British Army Service Records Most researchers tracing an Irish First World War ancestor will start with the Army Service Records, the largest of all the British services. Their poor survival is one of the reasons we have no definitive figures for the Irishmen who fought in this war. In 1940–1 approximately two thirds of all … Read more
In the spring of 1914, Ulster’s political antagonisms reached fever pitch. The British government sent military reinforcements to guard key installations in the north of Ireland, while Royal Navy gunboats sailed along the coast. On an April night, ships docked at Larne, Bangor and Donaghadee, bringing consignments of rifles purchased by unionists in Hamburg. Within … Read more
On 9 August the Newtownards Chronicle posed this question to the young men of the district. The newspaper was referring to the reserve battalion of the Royal Irish Rifles, the British regiment that recruited locally. Many people in Newtownards referred to this unit by an earlier designation, the North Down Militia. The Irish militia tradition … Read more
Irish women were well placed to adapt quickly and efficiently to the challenges initiated by Britain’s declaration of war against Germany in August 1914. The country’s existing network of philanthropic and political organisations provided a firm foundation for a wide variety of voluntary war work, and they were quickly bolstered by a raft of new … Read more
Eight infantry regiments of the British Army recruited in Ireland, each of which maintained a peacetime complement of two ‘active’ battalions and at least one battalion of reservists. The exception to this rule was the London-based Irish Guards regiment, which only retained a single battalion of choice troops. As the fundamental tactical unit of the … Read more