| 18th Regiment of Foot 18th (Royal Irish) Regiment of Foot Royal Irish Regiment | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Royal Irish Regiment Cap Badge | |
| Active | 1684–1922 |
| Disbanded | 1922 |
| Country |  Kingdom of Ireland(1684–1800) United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland(1801–1922) |
| Branch |  British Army |
| Type | Infantry |
| Role | Line infantry |
| Size | 2 Regular battalions 3Militia andSpecial Reserve battalions |
| Garrison/HQ | Kickham Barracks,Clonmel |
| Nicknames | The Namurs, Paddy's Blackguards |
| Motto | Virtutis Namurcensis Praemium (Reward for Valour at Namur) |
| Colors | Royal Blue |
| March | Quick:Garry Owen |
| Engagements | Second Boer War |
TheRoyal Irish Regiment, until 1881 the18th Regiment of Foot, was aninfantryregiment of the line in theBritish Army, first raised in 1684. Also known as the18th (Royal Irish) Regiment of Foot and the18th (The Royal Irish) Regiment of Foot, it was one of eightIrish regiments raised largely inIreland, its home depot inClonmel.[1] It saw service for two and a half centuries before being disbanded with thePartition of Ireland following establishment of the independentIrish Free State in 1922 when the five regiments that had their traditional recruiting grounds in the counties of the new state were disbanded.[2]
The regiment was formed in 1684 by theEarl of Granard from independentcompanies inIreland.[3] AsHamilton's Foot, it served inFlanders during theNine Years War and atNamur on 31 August 1695, took part in the capture of the Terra Nova earthwork, later commemorated in the song 'The British Grenadiers.'[4] In recognition, of this,William III renamed the unit asThe Royal Regiment of Foot of Ireland.[5]
As part of theIrish establishment, it escaped disbandment after the 1697Treaty of Ryswick and when theWar of the Spanish Succession began in 1701, returned to Flanders as part ofMarlborough's field army. It served there throughout the war, including major actions atSchellenberg,Blenheim,Ramillies,Oudenarde andMalplaquet.[6]
The war ended with the 1713Peace of Utrecht and in 1718, the regiment joined the garrison of the British-held island ofMenorca, where it remained here until 1742, with the exception of a detachment sent toGibraltar in1727.[7] The regiment spent most of the next 25 years on garrison duty in Britain and Ireland; in 1751, reforms ended the tradition of naming units after their current colonel and the regiment was officially ranked as the18th Regiment of Foot.[3]
Based in Ireland for most of theSeven Years' War, in July 1767 it arrived inNorth America and spent the next eight years on garrison duty inPhiladelphia and different parts ofIllinois.[8] When theAmerican War of Independence began in April 1775, most of the unit was inBoston; for the first time in over 50 years, it saw action atLexington, Concord andBunker Hill.[9] Boston was abandoned in early 1776 and the regiment evacuated toNova Scotia, where many of its men were drafted into other units, then toDover Castle in England.[10]
In 1782, it moved toGuernsey where in 1783 it helped the local militia put down a mutiny by soldiers of the 104th Regiment based atFort George. The Government of Guernsey publicly thanked both units and awarded them a cash bounty of 100guineas.[11] After this, the unit returned to Gibraltar later in the year, where it remained until theSiege of Toulon in 1793 during theFrench Revolutionary Wars.[12]
The regiment also saw action at theBattle of Alexandria in March 1801.[13] The 1st Battalion served inJamaica and the 2nd Battalion served inCuraçao during theNapoleonic Wars.[14]
On 19 November 1807, 120 members of the 18th Regiment of Foot were drowned whenHM Packet ShipPrince of Wales sank inDublin Bay. They were buried atMerrion Cemetery, Bellevue.[15]During theFirst Opium War in China, the regiment next saw action at theCapture of Chusan in July 1840,Battle of Canton in May 1841,[16]Battle of Amoy in August 1841,[17]Second Capture of Chusan in October 1841,Battle of Ningpo in March 1842,[18]Battle of Tzeki in March 1842,Battle of Chapu in May 1842,Battle of Woosung in June 1842, andBattle of Chinkiang in July 1842.[19] It took part in theSiege of Sevastopol during theCrimean War; CaptainThomas Esmonde was awarded theVictoria Cross for saving a party of colleagues from a fire of shell and grape.[20] The regiment also took part in theSecond Anglo-Afghan War.[21]
The 2nd Battalion, which was re-formed on 18 September 1857, began to arrive in New Zealand from 4 July 1863 and served in theWaikato andTaranaki campaigns of theNew Zealand Wars.[21] CaptainHugh Shaw won the Victoria Cross when he rescued wounded soldiers during a skirmish at Nukumaru nearWhanganui.[22]
The regiment was not fundamentally affected by theCardwell Reforms of the 1870s, which gave it a depot atVictoria Barracks inClonmel from 1873,[23] or by theChilders reforms of 1881 – as it already possessed two battalions, there was no need for it to amalgamate with another regiment.[24] Under the reforms the regiment becameThe Royal Irish Regiment on 1 July 1881.[25] It served as the county regiment ofTipperary,Waterford,Wexford andKilkenny. Militarily, the whole of Ireland was administered as a separate command within theUnited Kingdom with Command Headquarters at Parkgate (Phoenix Park) Dublin, directly under theWar Office in London.[26]
The 1st Battalion was stationed inBritish India and Afghanistan from 1875 to 1884, when it were transferred toEgypt to take part in theNile Expedition. It was back in home barracks from 1885 to 1891, then in Ireland until it was sent toSouth Africa as part of reinforcements for theSecond Boer War in late 1899.[27] The battalion took part in several battles, and played an important role at the Battle of Slabbert's Nek in July 1900 during the war.[28]
The 2nd Battalion saw action in Egypt during theAnglo-Egyptian War in 1882.[21] From 1884 it was stationed atMalta, then in India where it had various postings, including the last inKamptee until it returned home in late 1902.[29]
In 1908, the Volunteers and Militia were reorganised nationally, with the former becoming theTerritorial Force and the latter theSpecial Reserve;[30] the regiment now had two Reserve but no Territorial battalions.[31][3]
The 1st Battalion landed atLe Havre as part of the82nd Brigade in the27th Division in December 1914 for service on theWestern Front but moved toSalonika in November 1915.[33] The 2nd Battalion landed atBoulogne-sur-Mer as part of the8th Brigade in the3rd Division in August 1914 for service on the Western Front but was almost completely destroyed at theBattle of La Bassée in October 1914 with many men being taken asprisoners of war.[33] The battalion was re-formed in October 1914 and, as part of the22nd Brigade in the7th Division saw further action at theBattle of the Somme, when it was involved in capturing three miles of the German frontline trenches, in Autumn 1916.[34]
The 3rd (Reserve) Battalion, largely made up from local Dubliners, were the first army troops to engage the Irish rebels during theEaster Rising: the rebels were fighting to establish anIrish Republic inDublin.[35] Eight of the Royal Irish Regiment were killed and sixteen more wounded.[36] Some of these are buried inGrangegorman Military Cemetery. A Royal Irish Regiment officer reported that "they regarded, not unreasonably, everyone they saw as an enemy, and fired at anything that moved".[37]
The 5th (Service) Battalion (Pioneers) landed inSuvla Bay as pioneer battalion for the10th (Irish) Division in August 1915 but moved to Salonika in September 1915.[33] The 6th (Service) Battalion landed at Le Havre as part of the47th Brigade in the16th (Irish) Division in December 1915 for service on the Western Front.[33] The7th (South Irish Horse) Battalion was formed in France as part of the49th Brigade in the 16th (Irish) Division from the dismounted 1st and 2ndSouth Irish Horse in September 1917.[33]
Due to substantial defence cuts and the establishment of theIrish Free State in 1922, it was agreed that the six formerSouthern Ireland regiments would be disbanded,[38][39] including the Royal Irish Regiment. On 12 June, five regimentalcolours were laid up in a ceremony at St George's Hall,Windsor Castle in the presence ofHM King George V.[40] The six regiments were then all disbanded on 31 July 1922.[3] With the simultaneous outbreak of theIrish Civil War conflict some thousands of their ex-servicemen and officers contributed to expanding the Free State government's newly formedNational Army. They brought considerable combat experience with them and by May 1923 comprised 50 per cent of its 53,000 soldiers and 20 per cent of its officers.[41]
The battle honours of the regiment were:[3]
The following members of the Regiment were awarded theVictoria Cross:
The following are memorials of theGreat War (World War I):
The colonels of the regiment were:[3]
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