AlanCurragh Posted 18 November , 2007 Share Posted 18 November , 2007 Please forgive a little self promotion but I'd like to tell the forum about my new website www.instgreatwar.com, which is a memorial to the 133 old boys of my old school, the Royal Belfast Academical Institution (also commonly known as RBAI, or "Inst"), who died in the Great War. I remember seeing the memorial plaque every school day for 7 years, but never stopping to read the names. Now I've started to find out their stories and can only pay tribute to their bravery and sacrifice. I'm hopeful I can add a lot more in time - especially once I've had a chance to root around in the archives in Belfast. Many of you have helped with putting this together - sincere thanks to all. I've tried to remember all my sources of assistance for the acknowledgement page - if I've forgotten anyone please let me know. Kind Regards Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jarvis Posted 18 November , 2007 Share Posted 18 November , 2007 Hello Alan, just paid a visit to your site. Well done, a great site with a nice and easy to use layout. Nice level of detail on most chaps and I hope you can soon fill in the unknown details for the remainder. I noticed most of your chaps were Officers (or NCO's). I haven't counted the ratio but that is just the general impression from those I 'visited'. I presume that would be because of their level of education at that time ? Either way, a grand piece of work which I must applaud. This site can only grow. Regards, Jarvis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bernard_Lewis Posted 18 November , 2007 Share Posted 18 November , 2007 A very neat and well laid out site. Well done. Bernard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desmond7 Posted 18 November , 2007 Share Posted 18 November , 2007 Excellent. A valuable contribution to the field. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scarkey57 Posted 18 November , 2007 Share Posted 18 November , 2007 Hello Alan, Just to say Well Done on an excellent website. It is always nice to know more about the story behind the names. Best Wishes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FredJCarss Posted 18 November , 2007 Share Posted 18 November , 2007 Really nicely done. A real tribute as well as a good research aid. Thank you for all your hard work Fred Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burlington Posted 18 November , 2007 Share Posted 18 November , 2007 Cracking site Alan. Very well done. A lot of hard work has gone in to this. Just make sure that you back up all your pages, in case things go pear-shaped, and that you include good meta tags in your code . Regards Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Clark Posted 18 November , 2007 Share Posted 18 November , 2007 Nice one Alan.... Keep up the good work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanCurragh Posted 18 November , 2007 Author Share Posted 18 November , 2007 Thanks everyone for your kind comments. Hopefully I can grow the site with time - especially with getting pictures of the men. This has been done so far without any research in Belfast itself, and also without seeing what records the school still holds. Will hopefully be able to address that in the New Year. Jarvis - you're right, about 80-90% of the boys are officers - I believe in the early days of the century it was considered 1st or 2nd amongst Belfast schools. It certainly makes research a lot easier! Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest KevinEndon Posted 18 November , 2007 Share Posted 18 November , 2007 Please forgive a little self promotion Kind Regards Alan Alan go and stand on the goliath at H&W and shout to the world what you have done. All that effort deserves huge amounts of self promotion. Spread the word and be proud of what you have achieved there mate. Well done, its looking great, I wish you well in your quest for photos of the soldiers. Huge pat on the back to you sir, Kevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Coulson Posted 20 November , 2007 Share Posted 20 November , 2007 Alan, You have done a tremendous job with the site in my opinion, good to see Lt Crymble's write up. Bob. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stiletto_33853 Posted 20 November , 2007 Share Posted 20 November , 2007 Alan, Nice site well done, well laid out and easy to navigate. Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanCurragh Posted 15 July , 2008 Author Share Posted 15 July , 2008 Hello all - at the risk of a little more shameless self-promotion, the website has come on quite a bit since the launch last year. I've now positively identified all the men, mainly from having access to the school archives, and especially old copies of the "School News" magazine from the war years. One of them, LCpl Paul Pollock of the Royal Irish Rifles who died on 1st July 1916, is not commemorated on CWGC but hopefully that will be resolved soon. From the magazines, and other sources, I've now got photographs of about 100 of the 135 men, in some cases multiple pictures. I've also now visited the graves of many of the men buried/commemorated on the Western Front, and many Forum Pals have kindly taken pictures of graves for me, although not all these are uploaded to the site yet. For one of the men, 2nd Lt Gordon Dill Long Smyth, I have a load of memorial (letters and postcards) supplied by Pat Geary, and am still trying to work out how to add it to the site. I've definitely been bitten by the memorial-research bug and am thinking about a few ideas for another project. Possibly my old college, Peterhouse. Regards Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Nulty Posted 15 July , 2008 Share Posted 15 July , 2008 Alan I must have missed the initial batch of postings re your site as I have just seen it for the first time. Apologies for that. Very well done, it's a really nice and simple to use site but the depth of research is apparent. Take 2 house points Stephen Nulty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Borden Battery Posted 7 October , 2010 Share Posted 7 October , 2010 This website was added to the CEF Study Group List of Recommended Great War Websites in November 2008. Borden Battery INST in the Great War - Royal Belfast Academical Institution Over 700 old boys of the Royal Belfast Academical Institution, commonly known as Inst, served in the First World War, and over 130 of them died. This site attempts to tell the story of those who did not return. The links on the left will take you to the names of the men who died. You will find biographical details, photographs of both the men and their graves, and the information I have found out about their lives, wartime service and death. In addition, there is a page giving details of three old Instonians, not recorded on the plaque, but whose stories are worth remembering. These include Inst's only Victoria Cross recipient. [CEF Study Group - Nov 2008] http://www.instgreatwar.com/page34.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Footsore Private Posted 16 April , 2022 Share Posted 16 April , 2022 Hello Great War Forum & Alan Curragh, I was checking in on Inst in the Great War at http://www.instgreatwar.com/ and regret I get a dodgy gambling site! Has the website moved? Best wishes, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin DavidOwen Posted 16 April , 2022 Admin Share Posted 16 April , 2022 Tagging @AlanCurragh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanCurragh Posted 16 April , 2022 Author Share Posted 16 April , 2022 Just sent a PM, Footsore Privater - what happened was that a couple of years ago, the company hosting the site told me that unless I paid a fortune, they were dropping the site. I hadn't really updated it for several years so I took the decision to let it go - obviously a casino company has now picked up the URL. Very annoying, I know. I still have backups of all the pages - so if you or anyone else wants any information, please let me know Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaureenE Posted 16 April , 2022 Share Posted 16 April , 2022 19 hours ago, Footsore Private said: Hello Great War Forum & Alan Curragh, I was checking in on Inst in the Great War at http://www.instgreatwar.com/ and regret I get a dodgy gambling site! At least some of the pages, perhaps all, are archived at the Internet Archive, archive.org https://web.archive.org/web/20190329180858/http://www.instgreatwar.com/page34.htm https://web.archive.org/web/20190112084517/http://www.instgreatwar.com/ Maureen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Footsore Private Posted 17 April , 2022 Share Posted 17 April , 2022 Thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now