Thread by @irelandbattles

Good morning and welcome back to Day 2 of @irelandbattles Irish Regiments in the British Army series.

Today we will be briefly introducing the history of Irish regiments in the British Army before looking in detail at our first regiment; the Irish Guards.

(NAM 1983-11-101-1)

2/ The first Irish Regiment to be raised for service in the 'modern' British Army was formed by the Earl of Granard in 1684. By the reign of William III, this regiment had been retitled the ‘Royal Regiment of Foot of Ireland’.

(NAM 1989-05-21-1, see ALT for description)

3/ Irish soldiers would see extensive service within the British Army for much of the next 300 years, although Irish soldiers could also be found amongst the ranks of Britain’s enemies, including the armies of France and Spain.

(expeditionparticuliere.com/regiment-de-di…)

4/ Indeed the British ‘Royal Regiment of Foot of Ireland’ would face the French ‘Irish Brigade’ at the bloody battle of Malplaquet in 1709.

Over the next century additional Irish regiments would be raised, seeing service in all of the major campaigns…

(NAM 1980-02-33-1)

5/…undertaken by the British Army including the wars of the Spanish and Austrian successions, the Seven Years War, the American Revolutionary War, the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic Wars, the Crimean War…

(“The Storming of the Great Redan”, NAM 1971-02-33-360-1)

6/…and numerous smaller campaigns across the globe.

The recruitment of Irish soldiers peaked between the 1780s-1850s, not only in terms of new Irish regiments being raised, but also the recruitment of Irishmen into English, Scottish…

(Battle of Talavera, NAM 1971-02-33-394-1)

7/…and Welsh regiments. An example of this is the 2nd Battalion of the 30th (Cambridgeshire) Regiment which, between 1802-1815, recorded that almost 50% of its soldiers had been born in Ireland.

In addition, Irishmen…

(Men of the 30th Foot in the Crimea, NAM 1964-12-151-6-17)

8/…provided a significant number of recruits to the East India Company’s ‘European’ units and many Irishmen would still be serving with EIC units when they were incorporated into the British Army in 1862.

(Ensign Cadell, 2nd Bengal (European) Fusiliers, 1855, NAM 1957-04-29-1)

9/ Although the proportion of Irish recruits in the British Army reduced over the last thirty years of the 19th Century, the late Victorian Army reforms saw eight Irish infantry regiments formed for service, seeing action…

(LCpl, 2/Connaught Rangers, 1882, NAM 1954-06-5-2-66)

10/…in the colonial campaigns that typified the British Army’s experience in this period.

In recognition of the valorous service of Irish regiments during the Anglo-Boer War, Queen Victoria…

('For the Queen and old Ireland', Photogravure dated 1900, NAM 1973-12-55-1)

11/…authorised the wearing of the shamrock by all Irish regiments on St Patrick's Day.

Furthermore, in further recognition of the Irish regiments' gallantry, Victoria authorised the raising of an Irish regiment of Foot Guards in April 1900 and the new…

(NAM 1961-11-216-1)

12/…regiment was presented with its first Colours in May 1902. The regiment’s recruits were initially drawn from men of Irish descent serving in existing regiments of the British Army. However, by 1911 it had…

(“The Irish Guards”, from the Gale and Polden postcard series)

13/…begun to recruit men from across Ireland and the wider British Isles. The Irish Guards would remain the ‘youngest’ regiment in the British Army until the raising of the Welsh Guards in 1915.

Between 1902-1914 the Irish Guards remained on home service…

14/…conducting ceremonial duties. In 1914, the 1st Battalion deployed to France, joined later by the newly raised 2nd Battalion in 1915.

At the time of the…

(“Irish Guards at Bayonet Practice”. Photograph by Christina Broom, courtesy of the Museum of London Docklands)

15/…1911 Census, the regiment was split between Chelsea Barracks and the Guards Depot at Caterham. Although understrength (702 Other Ranks as opposed to a full strength of 977) the regiment was predominantly Irish, with 90% of recruits being born in Ireland.

16/ Recruits could be found across all four Irish provinces and in each of Ireland’s traditional counties, with large numbers of Guardsmen being born in counties Dublin, Antrim and Cork.

17/ We can compare the chart above with a ‘heat map’ of recruitment by county in Eire (image left) and Northern Ireland (image right). Beyond Dublin, we can see that recruitment was focused in the South and North-East of Ireland.

18/ Just under 10% of recruits are non-Irish by birth, 56 being born in England with smaller numbers from Scotland (4) and Wales (3). Of the English born recruits, the majority (34) are born in the South East, with London/Middlesex born soldiers dominating.

19/ Four recruits were born outside of the British Isles, one each in the United States of America and Egypt, with a further two born in India.

Fini/ Thank you for taking the time to read this thread, and please feel free to like, share and comment.

If you have found this thread interesting, you can find other threads on the wider British Army in 1911 by searching for #BattalionCensus or following me at @MAJ_1868_1918