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Born in a modest four-roomed cottage in County Meath, Francis Ledwidge would go on to become Ireland’s best known war poet.

Ledwidge began writing at an early age, with poems published in his local newspaper by the time he was 14.

When war broke out in August 1914, Ledwidge was initially against joining the British Army. As an Irish Nationalist, he believed in self-government for Ireland over direct rule from London. But by October of that year he had changed his mind and enlisted in the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers.

This surprising decision may have been because he was heart-broken over the loss of his love, Ellie Vaughey, to another man.

The 1916 Easter Rising brought further tragedy to Ledwidge. One of the leaders of this rebellion against British rule in Ireland was Ledwidge’s friend and fellow poet, Thomas MacDonagh.

After MacDonagh was executed by a British Army firing squad, Ledwidge’s sorrow permeates his poem, ‘Lament for Thomas MacDonagh’.

Rosemary Yore from the Francis Ledwidge Museum and Fran Brearton from Queens University Belfast and the Arts and Humanities Research Council take up the story.

Location: Francis Ledwidge’s cottage, now a museum. Latitude: 53.707797 Longitude: - 6.527488
Image: The Ledwidge family home. From left to right, his brother Joseph, Francis, his mother Annie and local hackney driver Christopher Cassidy
Photo courtesy of The National Library of Ireland

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