Thread by @MoseleyMAJ

Good evening everyone and welcome back to #BattalionCensus week.

Today should be a cracker as we take a look at the Connaught Rangers.

1/

2/ The Connaught Rangers’ distant origins lay in the ‘Scots Brigade’ sent by the Scottish Regent, the Earl of Moray, for service with the Dutch Republic in the 16th Century. The brigade remained in Dutch service until 1783 when the brigade was finally disbanded.

3/In 1794, a regiment was raised for the British Army as the ‘Scotch Brigade’ following lobbying by its former officers. Originally composed of four battalions and clothed in highland dress, it had been reduced to one battalion by 1797 when it transferred for service in India.

4/ The regiment saw active service during the 4th Mysore & 2nd Maratha Wars, including the battles of Mallavelly (pictured) & Argaon and the sieges of Seringaptatam & Gawilghur. In 1802 it became the 94th Regiment of Foot, returning from India in 1808.

(NAM 1971-02-33-550-4)

5/ The year before the 94th was raised for service in India, John de Burgh, 13th Earl of Clanricarde, raised a regiment in the province of Connacht. Numbered the 88th Regiment of Foot, it sailed to the Low Countries the following year and served in the Flanders Campaign.

6/ In 1795 the regiment was sent to the West Indies, however disaster befell the regiment as all but two companies were lost at sea during a hurricane. The survivors took part in the capture of Grenada and Saint Lucia, the reformed regiment later serving in India, Ceylon & Egypt.

7/ The regiment’s bad run of luck continued into 1807 when they formed part of the abortive expedition to South America, and were forced to surrender during the disastrous battle of Buenos Aires (pictured). The regiment was later repatriated by the Spanish

(NAM 1971-02-33-88-1)

8/ The 94th (which lost its highland status in 1809) served in the Peninsular War from 1810 and seeing action at Sabugal, Fuentes de Oñoro, the sieges of Ciudad Rodrigo (pictured) & Badajoz, Salamanca, Burgos, Vitoria, the Nive, Orthes, and Toulouse.

(NAM 1971-02-33-112-1)

9/ The 88th (which had raised a 2nd battalion in 1805) is arguably the most famous (infamous?) regiment to have served in the Peninsular War, fighting at Talavera, Bussaco, Sabugal, and Fuentes de Oñoro, after which the 2/88th returned to Ireland.

(NAM 1956-02-417-1)

10/ The “Devil’s Own” fought alongside the 94th for the rest of the campaign, also serving at Nivelle in 1813. Like many of Wellington’s Peninsular veterans, the 1/88th were redeployed to Canada during the War of 1812. Neither regiment was present at Waterloo.

(NAM 1972-05-83-1)

11/ By 1818, the 88th had been reduced to a single battalion and the 94th disbanded. However, in 1823 the 94th (Drum-Major pictured) was re-raised in Glasgow. Both regiments spent much of the early Victorian period garrisoning Britain’s colonial possessions.

(NAM 2008-08-16-1)

12/ The 88th & 94th served alongside one-another in the Crimean War and Indian Mutiny. Both regiments would remain in India until the late 1860s at which point they returned to Britain. In 1875, the 94th was confirmed as the successor of the earlier 94th…

(NAM 1974-02-131-3)

12/…Foot & permitted to retain its battle honours. The 88th deployed to South Africa in 1877, serving during the 9th Xhosa War. After the disaster at Isandlwana, the 88th was joined by the 94th and both regiments fought in the latter stages of the Zulu War.

(NAM 1965-09-46-1)

13/ The 94th went on to serve in the Basuto Gun War (where two members of the regiment were awarded the Victoria Cross) and in the 1st Boer War, where at the Battle of Bronkhorstspruit two companies of the 94th were ambushed and the survivors captured.

(NAM 1951-04-22-51)

14/ As noted in yesterday’s thread, despite being twinned with other regiments as part of the Cardwell Reforms, the 1881 Childers Reforms saw the 88th & 94th amalgamate to from the 1st & 2nd battalions of the Connaught Rangers, its depot being at Renmore Barracks in Galway.

15/ The regiment recruited mainly from the province of Connacht (Connaught being the anglicisation of Connacht) and was the ‘county regiment’ for Galway, Leitrim, Mayo, Roscommon and Sligo.

(Renmore Barracks, NLI Ref: L_ROY_00778)

16/The 2/Connaughts returned to Britain from South Africa in 1882, a small detachment serving during the Nile Expedition in 1884. After a period in Ireland, 1/Connaughts saw action with Kitchener’s Dongola Expeditionary Force in 1896.

("The Connaught Rangers" by Richard Simkin)

17/ The 1/Connaughts (subject of today’s analysis) served during the 2nd Boer War and were transferred to India in 1903.

At the time of the 1911 Census (Census Return pictured below) the battalion were stationed in Jullunder (modern Jalandhar) in the Punjab Province.

18/ My usual reminder of my methodology and use of sources (see link below):

https://twitter.com/MoseleyMAJ/status/1379137251314110474?s=20

A quick note on Geography and terminology too:

https://twitter.com/MoseleyMAJ/status/1380226337521217542?s=20

19/ In 1911, 1/Connaughts comprised of 29 officers and 992 other ranks, leaving the regiment below its nominal strength of 30 officers but slightly above its nominal compliment of other ranks (977 men).

80% of the men were Irish born with a further 15% born in England.

20/ 11 men’s place of birth was not known.

Of the Irish born men in the battalion, 28% were born within the Province of Connacht (incidentally also the entirety of the regiment’s recruiting area) with 104 born in Galway, 29 in Leitrim, 75 in Mayo, 32 Roscommon and 41 in Sligo.

21/ The neighbouring Province of Leinster provided the battalion with much of its strength, with County Dublin providing 191 men alone. The only county not to produce a single recruit for the regiment was Monoghan (Ulster).

22/ Of the 148 English born men serving within the regiment, 101 were born in the South East of England, 71 from London and Middlesex alone.

A further 16 men were born in Scotland with one very lonely Channel Islander rounding out the British born men within the battalion.

23/ 20 men from the battalion were born outside of the British Isles, the majority (15) born in India. A further three recruits were born in the United States with one each from Aden (modern Yemen) and the Straits Settlements (modern Malaysia/Singapore).

Fini/ Thanks for joining me for another #BattalionCensus - I hope it has been of interest! Please feel free to like, share and comment.

Tomorrow we will be back with our final regiment; the Royal Irish Rifles.

Turrah for now,

Mark (and Sam)

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