Irish regiment

“ Ireland alone is without one. The prayer of my petition is, that the blank may be filled up by the Prince of Wales’s Own Irish regiment, to be honored by the title of the Prince of Wales’s Own Irish Fusiliers. Thus shall we preserve the endearing title we so highly prize; retain the national colours under which we have so long fought; and avoid collision with any regiment that might have been honored with the name of Royal. ”

“ On the Western front I heard the same idea put in another pointed phrase; "We always look upon an Irish regiment as a corps d'élite." The war, in short, is proving anew the experience which other wars—and other armies under other flags—have so often tested, and which makes it a maxim with British Generals, as it was in Sir Ralph Abercrombie's day, always to try and have some Irish troops included in their commands, if possible, to be on hand for work about which no risks of failure can be taken and for which an inspiring lead is essential. ”

“ In this place, hallowed by so many memories of gallant men, it is fitting that you should offer, and that we should welcome, a monument which will recall to future generations the services which the 1st Battalion of the 18th Royal Irish—the Royal Regiment of Ireland—rendered with faithfulness and devotion for two years and a half during the last great trial of our arms, the long death-roll—too long to inscribe on our walls here—shows at how great a cost your duty was fulfilled. ”

“ Another Irish regiment to obtain one of these rare and therefore much coveted recognitions by a Commander of an Army Corps was the Royal Irish Rifles, who were fighting round the village of Neuve Chapelle, to the south, from October 25th to October 27th. "During an attack on the 7th Infantry Brigade," runs an order issued by Sir H. Smith-Dorrien, the Commander of the 2nd Corps, "the enemy came to close quarters with the Royal Irish Rifles, who repulsed them with great gallantry with the bayonet. ”

“ The roll of battle honours, long as it is, by no means commemorates all the achievements of the regiment: in the Low Countries the Royal Irish took a leading part in the storming, not only of Namur, but of many other fortresses; in the capture of the Schellenberg, in the engagement at Bunker’s Hill, in the defence of Toulon, and in the fighting in Corsica the regiment won great praise, but the names of none of [373] these operations are emblazoned on its Colours. Early in its career, the regiment earned the reputation of being second to none in the British army. ”

“ The one bright exception was the regiment formed by Lord Granard, which under the successive names of Forbes’, Meath’s, Hamilton’s, the Royal regiment of Foot of Ireland, the XVIIIth, and the [2] Royal Irish regiment, has earned undying laurels in every part of the world. ”

“ Now, however, it is brightening up on the verge of the horizon, and, like chickens, England’s untold acts of infamy and oppression, in regard to Ireland, are coming home to roost. In every city and hamlet, throughout the great Republic of the United States, and in every town and village in Ireland, as well as throughout the rural districts, there exists a regiment or detachment of the vast army of the Irish Republic. No matter how invisible the force may be at any particular point, yet there it exists, awaiting the signal to pounce upon the enemy, and avenge the wrongs of ages ”

“ When Lord Granard raised the regiment in 1684 a corps of Foot Guards, called the Royal Regiment of Ireland, was on the Irish establishment; in the war between James II. and William III. it sided with the Stuart King, and after the surrender of Limerick it sailed for France to join the army of Louis XIV., where it retained its old name in its new service. The regiments were destined to meet at Malplaquet in 1709. ”

“ After so many of the Irish regiments as were willing had proceeded to France, where they were taken into the service of Louis XIV., the other Irish corps which had fought in King James's cause were disbanded, and the regiment which forms the subject of this memoir returned to England, and immediately commenced recruiting its numbers. ”

“ He reached Cairo on September 9, when there were actually in Egypt, or on their way thither, a regiment of cavalry, one battery of Royal Horse artillery, one of Royal Field artillery, one camel battery of mountain guns, and two garrison batteries; four companies of Royal Engineers, one of which was at Suakim; a battalion of mounted infantry, 423 strong; and thirteen and a half battalions of infantry—in all, nearly 11,000 officers and men, among whom were the first battalion of the Royal Irish regiment. ”

“ Thus the only accounts of the exploits of the Royal Irish on the 18th of June are to be found in a few statements, contributed by officers many years after the war was over, and in the dry official words announcing the bestowal of decorations. Every soldier knows that for one specially brave deed reported after an engagement, scores pass unnoticed or are forgotten, and therefore the instances now given can be regarded only as specimens of the conduct of the regiment as a whole. ”

“ The EIGHTEENTH landed on the 1st of October, stormed the enemy's works with great gallantry, under Lieut.-Colonel Adams, and occupied the Joss-house hill, Captain Francis Wigston particularly distinguishing himself at the head of the grenadier company of the regiment. The ROYAL IRISH afterwards entered the city of Ting-hae-hien at the western gate, and the British colours were speedily planted in triumph on the walls. The regiment had one serjeant and six rank and file wounded on this occasion. ”

“ The Sixty-ninth has existed as a regiment for nearly sixty years, and throughout all that period, in peace and in war, its ranks have practically been made up of men of Irish blood; it is the typical Irish-American regiment, and its record is a source of pride and pleasure, not only to Irishmen and their descendants, but to all Americans. ”

“ In the war of the Spanish Succession, during the reign of Queen Anne, from 1702 to 1712, the EIGHTEENTH, ROYAL IRISH, regiment is recorded as having shared in the numerous sieges and victories under the Duke of Marlborough, as detailed in the Regimental Record.
After the cessation of hostilities by the Treaty of [78] Utrecht, in 1713, the services of the regiment were equally efficient and useful in the British possessions, particularly at the island of Minorca, from whence it proceeded in 1727 to Gibraltar, when the Spaniards again besieged that fortress. ”

“ From 1776 to 1783, the Royal Irish were stationed in England and in the Channel Islands, where their officers drilled and disciplined the recruits to such purpose that when the young soldiers were suddenly called upon to perform a most unpleasant duty they were thoroughly equal to the occasion. Early in 1783 the XVIIIth was in Guernsey, where one of the regiments of the garrison had acquired an evil reputation for insubordination. ”

“ The regiment furnished a draft of twelve men and horses, in February, 1760, to complete the Third and Fourth Horse to forty-nine men per troop, previous to their embarkation for Germany; and another draft of twenty-two men was ordered in the spring of 1762. During the latter year the regiment was directed to recruit in Ireland, the cavalry corps having, previously to this period, usually procured recruits from England. In a few years afterwards the ranks of the First Irish Horse were composed almost exclusively of Irishmen. ”

“ When the reinforcements brought by the King had landed, the army in Ireland reached the respectable total of about 37,000 men, of whom 21,000 were British, and the remainder Huguenots, Dutch, and Danes—continental mercenaries whom William had imported to lend solidity to his recently raised English regiments. ”

“ Long before daylight the troops were under arms, and when morning service had been read at the head of every regiment, the Duke rode through his army, correcting faulty dispositions and sending to their places in the line of battle the horse and dragoons who during the night had arrived from Tournai. They had left behind them on the road the infantry, who came on as best they could, the last to reach the battlefield being the Royal Irish, whose march was retarded by the slow-moving guns they had to escort. ”

“ Of course the Irish regiments in India are half mutinous as they stand.”
This shows how near a lie may come to the truth. An Irish regiment, for just so long as it stands still, is generally a hard handful to control, being reckless and rough. When, however, it is moved in the direction of musketry-firing, it becomes strangely and unpatriotically content with its lot. It has even been heard to cheer the Queen with enthusiasm on these occasions.
But the notion of tampering with the army was, from the point of view of Tehama Street, an altogether sound one. ”

“ The regiment was making its way through the suburbs to the western face of the wall, when an A.D.C. arrived with orders for the Royal Irish to come up at the double to the western gate, where the General was anxiously awaiting them. The troops around General Gough were in bad case: many lay senseless from sun apoplexy; the remainder were so exhausted that they could only keep up a feeble fire on its defenders. As soon as the XVIIIth appeared Gough welcomed them with the order “Go on, Royal Irish, and storm.” ”

“ In high spirits at the prospect of a campaign, all ranks worked with a will; by the 20th the preparations were finished, and the Royal Irish, after a very hot railway journey, embarked at Bombay on the 29th, and three weeks later arrived at Cairo in magnificent order. They are described by an officer who was then serving with the regiment—
“When the 1st battalion Royal Irish landed in Egypt in 1884, it was, bar none, the finest battalion I have ever seen, both in physique and in general appearance. ”

“ There were two other infantry regiments, known as Luttrel's and Dorrington's—and a regiment of Irish marines, of which the Grand Prior, Fitzjames, was colonel. During the latter years of Louis XIV., there could not have been less, at any one time, than from 20,000 to 30,000 Irish in his armies, and during the succeeding century, authentic documents exist to prove that 450,000 natives of Ireland died in the military service of France. ”

“ The British Government continued to adopt the most vigorous measures for the defence of the kingdom, and for the prosecution of the war. In addition to the acts of Parliament passed in July 1803 for raising “The Army of Reserve,” further Acts were passed in June and July 1804 for levying a larger number of men in the several counties of Great Britain and Ireland, which were termed the “Additional Force Acts.”
The Eighty-seventh regiment was augmented by a second battalion, which, with seven other regiments, was appointed to receive men raised in Ireland under the act of the 14th of July 1804 ”

“ Though the headquarters of three battalions were stationed at Belfast, the Colonels of the Royal Irish, the Shropshire Light Infantry, and the Gordon Highlanders could muster between them no more than 1300 men—a small number of foot soldiers with which to furnish outposts, guard the town and guns, and reinforce threatened points on the enormous perimeter of fifteen miles rendered necessary by the formation of the ground around the place. ”

“ The behavior of the battalion in the earthworks and other shelter enabled us to hold our own until reinforcements came about four o’clock. The first man to reach the fort and report to General Sherman was Col. Tim O’Meara and his orderly bearing a green Irish flag of the 90th Volunteer Irish regiment.
The advance of reinforcements caused the rebels to fall back—without Sherman and his “Little Battalion of Regulars,” as he always called them. ”

“ Major-General Sir Henry Calder reviewed the regiment at Tullamore on the 4th of June, 1785, and on the 9th it marched to Nenagh, from whence a detachment of one corporal and six private men was sent to Dublin, where parties from every cavalry regiment in Ireland were assembled to establish an uniform system of horsemanship. ”

“ Patrick's Day, when Irishmen the world over unite to celebrate the memory of their Patron Saint, it gives me great pleasure to inspect the reserve battalion of my Irish Guards, and to testify my appreciation of the services rendered by the regiment in this war.... I gratefully remember the heroic endurance of the 1st Battalion in the arduous retreat from Mons, again at Ypres on the critical November 1st, when, as Lord Cavan, your Brigadier, wrote, those who were left showed the enemy that Irish Guards must be reckoned with, however hard hit. ”

“ As soon as the reserve of the regular army was called out, these men were summoned to the depôt of their territorial regiments, and gradually sent out to the battalions in South Africa. The militia reservists joining the Royal Irish were for the most part hardy, though not highly trained peasants who after a short experience in the field became very valuable soldiers. ”

“ The first naval engagement was fought under the command of Jeremiah O'Brien, an Irishman. [566] John Barry, also an Irishman, took the command of one of the first American-built ships of war. The first Continental Regiment was composed almost exclusively of Irish-born officers and men, and was the first Rifle Regiment ever organized in the world. Thompson, its first, and Hand, its second colonel, were natives of Ireland. At the siege of Boston the regiment was particularly dreaded by the British. ”