Treasure trove from the trenches as photos, diaries and artefacts of Royal Munster Fusiliers to go on show in Cork

They read like a 1970s Munster back-line, but men named Crowley, McCarthy, Lynch, and O’Connell in a treasure trove of century-old photos formed a much different defense line associated with the province.

The images are from a wealth of photos, diaries and other artefacts of the Royal Munster Fusiliers (RMF) who took part in the First World War, which are due to form the centre-piece of a major exhibition at Cork Public Museum.

While most are in a photo album documenting over half a century of work and play among the regiment — whose recruits mostly came from Cork, Limerick, Clare and Tipperary — the most poignant are the matchbox-sized trench photos. They arrived at the museum in a small envelope of palm-sized images depicting members of the RMF at various places along the Western Front.