Royal Irish Regiment

“ 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. ”

“ 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 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 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 ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The detachment having been relieved from the King's duty in London, the regiment was removed in February, 1690, into quarters at Oxford and Abingdon. In the following month it received orders to embark for Ireland, to serve under King William, against the French and the Irish Roman Catholics under King James. This order was, however, countermanded, and when the King proceeded with three troops of Life Guards to Ireland, this regiment marched into quarters in the villages near London, in order to take part in the duties of the Court. ”

“ 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. ”

“ But though most of the burghers were hurrying eastward, it was necessary to ensure that no detachments should break out through Slabbert’s, Retief’s, or Commando Neks, and so heavy was the call upon the infantry to garrison these defiles that Hunter could only muster five battalions to drive the Boers into the net spread by MacDonald and Bruce Hamilton. One of these was the 1st battalion, Royal Irish regiment, which with part of the Wiltshire formed the advance-guard under Clements on the 28th, when the burghers fought a rear-guard action near Slaap Kranz ridge with great tenacity and cunning. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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.” ”

“ A hundred and fifty men joined from the Dublin City militia; other militia regiments contributed volunteers, and recruits came in fast from the north of Ireland. For the first few months of its existence the new battalion was in charge of Major A. W. S. F. Armstrong; then Lieutenant-Colonel A. N. Campbell, on promotion from the first battalion, assumed the command which he continued to hold until October, 1859, when he exchanged with Lieutenant-Colonel A. A. Chapman, 48th 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Of the original Brigade Staffs only one Brigade-Major, Captain Cooke-Collis, and one Staff Captain, Captain Goodland, survived, and sickness and wounds had so thinned the ranks of the commanding officers that only Lieutenant-Colonel Jourdain of the Connaught Rangers, Lieutenant-Colonel Cox of the 6th Royal Dublin Fusiliers, Lieutenant-Colonel Pike of the 5th Royal Irish Fusiliers, and Lieutenant-Colonel Lord Granard of the Royal Irish Regiment, were still with their units. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Ireland continued in a disturbed state, and during the autumn and winter the regiment was employed in most fatiguing and painful services. In one month the regiment furnished fifty-one parties to assist the civil power in making tithe-collections, quelling riots at fairs, dispersing illegal meetings, or suppressing election riots; and each of these parties was under the command of one or more officers. ”

“ In years to come, when the nation has realised that for its own safety every male citizen must be trained to arms, students of regimental history will wonder how so many partially instructed troops found their way into the ranks of the Royal Irish. Neither the militia nor the volunteers were liable to serve abroad in case of war, but as has been said in Chapter x., in the militia a reserve of men had been established, picked for physique and character, who in return for a small annual retaining fee had assumed the liability to serve in time of war as regular soldiers in any part of the world. ”

“ If our gunners succeeded in beating down the defence, the hill would be comparatively easy to carry; but if the stress of battle compelled them to turn their projectiles in another direction, many a good soldier would fall before the day was won. As soon as it was light enough for the artillerymen to see, the field and 5-in. guns opened a slow, well-aimed cross-fire upon the hill, and the Royal Irish prepared for the attack. Colonel Guinness formed his battalion in three lines: the first consisted of B company ”

“ 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. ”

“ The Royal Irish found much heavy work awaiting them, for the place was then, as it still is, a hot-bed of sedition, ready to revolt at any moment; and the troops were constantly under arms to prevent an outbreak. But as the accounts of successive British victories in northern and central India reached the malcontents, the danger diminished, and in April, 1858, the local situation had sufficiently improved to warrant the withdrawal of part of the British garrison from Poona. ”

“ The Marshal promptly followed his example, holding the country between Lough Erne and Belfast with a chain of fortified posts, and establishing his headquarters at Lisburn, where the XVIIIth was placed in charge of his personal safety. The staff of the regiment must have been hard-worked in the spring of 1690, for recruits streamed in so fast that in June it was nearly the strongest corps in the British army, standing on parade six hundred and seventy-eight officers and men. ”

“ He joined the Prince of Orange at the Revolution of 1688, and in May, 1689, he was appointed Colonel of the EIGHTEENTH regiment, which corps he accompanied to Ireland, and served at the siege of Carrickfergus and at the battle of the Boyne; he also evinced great gallantry at the siege of Limerick, where he was wounded. He was sworn a member of the Privy Council in December, 1690. After the deliverance of Ireland from the power of King James was accomplished, he chose to remain in that country in order to devote himself to its interests, and withdrew from the army. ”

“ The Royal Irish were the last troops to disembark. They did not land till seven A.M., when the heat was already so oppressive that the Adjutant, Lieutenant Graves, persuaded Major Cowper to leave the men’s great-coats [138] behind, undertaking to provide the entire regiment with furs from the shops of the pawnbrokers, with whom the wealthy Chinese regularly stored their winter clothing. ”

“ 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. ”

“ During the night of the 1st of April, 1847, the Royal Irish, under Lieutenant-Colonel Cowper, with 23 officers and 509 other ranks, and the 42nd regiment of Madras Native Infantry, 399 strong, were packed into a couple of small men-of-war and an armed steamer. Early on the following morning the flotilla was off the entrance to the Canton river; the troops were landed, and driving the Chinese artillerymen from the batteries, spiked the guns. ”