants and any littleextras on his back, only36 lbs per man beingallowed on the transportwaggons and in thismight you have to includeyour blankets and sleepingbag with a bucket forwashing in. The poor oldMother's four poster bedwould not do for activeservice. We used tosing long ago, Hard timescome again no more; itseems to me they arenot far off at present,but we are not downhearted!Our destination is not knowneven by the C.O. (CommandingOfficer) but as the 16th Division 5 Headquarters are at Bethune,France, I may say it iscertain we are going there.The enclosed map mayinterest you on this account. Ihave marked Bethune nearLa Bassée. On the rightof the map you will seetwo towns Tourcoing andRoubaix to which I oftenwalked across the frontierwhen staying in Belgiumand then to Lille, sothat I am coming backto familiar ground. Ihope the Giniralwon'tsend me out as a spy,but having three IronCrosses already on myuniform I would be 6 quite a hero amongthe Germans. By the wayI find that army con-fessions have a humour oftheir own: I said damnhis soul, Father, but hewas only a Hun, whichof course made it anact of virtue in thepoor chap's eyes. The calm monotony ofour usual life was enliveneda few nights ago by anoutbreak of fire, when wewhere snugly tucked upin our blankets. It isan iron law that themoment the fire buglegoes every man inCamp must turn out 7 on parade instantly, doingwhat dressing you canwhile you run. Youmay imagine the scenein pitch darkness as allexternal lights are nowextinguished, with 12,000men rushing to their postsfor dear life, not for-getting, you may be sure,to consign the individualwho caused the fire &dragged them out of bed,to a certain place ofwarmth. The poor chaplainof the 49th Brigade, withmany groans, puffed upthe hill in the wind &rain only to find that 8 a nervous sentry hadmistaken a burningchimney for a passingZep: and that there wereno cor-n-nepses (as Bob.calls them) to bury.I don't think that I toldyou about another of myadventures during ourrecent field manoeuvres.Finding a platoon ofmen wandering about Iwithout an officer Ithought I could not dobetter than take com-mand of them. Justthen a horseman wasseen in the distancegalloping from theenemy's lines. With 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