early life.

Private Lawrence Dunne was born in Dundalk, Co. Louth to Michael and Jane Dunne on January 4th 1888.His parents were married in 1881. He was the third eldest of six children born, five living. His siblings include Patrick, Michael, Mary, Peter and Anne. His sister Anne died of asphyxia at a young age while she slept in a bed with her parents. Lawrence's father did not live with the family and the reason for this is unclear. The family moved quite frequently and had approximately six known addresses between 1901 and 1911. In 1901 the family lived at No.6 Kennedys Lane, Dundalk (Urban No.4) and in 1911 they lived at No.9 St. Marys Terrace, Dundalk (Urban No.4).

Adult Life.

Lawrence worked as a labourer in Dundalk, possibly at the docks which were very close to his home. He moved to Chester, England some time between 1911 and 1913. Like most of his siblings Lawrence never married and never had children.

Military life.

Private Lawrence Dunne enlisted in the British Army in Chester, England. He was part of the 1st Battalion of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers. Arthur Grove Colles was the Captain attached to the 1st Battalion of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers.

April 1915~ The Battalion left England on March 16th 1915, and landed at Dardanelles on April 25th 1915. The Battalion fought there for 9 months.

January 1916~ The Battalion was withdrawn from Gallipoli and moved to Egypt. They remained in Egypt for 3 months.

March 1916~ The Battalion sailed from Egypt to Marseilles and were then moved on to the Somme.

Medals.

These are examples of the medals won by Private Lawrence Dunne. They include (from left to right) The Victory Medal, The 1914/15 Star and the British War Medal.

This is an example of the cap badge and medal clasp that Private Lawrence Dunne would have worn.

This is Private Lawrence Dunne's medal record card which shows the medals he was awarded. It also states that Lawrence was killed in action on June 20th 1916.

Death and burial.

Private Lawrence Dunne was killed in action on June 20th 1916 aged 28
He is buried in Auchonvillers (Ocean Villas) Military cemetery, 988km from his home in Dundalk, Co.Louth

my story.

My name is Megan Guinan, I'm a 16 year old, 5th year student at Our Lady's College , Greenhills. I'm originally from Dublin but I have lived in Louth for 10 years. Over the last 3 years my interest in history has grown rapidly. I began researching my family history, I discovered that my great great grandfather fought in and lived through the Battle of The Somme. Since then I have obtained his discharge papers and character reference, which were burned when his daughter was standing by the fire on her communion day and her dress caught fire, the papers were on the fire place. His daughter sadly died from her injuries. I also obtained the three medals that he was awarded. Discovering all of this information about my family really sparked an interest in researching WWI.

Finding out about the project.

I found out about the project when my history teacher Ms McGorry returned from a history conference and asked if anyone in the class would be interested in applying. The project immediately caught my attention and I decided to apply. When I found out I had been chosen to represent County Louth I was over joyed.

Project launch.

The project was launched on March 7th 2015 in Collins Barracks in Dublin. The representative from each county was present and also the province representative.

We were split into smaller groups according to our provinces, a number of students from each province gave power point presentations on their individual soldiers.

I am delighted to be representing County Louth in this amazing project, and I thoroughly enjoyed conducting my research. If anyone would like to contact me my email address is megzguinan@gmail.com . I would be happy to help with any questions people may have.