Five men from NI were among the casualties in HMS Viknor which was lost without trace off Donegal with bodies being washed up along the North Coast where war graves are remembered each year in Ballycastle, Rathlin and the North Channel. Francis Galbraith of Derry was 17 years old. Samuel Gourley of Portglenone had taken part in the defence of Antwerp. Today’s Roll includes three Inniskillings from Aughnacloy, Ballymena and Belfast, who died in the first attack on Two Tree Hill in Tunisia and Robert Nicholson, a RM Commando from Belfast, who died from wounds. On 13 January 1913 the Ulster Volunteer Force was established, with the purpose of resisting the implementation of Home Rule. Dublin-born barrister and MP Edward Carson donated £10,000 to its formation, and the poet Rudyard Kipling donated £50,000. Thousands of members would die in the war.
