An Edinburgh historian has put together the first roll of honour to list all those from Ireland who died during the Second World War.

The list, which was compiled by Yvonne McEwen of the University of Edinburgh’s Centre for the Study of the Two World Wars, includes the names of 9,100 Irish men and women who died in active service.

Ms McEwen, who presented the list to the Irish parliament, said: "We covered over 200 corps of the British Army alone.

"We had a presentation of the Roll of Honour at Trinity College. It received a lot of media and as a result of the media attention, the public, north and south and around the world, actually contacted, more by email than letter, asking for information about their loved ones."

The June presentation included some 7,500 names. Due to the response from the public regarding relatives and loved ones that had fought in the war, McEwen was able to add another 1,600 names to the list for the November presentation.

In addition to the names collected, many relatives also provided information on the dead.

McEwen admits: "I’ve actually found quite a lot of it deeply moving.

"They haven’t just sent me the names; they’ve sent me the life stories of the individuals who lost their lives. So there’s a big social history."

The roll of honour started out as a master’s thesis. Although the list has already been presented to the Northern Ireland Assembly on Monday 16 November, McEwen maintains that the list is not definitive, saying she views it as a "work in progress".

Soldiers from the Irish Free State who fought in the British army were not recognised by their own government, as Ireland had only won its independence 18 years before the outbreak of WWII. Ireland was officially neutral in the conflict.

Germany's support for Irish independence also played a role in the government's coolness towards its WWII veterans, with Irish Prime Minister Eamon de Valera paying his respects to the German envoy in Dublin on the day Adolf Hiter died.

The roll of honour is now on display at the Northern Ireland Assembly Library at Stormont.