The heartbreaking history of ‘Backstreet Boys’ retold

A MOVING exhibition at Enniskillen Castle Museum is shining a light on a little-known chapter of local history, honouring the men from the backstreets of Enniskillen who served and died during the First World War.
Organised in partnership between the Fermanagh Genealogy Centre, the Inniskillings Museum, and Fermanagh County Museum, the exhibition tells the story of a tightly-knit working-class community with a proud military tradition.
The backstreets – six narrow roads known as Mary Street, Abbey Street, Dame Street, Queen Street, Head Street, and Strand Street – lay between two army barracks and became a steady source of recruits for the British Army for over a century.
But it was the tragic events of 1915, during the Gallipoli campaign at the Dardanelles, that forever marked the area’s identity. Fifteen men from the Backstreets were killed, and from that point on, locals began referring to the area as ’The Dardanelles’ – a poignant nickname that stuck until the streets were demolished in the 1970s.
Secretary of Fermanagh Genealogy Centre and Inniskillings Museum volunteer, Mervyn Hall, has been one of the driving forces behind the exhibition. Indeed, the retired history teacher’s research uncovered the devastating death toll from Enniskillen’s Dardanelles was even greater than previously known.
“In a book was a street map of the backstreets and it had red stars on it indicating were the men from those streets lived and those men who died,” he explained.
“I was invited to review the book and update it and I was able to add another 30 men bringing the number of men on the streets up to 75. There were nine pairs of brothers, a father and a son.”
Commemoration
Mr Hall noted 2025 was the 110th anniversary of the First World War 1915 Gallipoli Campaign.
“It is fitting that an area of Enniskillen, known as the Dardanelles, should be remembered for its young men’s sacrifice,” he said.
“In total over 70 men, who lived in Enniskillen’s ‘backstreets’, died in the period 1914-1920 serving in the Great War.”
Maeve Cadden, curator at the Inniskillings Museum said the project was created through a shared commitment to preserving and promoting Enniskillen’s rich local heritage.
“Many young men from this area of Enniskillen, so closely associated with the military and which provided many services to soldiers, joined the Army, particularly the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers.
“It remains a living and evolving tribute, continuing to grow in names, artefacts, and significance for our community and for the families of the men whose stories it respectfully commemorates.”
The ‘Backstreet Boys’ exhibition will be open at Enniskillen Castle Museums until October 25.