The Men

The Men

Together They Fell

Synott and Leland, HSD past pupils who died together, Aug 1915
By Michelle Burrowes.

On the 10th of August each year The High School Dublin remembers three past pupils who died during the Great War; Halpin, Synott and Leland.  Halpin was killed as the war neared its end, in 1918, but the latter two men died in the infamous battleground that was Gallipoli, in 1915.

Both Leland and Synott had previously attended The High School and later Trinity College, when they enlisted in 1914 into the 5th Battalion Royal Welsh Fusiliers. The first was from Blackrock and was married to Florence, the second was from Rathgar and was married to Jane.
 Leland was a barrister, Synott a clerk.  The former was 31, the latter was ten years his junior.  Did they know each other, the older man providing solace and support for the younger?  Who knows. 

We cannot say for certain if the men were friends or if they even knew one another, but we do know that they died fighting in the same battalion, in the same battle, on the same day amid a throng of Welshmen.  

Out of the six officers from the 5th Battalion who were killed that day, two of them were High School old boys.  The final thing that the men had in common was that they did not return to Dublin, leaving behind two widows to grieve their loss, their names commemorated on the Helles Memorial, a memorial for those soldiers who have no known grave.

From the War Diary of the 5th Battalion, Royal Welsh Fusiliers:
Aug 8th - Embrked Rowan and sailed for Imbros. Strength 26 officers 811 other ranks
Aug 9th - To Suvla 4.30 am Landed "C" Beach 6am and to bivouacs at Lala BabaAug 10th - One Company detailed to take equipment up to front line. Moved forward 4.45 am. Advanced across Salt Lake under heavy shrapnel and rifle fire. Passed through entrenching battalions of 159th Brigade 11.30am. Official History of the Great War records that the 1/5 was gallantly led by Lieutenant-Colonel B. E. Philips and penetrated to within a few hundred yards of Scimitar Hill. Opened fire on enemy about 200 yards from Turkish front line. Later ordered to withdraw to 159th Brigade lines. Further attempts to take enemy positions during afternoon also failed. All reports of 158th Brigade's advance refer to lack of maps and confusion. Casualties - Lieutenant-Colonel B. E Philips, Lieutenant H. O Williams, Second-Lieutenants R. C. Walton, J. H. F. Leland ,F. P. Synnott, R. M. Mocatta and 13 Other Ranks killed, 6 Officers, 116 Other Ranks wounded: 39 missing.
SourceBritish Regiments at Gallipoli
By Michelle Burrowes.

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