3 Todd brothers in the "Royal Irish Rifles"

John, Joseph and Hugh Todd

Brothers who served in WWI from Comber, Ireland

 

Today we received, via e-mail, this old newspaper clipping from Kim's second cousin, Sam, who lives in Ireland.  (John Todd is Kim's grandfather.)  Sam has been so amazing with his helpful research!  The Todd's are not even related to Sam, but he has been searching for info to help us.  Sam wrote:

 

Found this new site www.greatwarbelfastclippings.com and on it are the 3 Todd brothers, e-mailed the site and they sent be a picture of the 3 brothers

Todd Hugh, Rifleman,RIR, Belfast Road,Comber. (Wounded)
Todd John, Rifleman, RIR, Belfast Road, Comber. (Wounded,Shell Shock)
Todd Joseph, Rifleman, RIR, Belfast Road, Comber. (Wounded)

Sam
Thanks for getting in touch – attached is one image featuring the three brothers. Unfortunately, the picture is from microfilm version of BET and quality is not great.
Nigel.

PS: A member of Comber Historical Society who specialises in WW1 is trying to get more details on the brothers for me.

Sam

 

The Todd brothers served in the dreadful Battle of Somme (France) where the English used their Irish troops essentially as cannon fodder - more than 1 million (Irish, English, French and Germans) died in that 5 month long battle alone.  The RIR abbreviation stands for "Royal Irish Rifles".  Hugh Todd was taken as prisoner of war.

 

It's amazing that the three brothers survived at all!!!

This is a better photo of Hugh Todd, John Todd and their mother, Margaret Mawhinney Todd, probably taken at the time that the two oldest brothers joined the military in Ireland.