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Frank Douglas and George Cecil Gunning were just two of the thousands of Irish  soldiers who fought in the British Army during World War 1.  The full horror of what they experienced and witnessed is captured in their diary, which is held in the Royal Dublin Fusiliers Association Archive at Dublin City Library and Archive. The article below by Phoebe Sherman reflects on the importance and impact of such eye-witness accounts:Historical archives such as their diary tell and remember history in a different way than books and secondary texts do. These tell stories, and emotions.  These turn the often repeated facts of textbooks into the stories that our own family members might have lived and died.:The Diary of the Gunning Brothers of Company “D”Known as Frank and Cecil, Frank Douglas Gunning and George Cecil Gunning came from a family of five children.  The Gunning family hailed from Enniskillen and both Frank and Cecil attended the Portora Royal School nearby.After graduating school, both boys went to work as bankers.  Frank began to work for the Bank of Ireland in Sligo and Cecil was employed by the Belfast Savings Bank in Pettigoe, Co. Donegal.  At the outbreak of World War I, thousands of young men across Ireland enlisted, and Cecil and Frank were no exception.With the permission of the bank to take leave of his job enlist Cecil went to Dublin to offer his services.  Frank had also applied to the bank where he worked for permission to enlist but his application was refused.  Not willing to be left behind, or risking the possibility to be put in a different company than his brother, Frank left anyway. As Cecil recorded in their diary:He [Douglas] took the law into his own hands and walked out of the Bank.  He cycled from Sligo to Enniskillen and caught the train to Dublin. Needless to say the Bank people were very annoyed.1Above: Frank Douglas and George Cecil GunningThe brothers enlisted into ‘D’ Company, 7th Battalion of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers in September 1914.  Their diary begins on 10 July, 1915, when they set sail for the Dardanelles.  This first part of their diary is tinged with excitement and colourful details of all the places they stopped along the way to Gallipoli. On the 26 July, 1915 Cecil wrote:A terrible mania for stealing clothing and towels especially has developed on the boat.  Several times we have had stuff stolen and in two cases it was towels, so to-day Douglas got another towel bagged on him so he bagged another one to make up for it, and when I was bathing I hid my towel under a stairway for safety, and I was fairly raging when I came out and found it gone.  When I had cooled down I reported the matter [ ] Douglas, but sympathising with me he went into fits of laughter. The reason was this.  The towel that he took so much trouble to bag was the one I had taken so much trouble to hide.2Stories like these are wonderful because they not only give an insight to the life aboard a Military transport ship that tell more than the everyday duties and parades, but also show a very human and very real side to these young soldiers.Frank describes in great detail, the experience of landing at Suvla Bay.  He writes about how immediate the violence was, and about seeing the deck stained with red. Frank and Cecil tried to stick together as long as they could but eventually chose to separate;Suddenly, without any warning, a firing shell came down with an awful thud not five yards in front.  The three of us were covered with clay and sand but not a [ ] bullet got any of us.  Cecil leaned over and shouted “you hit, Frank?”, and I said “No, are you?”, as I brushed the sand out of my eyes and clothes …“Well,” says Cecil to me “There’s no use us being hit together, so we’ll separate and you go to the right and I’ll go to the left.”3Days later, upon advancing on the beach, the brothers were able to find each other again.  Frank and Cecil made sure to check on each other in the trenches as much as they could4.  At this point, any romantic notions of war had long worn off.  About a horrific day in August, when “D” Company suffered extreme losses, Frank wrote:That evening Cecil and I were sharing the same dugout, and we sat there looking at the sun sinking in the west, and thinking of Home, sweet, home. We did feel miserable thinking of the heavy losses and our pals, who were missing,”5Above: D Company, 7th RDF, in trenches at Chocolate Hill in Henry Hanna, The Pals at Suvla Bay (Dublin 1916)Frank contracted dysentery in Gallipoli and in August, 1915, it had gotten so bad that Cecil encouraged him to see a doctor6.  Frank was sent to a hospital in Lemnos with the expectation that he would be able to rejoin his company soon.After the battle of the ridge, an officer came to “D” Company and had everyone all stand in an inspection-like fashion.  Cecil wrote that a staff officer said that any man who wished a commission should step forward.  He goes on to say:I was very sorely tempted to step forward also because I was heartily sick of roughing it in the ranks— carrying on with a little bit of comfort as an officer would be very welcome.  Then I remembered Frank.  I thought he was still in a Field Hospital on the peninsula and if when he got better and returned to the company it would be a terrible let down for him to find that I had left him after all our adventures together back at home and abroad.Frank  however never rejoined the 7th Battalion RDF. When he recovered from dysentery,  he was transferred into the 6th Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers and the Western Front.By the end of October 1915, Cecil also came down with a serious bout of dysentery.  The first medical officer he saw gave Cecil the treatment of ‘M and D’; i.e. medicine and duty. This officer had a reputation of being hard on the men.  When his dysentery only worsened, a kinder medical officer realized how sick Cecil was and gave the orders for him to get help at a hospital.After a near-death trip on the back of a wagon, he was brought by an ambulance to Salonika and officially diagnosed with severe cases of jaundice and dysentery.  He was boarded on the hospital ship The Grantully Castle which set sail for Alexandria, Egypt.  He never saw “D” Company of the 7th Battalion RDF again.Above: Alexandria Hospital Staff, November 1916 (click to view larger image)The hospital in Alexandria was set up in what had been a Convent. In early 1916 he was deemed well enough to be sent to Alexandria to work in a Details Camp but soon the dysentery returned and he was sent back to the hospital, where he stayed as a working patient7.   Cecil continued to work in the hospital for the next year.In May, Cecil received the heartbreaking news that his father had died.  Only a few months later, Cecil’s sorrow worsened.  Frank was killed on the 1st of July at the Battle of the Somme.Above: Telegraph confirming the Gunning family of death of Frank at Battle of the SommeFrank’s death devastated Cecil.  After all, they had been together since boyhood, playing together, enlisting together, almost dying together, and Cecil had even given up a commission so that he could stay close to Frank.  Cecil was refused compassionate leave.By 1917, Cecil’s health was doing much better.  Though still in the hospital, he was well enough to take a sightseeing trip around Egypt, and had moved on to solid food. Above: Cecil at Cario, August 1916Cecile applied and was accepted into the Royal Flying Corps at Cairo in January 19188.   Before he had completed his training, the Armistice had been signed and war finally over. Cecil described the scene in Cairo:“We made straight for the town to see the rejoicing.  The city was packed with civilians and troops of all nationalities.”9Cecil left Egypt at the end of February 1919 on a ship heading for Italy and finally reached Southampton on St. Patrick’s Day, 1919.Right: George Cecil Gunning, March 1916 (click to view larger image)Cecil soon took up work again in Belfast, at the Belfast Savings Bank.  He lived in Belfast until the early 1920’s.  He joined the Royal Belfast Yacht Club where he met Muriel McKinney, his future wife.  They were married in 1930 at the Windsor Presbyterian Church, Lisburn Road, Belfast.10Though the Gunning brothers’ story is special and unique to them, one can use it as a way to learn about the experiences of all soldiers who fought in the war.  One can imagine just how many friends and brothers enlisted together, like Frank and Cecil, promising to fight together and come home together, to regale their friends and family with tales of their great adventures at war.  One too can imagine just how many soldiers, like Frank and Cecil never got to tell their story together.  Historical material like the Gunning’s diary is important because it works to bring the stories of these soldiers and others like them to life, so that their stories can—and will—be told.Further InformationThe Gunning Brothers' Collection is available online at Digital Repository Ireland.RDFA/ 018 Gunning Brothers Collection can be viewed in the Reading Room of Dublin City Library and Archive.Footnotes1. IE DCLA/RDFA/018/1/3  ‘Gallipoli Memories’ . Unpublished Diary by Frank Douglas and George Cecil Gunning,  (1915-1916)2. Ibid.3. Ibid.4. Ibid.5. Ibid.6. Tom Burke. “George Cecil Gunning. ‘D’ Company, 7th Battalion Royal Dublin Fusiliers and the Royal Flying Corps” 26 May, 2000.7. Tom Burke. “George Cecil Gunning. ‘D’ Company, 7th Battalion Royal Dublin Fusiliers and the Royal Flying Corps” 26 May, 2000.8. Ibid.9. Frank Douglas Gunning and George Cecil Gunning, handwritten diary, The Gunning Brothers Collection, Dublin City Archives Royal Dublin Fusiliers Association Archive, Dublin City Archive, 2000.10. Ibid.

The following is a transcript of a lecture Timothy Young (Yale University) delivered at Dublin City Library & Archive on 28th September, 2015, titled 'Happy Deaths and Urban Dangers: The Darker Side of Children's Literature'.

An Taoiseach Enda Kenny today launched the 1916 Rising commemorative programmes of 31 local authorities, including Dublin City Council’s comprehensive programme to remember this pivotal event in Dublin’s and Ireland’s history.An Taoiseach said: "I know that these 31 County Plans for Ireland 2016 represent the outcome of many hundreds of hours of reflection, consultation and discussion involving thousands of people all over Ireland".View the “Remembering 1916” video for an overview of the programme for 2016. Dublin Remembers 1916 from Dublin City Public Libraries on Vimeo.See Also:DCC Press Release.Government Press Release.DCC Decade of Commemorations.Libraries & Archive Commemorative Projects.

The life of 19th century mathematician and poet, William Rowan Hamilton, was told through a sequence of sonnets by poet Iggy McGovern and friends Paula Murphy and Noel Duffy at Pearse Street Library 26 February 2015.William Rown Hamilton (1805-65) was the foremost mathematician of the mid nineteenth century.  Iggy McGovern's 'A mystic dream of 4' is a sonnet sequence based on the life and time of this remarkable Irishman.The event featured as part of the Mind Yourself Programme.You can listen to the event here (playing time: 49:48 mins):

Dr Edward Worth (1676-1733), a native of Dublin, was a son of John Worth (1648-1688), Dean of St Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin. Dr Worth studied at Merton College Oxford before travelling to the University of Leiden to study medicine. Graduating at the University of Utrecht, his doctoral dissertation was on the Aphorisms of Hippocrates, a popular text for dissertations at both Leiden and Utrecht. Hippocrates, the most celebrated physician of ancient Greece, is perhaps most famous for giving his name to the ethical doctrine of the medical profession known as the Hippocratic Oath. The early modern period had witnessed a rediscovery of Hippocrates and Worth’s choice of topic was not unusual. He completed his degree, and his medical thesis was published in Latin at Utrecht in 1701.On returning to Dublin in 1702, Worth set up his medical practice at Werburgh Street and was, on two occasions, elected as President of the Royal College of Physicians – an honour he subsequently declined. A friend of the Steevens family, he was asked by Grizelda Steevens to become a Trustee of Dr Steevens’ Hospital, a charitable hospital which arose from a benefaction of her brother Richard Steevens (d.1710). Worth was evidently a keen supporter of the new hospital and decided in 1729 to leave his extensive library to the new institution, where it remains today in its purpose-built room.Given Worth’s professional interests the collection is particularly strong on early modern medical texts but Worth was equally interested in all things scientific. Elected in 1699 as a Fellow of the Royal Society, he avidly collected publications of the Society and was particularly interested in the writings of Sir Isaac Newton and his many commentators. A connoisseur collector, Worth was equally fascinated by the book as material object and collected rare printings and fine bindings, which today are in an incredible state of preservation.Access information about the Worth Library and visiting the Worth. The current online exhibition of the Worth Library celebrates his wonderful collection of Aldines.The thesis is bound with other pamphlets and forms part of the Newenham Pamphlet Collection in the Gilbert Library at Dublin City Library & Archive, Pearse Street, Dublin 2.His dissertation has been translated into English and is now available in digitised form.Acknowledgement: Dr Elizabethanne Boran, Librarian, The Edward Worth Library (1733), Dr Steevens' Hospital, Dublin 8. 

Although provision had been made for the establishment of free public libraries in Ireland since 1855 it was not until 1883 that Dublin Corporation formed a Public Libraries Committee. In April, 1883, the committee recommended "that two libraries be established at an annual cost of 1,000 pounds; from the Borough Funds and that a Committee be appointed to establish and manage the libraries".

The Royal Dublin Fusiliers Association (RDFA) was established in 1996 to commemorate all Irish men and women who volunteered, served and died in the First World War. In 2005, the RDFA decided to place its archive with Dublin City Library & Archive, where it is available for public consultation in the Reading Room. The RDFA Archive is managed by Dublin City Archives.Right: Lieutenant Herbert Justin LemassJust added to the Collection areItems relating to two brothers, Edwin and Herbert Lemass, who both served in the British Army during the First World War. Second Lieutenant Herbert Justin Lemass and Lieutenant Edwin Stephen Lemass were second cousins of Sean Lemass, one of the most prominent Irish politicians of the 20th century. At the time that Herbert, age 19, and Edwin Lemass, age 21, were in the trenches on the Western Front, their second cousin, Sean Lemass, age 17, was fighting the British in the General Post Office during the 1916 Easter Rising. Herbert dies at the Battle of the Somme on 23rd October, 1916, while Edwin, a barrister-at-law, went on to become one of Egypt's leading judges after the war.Volume 9 of the Monica Roberts Letters. The items contained were donated by Mrs Mary Shackleton, daughter of Monica Roberts, to the Royal Dublin Fusiliers Association at Dublin City Library and Archive on 28 July 2014. The letters give vivid pen-pictures of conditions at the Western Front and reveal the courage of troops in the face of appalling circumstances.The Royal Dublin Fusiliers Association Archive Collection currently housed in the Dublin City Library & Archive now includes:The Monica Roberts Collection.The Corporal Henry Kavanagh Collection of letters and photographs.The: Moriarty Collection, which  relates to 19th century India and consists mainly of correspondence from Jeremiah Moriarty of Cork, a travelling magistrate who worked in India during the 1850s and 1860s.The Keogh Collection Postcards, covering the period 1897-1922.The Gunning Brothers Collection, containing the records of two Enniskillen brothers, George Cecil and Frank Douglas Gunning, who fought at the battle of Gallipoli during the First World War.The Irish National War Memorial Committee Archive. Founded in the summer of 1919, the committee contracted Sir Edward Lutyens to design the War MemorialGardens at Longmeadows, Islandbridge.The Lemass Collection.Visit the Reading Room, Dublin City Library & Archive, 138-144 Pearse Strett, Dublin 1.

Dublin City Library and Archives were given a boost, when An tArdmhéara Críona Ní Dhálaigh was formally presented with the family papers and genealogy materials of the O’Connor/O’Neill families going back to the 1750’s.  The presentation was made by Sean O’Connor, head of the O’Connor family at a ceremony today in Dublin’s Mansion House attended by members of the O’Connor and O’Neill families.Right: Sean O’Connor  at his school, Francis street CBS, 1951The O’Connor/ O’Neill family papers were assembled by Sean O’Connor with the help of archivist Ellen Murphy and City Archivist Mary Clark.  After much painstaking research, the family papers have now been presented to the city which was home to the two families. The donation helps to strengthen the Dublin City archives as a valuable record of social history including accounts of happy times and challenging experiences in the Dublin Liberties. An tArdmhéara Críona Ní Dhálaigh commented "Dublin City Archives hold a host of interesting material and I’m certain this addition to the archives will be much sought after and referenced in years to come. To trace a family back to the 1700s living here in Dublin City must qualify you as a true blue Dub. I want to thank Sean O’Connor for donating this material to the Archives and to wish him well with his book ‘Growing up so high – a Liberties boyhood’. Given the amount of research done it is a riveting read. Is mór an t-éacht atá déanta aige agus molaim é."Speaking at the event, Sean’s son Joseph O’Connor, McCourt Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Limerick commented: "There is much in the O’Connor O’Neill archive that is concerned with the everyday, and it builds into a composite mosaic of a life that no longer exists in the Liberties or anywhere else. But if we want to know where we came from, or how we got here, or who we once were, and how we became what we are, the story is now there to be experienced again.  They feature instances of great courage, humour and there are examples of what I would call the Liberties spirit - a sense of independent-mindedness and a quiet resolve not always to do what you’re told."Examples include family journal entries of 1850, recording neighbourhood events at the tenement home where they lived over a shop in 52 James’s Street:May 1879 - Today I had the chimney swept and my top coat dyed. I had to pull the tail feathers out of my sick canary. Miss King left 52 James’s Street for America. She sails from Londonderry in the ship Devonia in a few days.September 1879 - Kate went to see Mrs Ward in Mercers Hospital and saw a medical student sitting in a nurse’s lap. Very improper.October 1879 - Some person unknown left a foundling baby in the open hallway of 52 James’s Street and went away.Mary Clark, City Archivist added, "Family papers are always welcome in public archives as they tell a personal story from a fresh perspective. We are delighted to have the O'Connor/O’Neill family archives for Dublin City Archives as these go all the way back to the 17th century which is very rare."The catalogue can be viewed at online and the O’Connor/O’Neill Family Papers 1750-2013 are available to view at Dublin City Library and Archive’s Reading Room, 138-144 Pearse Street, Dublin 2. It is open to all readers holding a current Research Card, issued by Dublin City Public Libraries and available on application to all parties who wish to consult the Dublin City Library & Archive collections.

For over 180 years, Dublin zoo has been known to house a vast array of wildlife. In its early years, the zoo was home to 46 mammals and 72 birds all donated by the London Zoo. Dublin Zoo has been transformed over the years to what it is today: Ireland’s largest family attraction. The images from the Fáilte Ireland Photographic Collection show these treasured animals thriving and coexisting with each other between the spring of 1960 and the summer of 1961.

This 18th century manuscript is the meticulous record by an early Dublin meteorologist, who documented the weather in the city on a daily basis during the period 1716 to 1734. The manuscript is part of the Gilbert Collection and is held in the Special Collections of Dublin City Libraries.