Royal Irish Fusiliers
Encyclopedia
The Royal Irish Fusiliers was an Irish
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 infantry regiment of the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...

, formed by the amalgamation of the 87th (Prince of Wales's Irish) Regiment of Foot
87th (Royal Irish Fusiliers) Regiment of Foot
The 87th Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment of the British Army, formed in 1793 and amalgamated into the Princess Victoria's in 1881....

 and the 89th (The Princess Victoria's) Regiment of Foot in 1881
Childers Reforms
The Childers Reforms restructured the infantry regiments of the British army. The reforms were undertaken by Secretary of State for War Hugh Childers in 1881, and were a continuation of the earlier Cardwell reforms....

. The regiment's first title in 1881 was Princess Victoria's (Royal Irish Fusiliers), changed in 1920 to The Royal Irish Fusiliers (Princess Victoria's). Between the time of its formation and Irish independence
Irish Free State
The Irish Free State was the state established as a Dominion on 6 December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty, signed by the British government and Irish representatives exactly twelve months beforehand...

, it was one of eight Irish regiments. In 1968 the regiment was amalgamated with the 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 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:...

 to become the Royal Irish Rangers
Royal Irish Rangers
The Royal Irish Rangers was a regular infantry regiment of the British Army.-Creation:...

.

Early history of constituent regiments

The 87th and 89th Regiments of Foot both saw extensive service in the Napoleonic Wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...

. At the Battle of Barrosa
Battle of Barrosa
The Battle of Barrosa was an unsuccessful French attack on a larger Anglo-Portuguese-Spanish force attempting to lift the siege of Cádiz, Spain during the Peninsular War...

 in 1811 the 2nd battalion of the 87th became famous as the first British Army unit to capture a French Imperial eagle in battle. It was during the Peninsular War
Peninsular War
The Peninsular War was a war between France and the allied powers of Spain, the United Kingdom, and Portugal for control of the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic Wars. The war began when French and Spanish armies crossed Spain and invaded Portugal in 1807. Then, in 1808, France turned on its...

 that the regiment got its nickname, the Faughs, from their Irish war cry "Faugh A Ballagh
Faugh A Ballagh
Faugh a Ballagh is a battle cry of Irish origin, meaning "clear the way". The spelling is an 18th-century anglicization of the Irish language phrase Fág an Bealach, also written Fág a' Bealach. Its first recorded use as a regimental motto was by the Royal Irish Fusiliers in 1798...

" (Fág a' Bealach, meaning Clear the Way).

The 87th Regiment subsequently saw service in the Burmese War of 1824-26, where the battle honour "Ava" was gained. The 89th Regiment served in the Crimean War (1854) and the Indian Mutiny (1857).

Following amalgamation in 1885 battalions of the Royal Irish Fusiliers saw active service in Egypt and the Sudan (1882 and 1898) and the Boer War
Boer War
The Boer Wars were two wars fought between the British Empire and the two independent Boer republics, the Oranje Vrijstaat and the Republiek van Transvaal ....

 (1899–1902).

Prior to World War I

Militarily, the whole of Ireland was administered as a separate command within the United Kingdom
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom during the period when what is now the Republic of Ireland formed a part of it....

 with Command Headquarters at Parkgate (Phoenix Park
Phoenix Park
Phoenix Park is an urban park in Dublin, Ireland, lying 2–4 km west of the city centre, north of the River Liffey. Its 16 km perimeter wall encloses , one of the largest walled city parks in Europe. It includes large areas of grassland and tree-lined avenues, and since the seventeenth...

) Dublin, directly under the War Office
War Office
The War Office was a department of the British Government, responsible for the administration of the British Army between the 17th century and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the Ministry of Defence...

 in London. In peace-time the Royal Irish Fusiliers had the counties of Armagh
County Armagh
-History:Ancient Armagh was the territory of the Ulaid before the fourth century AD. It was ruled by the Red Branch, whose capital was Emain Macha near Armagh. The site, and subsequently the city, were named after the goddess Macha...

, Monaghan
County Monaghan
County Monaghan is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Border Region and is also located in the province of Ulster. It is named after the town of Monaghan. Monaghan County Council is the local authority for the county...

 and Cavan
County Cavan
County Cavan is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Border Region and is also located in the province of Ulster. It is named after the town of Cavan. Cavan County Council is the local authority for the county...

 as its recruiting area. The regimental garrison depot was located at Armagh town
Armagh
Armagh is a large settlement in Northern Ireland, and the county town of County Armagh. It is a site of historical importance for both Celtic paganism and Christianity and is the seat, for both the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of Ireland, of the Archbishop of Armagh...

. The pre-1914 full dress of the regiment comprised a scarlet tunic with dark blue facings, worn with dark blue trousers and the standard fusilier racoon-skin cap. Regimental distinctions included a green plume worn on the left side of the headdress and an Irish harp as part of the badge.

World War I

Battalions of the regiment served with the 10th Irish Division and 36th (Ulster) Division during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

. The 1st Battalion fought at Le Cateau, the Marne, the Somme, Arras, Cambrai and Ypres, losing 1,058 dead throughout the War. The 2nd Battalion served on the Western Front, Macedonia and Palestine. In addition to the two regular battalions, a further six were raised during 1914-18. The regiment as a whole won 44 battle honours in the course of the War, suffering 3,181 dead and more than 15,000 wounded.

6th Battalion Royal Irish Fusiliers in the Gallipoli Campaign

The 6th Battalion Royal Irish Fusiliers received orders to embark for service in the Dardanelles
Dardanelles
The Dardanelles , formerly known as the Hellespont, is a narrow strait in northwestern Turkey connecting the Aegean Sea to the Sea of Marmara. It is one of the Turkish Straits, along with its counterpart the Bosphorus. It is located at approximately...

 on 9 July 1915 as part of the 31st Brigade, 10th (Irish) Division. At the time the battalion was with the rest of the 10th (Irish) Division (less Divisional Artillery which had been sent to France previously) in Basingstoke having just completed their training.The Division was part of Kitcheners New Army
Kitchener's Army
The New Army, often referred to as Kitchener's Army or, disparagingly, Kitchener's Mob, was an all-volunteer army formed in the United Kingdom following the outbreak of hostilities in the First World War...

; made up of generally of raw recruits with a sprinkling of older men who had already seen military service (i.e. Boer War and India) and who had either been recalled to the colours or had volunteered on the outbreak of war.

The battalion left Basingstoke in successive train loads on 12 July arriving at Keyham Dockyard, Plymouth where they were to embark upon the SS Canada. Owing to non-arrival of the vessel, the battalion located to a rest camp at Pull Point, Devonport overnight.

On 13 July the battalion and ammunition column commenced embarkation upon the SS Canada, setting sail the following day at 5 pm.

The vessel passed Gibraltar
Gibraltar
Gibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...

 on 18 July and arrived in Malta on 21 July for coaling. The vessel then sailed for Alexandria
Alexandria
Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...

; arriving on 24 July.

On 26 July the vessel arrived at Mudros
Moudros
Moudros is a town and a former municipality on the island of Lemnos, North Aegean, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Lemnos, of which it is a municipal unit. It covers the entire eastern peninsula of the island, with a land area of 185.127 km²,...

 Harbour, Lemnos Island and during the period to 31 July the battalion participated in the disembarkation and sorting of stores and equipment; it having been recognised that equipment had not been loaded securely or in the correct order.

On the evening of 31 July the SS Canada sailed for Mytilene
Mytilene
Mytilene is a town and a former municipality on the island of Lesbos, North Aegean, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Lesbos, of which it is a municipal unit. It is the capital of the island of Lesbos. Mytilene, whose name is pre-Greek, is built on the...

 Harbour, Lesbos Island arriving on 1 August. During the next few days the battalion undertook route marches around the island. A part of the battalion was inspected by General Sir Ian Hamilton
Ian Standish Monteith Hamilton
General Sir Ian Standish Monteith Hamilton GCB GCMG DSO TD was a general in the British Army and is most notably for commanding the ill-fated Mediterranean Expeditionary Force during the Battle of Gallipoli....

; C in C Mediterranean Expeditionary Force
Mediterranean Expeditionary Force
The Mediterranean Expeditionary Force was part of the British Army during World War I, that commanded all Allied forces at Gallipoli and Salonika. This included the initial naval operation to force the straits of the Dardanelles. Its headquarters was formed in March 1915...

.

On 5 August the battalion received orders to be prepared to move by 12 noon the following day to a destination not yet stated. At 5-30 pm on 6 August the battalion sailed to Suvla Bay
Suvla
Suvla is a bay on the Aegean coast of the Gallipoli peninsula in European Turkey, south of the Gulf of Saros.On 6 August 1915 it was the site for the Landing at Suvla Bay by the British IX Corps as part of the August Offensive during the Battle of Gallipoli...

, Gallipoli
Gallipoli
The Gallipoli peninsula is located in Turkish Thrace , the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles straits to the east. Gallipoli derives its name from the Greek "Καλλίπολις" , meaning "Beautiful City"...

 aboard the minesweepers “Snaefell” and “Honeysuckle”. At this time the battalion comprised 778 officers and other ranks.

At 4-35 am on 7 August the “Snaefell” and “Honeysuckle” arrived off Suvla Bay
Landing at Suvla Bay
The landing at Suvla Bay was an amphibious landing made at Suvla on the Aegean coast of Gallipoli peninsula in the Ottoman Empire as part of the August Offensive, the final British attempt to break the deadlock of the Battle of Gallipoli...

 under heavy shrapnel fire. A landing was made at 8-30 am with the battalion going into action in support of the 5th Battalion Royal Irish Fusiliers and East Yorkshire Regiment at 9 am the same morning. On its first day of action the battalion suffered casualties of 1 officer wounded, 12 other ranks killed and 76 other ranks wounded or missing.

Overnight the battalion occupied trenches atop Hill 53 and during the following days provided support and reinforcement to other troops attacking Hill 70. During the period 8 to 9 August the battalion suffered further casualties of 5 officers killed, 12 officers wounded or missing, 12 other ranks killed and 220 other ranks wounded or missing. The battalion was suffering from the environment in which they were serving and existed on the “iron” rations with which they had landed since no supplies were able to get to them.

Having received supplies late on 9 August; the battalion held Hill 53 until relieved by the Essex Regiment on 10 August. The battalion was rested in reserve lines for the next few days.

The battalion moved into support trenches on 13 August and the following day received reinforcements of 5 officers and 159 other ranks from the battalion reserve at Mudros.

During 15 to 16 August the battalion was engaged in heavy fighting against Turkish Infantry on the Kiretch Tepe Ridge suffering losses of 10 officers and 210 other ranks killed, wounded or missing.

The battalion located to support trenches or rest areas during the period 17 August to 29 September taking part in almost daily skirmishes with the Turkish Infantry.

On 1 September the battalion was now recorded as comprising 5 officers and 388 other ranks, as well as losses through enemy action the battalion was increasingly suffering from ill health.

At 4 am on 30 September the battalion left Suvla Bay; arriving at Lemnos Island at 8-30 am on the same day.

The 5th and 6th Battalions Royal Irish Fusiliers were subsequently amalgamated and continued service together until the cessation of hostilities in 1918.
The 5/6th served in Salonika/the Balkans then were sent to Palestine. In 1918 they were transferred to France and became part of the 48th Brigade in the 16th (Irish) Division. By November 1918 they had advanced to the border with Belgium.

1916 Easter Rising

The Royal Irish Fusiliers fought against the Irish rebels, who were fighting to end British rule in Ireland and to establish the Irish Republic
Irish Republic
The Irish Republic was a revolutionary state that declared its independence from Great Britain in January 1919. It established a legislature , a government , a court system and a police force...

 during the Easter Rising
Easter Rising
The Easter Rising was an insurrection staged in Ireland during Easter Week, 1916. The Rising was mounted by Irish republicans with the aims of ending British rule in Ireland and establishing the Irish Republic at a time when the British Empire was heavily engaged in the First World War...

. Two of the Royal Irish Fusiliers were killed and six more wounded.

Battle honours

The Regiment was awarded the following battle honours
Battle honours of the British and Imperial Armies
The following battle honours were awarded to units of the British Army and the armies of British India and the Dominions of the British Empire. From their institution until the end of the Second World War, awards were made by, or in consultation with, the British government, but, since 1945, the...

. Those shown in bold from the two World Wars were those selected to be emblazoned on the Kings's Colour.
  • From 87th Regiment of Foot: Monte Video, Talavera, Barrosa, Tarifa, Vittoria, Nivelle, Orthes, Toulouse, Peninsula, Ava
  • From 89th Regiment of Foot: Egypt, Java, Niagara, Ava, Sevastopol
  • Tel-el-Kebir, Egypt 1882 '84, Relief of Ladysmith, South Africa 1899-1902
  • The Great War (14 battalions): Le Cateau, Retreat from Mons, Marne 1914, Aisne 1914, Armentières 1914, Hill 60, Ypres 1915 '17 '18, Gravenstafel, St. Julien, Frezenberg, Bellewaarde, Somme 1916 '18, Albert 1916, Guillemont, Ginchy, Le Transloy, Arras 1917, Scarpe 1917, Messines 1917 '18, Langemarck 1917, Cambrai 1917, St. Quentin, Rosières, Lys, Bailleul, Kemmel, Courtrai, France and Flanders 1914-18, Kosturino, Struma, Macedonia 1915-17, Suvla, Landing at Suvla, Scimitar Hill, Gallipoli 1915, Gaza, Jerusalem, Tell 'Asur, Megiddo, Nablus, Palestine 1917-18
  • The Second World War: Withdrawal to Escaut, St. Omer-La Bassée, Bou Arada, Stuka Farm, Oued Zarga, Djebel bel Mahdi, Djebel Ang, Djebel Tanngoucha, Adrano, Centuripe, Salso Crossing, Simeto Crossing, Malleto, Termoli, Trigno, Sangro, Fossacesia, Cassino II, Liri Valley, Trasimene Line, Monte Spaduro, Monte Grande, Argenta Gap, San Nicolo Canal, Leros, Malta 1940

Victoria Cross

Recipients of the Victoria Cross
Victoria Cross
The Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth countries, and previous British Empire territories....

:
  • Private Robert Morrow
    Robert Morrow
    Robert Morrow VC was born in Newmills, Dungannon, County Tyrone, Ireland and was an Irish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.-Details:He was 23 years old, and a...

    . 1st Bn Royal Irish Fusiliers. 1915. Messines
    Battle of Messines
    The Battle of Messines was a battle of the Western front of the First World War. It began on 7 June 1917 when the British Second Army under the command of General Herbert Plumer launched an offensive near the village of Mesen in West Flanders, Belgium...

    .
  • Lieutenant Geoffrey St George Shillington Cather. 9th Bn Royal Irish Fusiliers. 1916. Hamel
    Hamel
    Hamel may refer to:* Hamel, Western Australia, town* Hamel, Nord, a commune of the Nord département, in northern France* Beaumont-Hamel, a commune of the Somme département, in northern France...

    , Somme.

Royal Irish Fusiliers Museum

The Royal Irish Fusiliers Museum is located on the Mall in Armagh
Armagh
Armagh is a large settlement in Northern Ireland, and the county town of County Armagh. It is a site of historical importance for both Celtic paganism and Christianity and is the seat, for both the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of Ireland, of the Archbishop of Armagh...

, County Armagh
County Armagh
-History:Ancient Armagh was the territory of the Ulaid before the fourth century AD. It was ruled by the Red Branch, whose capital was Emain Macha near Armagh. The site, and subsequently the city, were named after the goddess Macha...

, Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

  The exhibits include uniforms, medals, regalia and the two Victoria Crosses won by the Regiment. The Regimental archive and library may be viewed by appointment.

Great War Memorials

  • Irish National War Memorial Gardens
    Irish National War Memorial Gardens
    The Irish National War Memorial Gardens is an Irish war memorial in Islandbridge, Dublin dedicated "to the memory of the 49,400 Irish soldiers who gave their lives in the Great War, 1914–1918", out of over 300,000 Irishmen who served in all armies....

      Dublin.
  • Ulster Tower Memorial
    Ulster Tower Thiepval
    The Ulster Tower is a memorial to the men of the 36th Division. The memorial was officially opened on November 19, 1921 and is a very close copy of Helen's Tower which stands in the grounds of the Clandeboye Estate, near Bangor, County Down in Northern Ireland...

     Thiepval, France.
  • Island of Ireland Peace Park
    Island of Ireland Peace Park
    The Island of Ireland Peace Park and its surrounding park , also called the Irish Peace Park or Irish Peace Tower in Messines, near Ypres in Flanders, Belgium, is a war memorial to the soldiers of the island of Ireland who died, were wounded or are missing from World War I, during Ireland's...

     Messines, Belgium.
  • Menin Gate Memorial Ypres, Belgium.
  • Helles Memorial Cape Helles, Gallipoli Peninsula, Turkey

External links

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