Explore Listing
During the Great War, The Royal Irish Fusiliers formed a maximum of 14 battalions, three of which were Garrison Battalions. Eleven battalions served overseas and at war's end only four of the front line fighting battalions were still in existence; the 1st, the 5th/6th and the 9th Battalion were in Mouscron, Belgium, and the 2nd Battalion was in Masudiye, Palestine where hostilities with Turkey had ceased at noon on 31 October 1918.
On 11 December 1899, when the 2nd Battalion The Royal Irish Rifles had withdrawn to the town of Molteno, General Gatacre inspected the Battalion and explained to the Riflemen on parade the reasons for his defeat on the previous day and why his plans had failed.
The 2nd Battalion The Royal Irish Rifles, on 25 October 1899, marched from Belfast Infantry Barracks* to the Great Northern Railway Station*, Belfast and entrained for Queenstown**, County Cork, where it embarked on the Britannic (right) bound for South Africa. Its strength was 27 officers and 872 other ranks.
On 29 September 1918, the 36th (Ulster) Division was concentrated in the area to the east of Ypres before continuing the offensive against the Germans during the Fifth Battle of Ypres.
109 Brigade captured Becelaere and Terhand. Divisional Headquarters then ordered 108 Brigade to pass through 109 Brigade and penetrate as far as the Menin-Roules road. This meant advancing one mile over open farmland dominated by a high feature known as Hill 41. Three farms occupied the general area of Hill 41 and each of these was a German stronghold with machine-gun posts.
During the Great War, the number of battalions of The Royal Irish Rifles increased to a maximum of 22. At war's end, the 1st and the 2nd (Regular) Battalion, and the 12th, the 15th and the 16th (Service) Battalion were at Mouscron, Belgium. The 6th (Service) Battalion had been disbanded and dispersed at Ludd, Palestine on 15 May. The 3rd (Reserve) Battalion was in Larkhill, England and the 1st Garrison Battalion (included in the total of 22 battalions) was in India.
During November 1916, there was a remarkable assemblage of battalions of The Royal Irish Rifles within a six-mile front near Ypres. Those battalions present were the 2nd, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th and 16th. It is probable that eleven battalions from a single regiment spread within six miles of front constitutes a record.
On 3 April 1900, Captain McWhinnie and a column were on duty proclaiming the Queen's Peace and accepting the surrender of Boer farmers in the area of Reddersberg. When unexpectedly threatened by a large Boer Commando, Captain McWhinnie and his three rifle companies and one mounted company of the 2nd Battalion The Royal Irish Rifles (and one attached mounted company of the 5th Fusiliers), adopted a defensive position on a nearby feature which was too large for his small force to defend.
When the South African, or Second Boer War, broke out in 1899, the struggle against the Boers proved to be a major test for the Regular Army. It became necessary to reinforce the troops sent to South Africa with units from the Dominions and with reserve forces from the UK.
The 2nd Battalion The Royal Irish Rifles, having completed sixteen years of service overseas, returned during 1899 from Poona, India to Belfast Barracks*, Ireland. Their stay there was short.
Muhammad Ahmad, the self-proclaimed Mahdi (the Guided One) had proclaimed a Jihad and led the uprising in the Sudan, known as the Mahdi Revolt, against the Khedivate of Egypt. The revolt began in 1881 and although Muhammad Ahmad died in 1885, the revolt continued under his successor, Khalifa Abdallahi ibn Muhammad, until 1899. British interests in Egypt were driven by their acquisition of the Suez Canal and the growth of British political and military involvement.
