The Reverend John Ireland

The Reverend John Thomas Craig Ireland, Chaplain 4th Class, Army Chaplains Department. He was lost at sea aboard the S.S. “Transylvania” on 4th May 1917, aged 45. He was the husband of Agnes Ireland of Inverness, Stow and 18 Braid Crescent, Edinburgh and is commemorated on the Savona Memorial, Italy. The ship was carrying nearly 3,000 reinforcements for the British Salonica Force when she was torpedoed by U-63 and sunk off Cape Vado South off Savona with the loss of over 400 passengers and crew. The ship was a passenger liner of 14,300 tons and was built for Cunard by Scotts of Greenock in 1914. Upon completion she was taken over by the Admiralty for troopship purposes. He had been educated at Daniel Stewart’s College, Edinburgh before going up to Edinburgh University where he studied Arts and Divinity, graduating M.A. in 1896. He then became a Minister in the United Free Church of Scotland and was Minister of the Stow United Free Church when he was appointed chaplain to the Forces in September 1915. He had already served as an Army Chaplain in the Anglo- Boer War 1900-1901.

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