#DublinPort - A plaque commemorating the first Irishman to die in the First World War has been unveiled in his home neighbourhood of Ringsend in Dublin's south Docklands, where many of his descendants still live.

As The Irish Times reports, Joseph Pierce Murphy died among 151 sailors who perished when the Royal Navy cruiser HMS Amphion was sunk by a mine in the North Sea on the morning of 6 August 1914.

Seven sailors from Cork were also killed that morning, and three of them were remembered at a Mass at the Naval Service base on Haulbowline in Cork Harbour last weekend.

The plaque unveiling on Wedneday 6 August behind St Patrick's Church on Thorncastle Street – just around the corner from Muphy's home at 2 Thorncastle Place – was presided over by Lord Mayor of Dublin Christy Burke and British Ambassador to Ireland Dominick Chilcott.

Also in attendance was Dublin Port Company chief Eamonn O’Reilly, who said: “It is appropriate and important that his family and the local community can pay tribute to the life of this young Navy sailor in his hometown of Ringsend, and I would encourage people to see the plaque in his honour.”

The Irish Times has much more on the story HERE.