Black Tyrone
Encyclopedia
The "Black Tyrones" are a fictional Irish regiment mentioned in the poem "The Ballad of Boh Da Thone" by Rudyard Kipling
.
It is presumably raised from County Tyrone in the Province of Ulster, the recruiting grounds of the real-life Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers
and the later Royal Ulster Rifles
.
The poem mentions their service in Burma (modern Myanmar
) in pursuit of a prince-turned-robber named Da Thone and the vain efforts of Captain "Crook" O'Neil and his Black Tyrones to catch him. The regiment is also mentioned in Kipling's short stories Black Jack, The Courting of Dinah Shadd, The Incarnation of Krishna Mulvaney, Love-O'-Women, The Man Who Was and With the Main Guard.
In the 1975 film The Man Who Would Be King
(based upon Kipling's writings) a character guarding the Khyber Pass
, Private Mulvaney, is said to be "a loudmouth Mick from the Black Tyrones."
Rudyard Kipling
Joseph Rudyard Kipling was an English poet, short-story writer, and novelist chiefly remembered for his celebration of British imperialism, tales and poems of British soldiers in India, and his tales for children. Kipling received the 1907 Nobel Prize for Literature...
.
It is presumably raised from County Tyrone in the Province of Ulster, the recruiting grounds of the real-life Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers
Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers
The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers was a Irish infantry regiment of the British Army formed in 1881 by the amalgamation of the 27th Regiment of Foot and the 108th Regiment of Foot...
and the later Royal Ulster Rifles
Royal Ulster Rifles
The Royal Ulster Rifles was a British Army infantry regiment. It saw service in the Second Boer War, Great War, the Second World War and the Korean War, before being amalgamated into the Royal Irish Rangers in 1968.-History:...
.
The poem mentions their service in Burma (modern Myanmar
Myanmar
Burma , officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar , is a country in Southeast Asia. Burma is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest, the Bay of Bengal to the southwest, and the Andaman Sea on the south....
) in pursuit of a prince-turned-robber named Da Thone and the vain efforts of Captain "Crook" O'Neil and his Black Tyrones to catch him. The regiment is also mentioned in Kipling's short stories Black Jack, The Courting of Dinah Shadd, The Incarnation of Krishna Mulvaney, Love-O'-Women, The Man Who Was and With the Main Guard.
In the 1975 film The Man Who Would Be King
The Man Who Would Be King
For the 1975 film based on this story, see The Man Who Would Be King "The Man Who Would Be King" is a short story by Rudyard Kipling. It is about two British adventurers in British India who become kings of Kafiristan, a remote part of Afghanistan...
(based upon Kipling's writings) a character guarding the Khyber Pass
Khyber Pass
The Khyber Pass, is a mountain pass linking Pakistan and Afghanistan.The Pass was an integral part of the ancient Silk Road. It is mentioned in the Bible as the "Pesh Habor," and it is one of the oldest known passes in the world....
, Private Mulvaney, is said to be "a loudmouth Mick from the Black Tyrones."
- See Also