Why was the RMS Leinster forgotten?

Leinster departing from Kingstown.

Within a year of the Leinster sinking, armed conflict broke out between Irish Nationalists and British forces. An independent Irish state was created at the end of the conflict. It later suited each side to deliberately forget the part played by Irish men and women in the First World War. (Irish officialdom wanted to tell a story of perpetual Irish resistance to British rule down through the centuries. The fact that large numbers of Irish men served in the British forces directly challenged the myth, so this awkward truth was written out of Irish history. British officialdom, still smarting from the fact of Irish independence, did nothing to highlight the contribution made by the Irish during the First World War.) The sinking of the Leinster became part of the general memory loss.

The scale of the Leinster tragedy has been hugely understated by historians. Several books - and the records of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission - mistakenly say that 176 people died in the sinking. The error by these authorities is probably due to their use of His Majesty's Stationary Office publication "British Vessels and Merchant Ships lost at sea 1914-1918" (London 1919) as a source. This publication records 176 deaths for the Leinster sinking. At the beginning of the book, however, is a note that casualty numbers do not include any troops onboard ships at the time of their sinking. As most of those who died on the Leinster were military personnel, they are not included in the figure published by H.M.S.O. The huge under statement of casualties, published by eminent authorities, has helped to hide the scale of the Leinster tragedy in official history.

The Leinster disaster has also been largely forgotten due to lack of information about the people who died. The sinking is remembered to some extent in Dun Laoghaire and Holyhead, the towns from where most of the ship's crew came. Local historians refer to "Those who died on the Leinster." Unfortunately, it is difficult to remember nameless people. True remembrance could not take place until the names and stories of those who were on the ship are known. Fortunately, due to a book published in 2005, this situation has been rectified. See More Information part of site for details of the book Torpedoed! The RMS Leinster Disaster.

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