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Cecil Rhodes had engineered the Jameson Raid, an armed invasion of the South African Republic (the Transvaal) across its western border, in December/January 1895/96, by a force of some 500 mounted men led by Dr Jameson. Rhodes had sent a force from the British South Africa Police* in Matabeleland (now a part of Zimbabwe) to participate in the raid, with the result that the unpoliced Ndebele seized the opportunity to rise against the white settlers.
The 2nd Battalion The Royal Irish Rifles was stationed at Poona when a very serious outbreak of bubonic plague took place throughout the Bombay districts in 1896-97. There were many deaths, especially amongst the Indian populations of the towns and villages. The service of British and Indian regiments was placed at the disposal of the civil authorities by Lieutenant General Sir Charles Nairne KCB, Commanding the Forces, Bombay, to assist in the eradication of the epidemic.
The advance of 107 Brigade, following the crossing of the River Lys on 20 October, continued towards the River Scheldt on 22 October 1918. The 2nd Battalion The Royal Irish Rifles captured Klijtberg Hill, a prominent crest crowned with a windmill, but were vigorously counterattacked and driven off the feature by a Prussian assault battalion, being driven back some 800 yards. However, 2 RIR soon launched another attack with two companies and recaptured the feature.
The Secretary of State for War, Hugh Childers, restructured the infantry of the British Army in what was known as the Childers reforms of 1881. The 101st Regiment of Foot (Royal Bengal Fusiliers) and the 104th Regiment of Foot (Bengal Fusiliers) were given Irish territorial titles under the restructuring and designated the 1st and 2nd Battalion The Royal Munster Fusiliers. The Regimental Depot was established at Ballymullen barracks, Tralee and the 3rd, 4th and 5th Battalions were Militia battalions in Counties Cork, Kerry and Limerick.
The Royal Irish Regiment, the Royal Irish Rangers and their antecedent regiments have always been proud of their affiliations with ships of the Royal Navy.
The parade to mark the merger of the Riflemen of the 2nd Battalion with the Riflemen of the 1st Battalion The Royal Ulster Rifles was held at Ballykinler* Camp, Northern Ireland on 1 May 1948. General Sir James Steele, Colonel of the Regiment, inspected the parade and took the salute. The 2nd Battalion was disbanded and thereafter the Battalion was described as the 1st Battalion The Royal Ulster Rifles (83rd and 86th).
The 1st Battalion The Royal Ulster Rifles was initially deployed into the 3rd Division's area in Sarawak to meet three threats to area security:
- Land borne-from incursion across 250 miles of rugged jungle frontier by irregular and regular Indonesian forces
- Seaborne-from small well armed Indonesian terrorists attempting to land and establish training bases for the third threat,
- the internal Clandestine Communist Organisation (CCO) centered in the intensely populated Chinese farming communities of Sibuy, Sarikei, Binatang and the upstream banks of the Rajang river as far as Song.
The advance to the River Han continued and an attack was planned against enemy positions on the north-west spurs of Hill 630. The 1st Battalion The Royal Ulster Rifles was moved forward to an assembly area about 800 metres short of the Chinese positions. Although a preparatory artillery plan was fired, the Brigade Headquarters called off the attack as it was decided there was insufficient daylight left. The Battalion then moved into a hasty defensive position for the night.
The following is an extract from the Regimental History of The Royal Ulster Rifles 1793-1960 by Lieutenant Colonel M J P M Corbally.
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KOREA (1950-51)
After the Battle of Chaegunghyon (Happy Valley), the 1st Battalion The Royal Ulster Rifles withdrew some 40 miles southwards to Pyongtaek where it prepared new defensive positions.
