Royal Irish Rifles to Matabeleland Rebellion

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.

With the Shona nation the Ndebele fought what was described as the Second Matabele War and is now referred to by the state of Zimbabwe as the First War of Independence. The British government sent troops to assist in suppressing the rising including a composite battalion of mounted infantry (four companies). The Irish company in the Mounted Infantry Battalion included one section of the 1st Battalion The Royal Irish Rifles’ Mounted Infantry.

The mounted detachment, under Lieutenant King-Harman, consisted of one Colour Serjeant, one Serjeant, one Corporal, and twenty-five Riflemen. They left the 1st Battalion at Brighton at the end of April 1896 to join the Mounted Infantry Battalion at Aldershot and then sailed from Southampton to Capetown. Although matters had improved in Matabeleland, the Irish company and a composite infantry company sailed from Capetown at the end of June, picked up more horses in Durban, and then reached Beira in Portuguese Mozambique where they were joined by Artillery, Engineers, logistical and medical support, plus infantry with machine guns. A camp was formed at Fontesvilla, forty miles up the Pungwe River, and men, horses, and materiel, including six months' food supply, were moved there. The Royal Irish Rifles section remained at Beira unloading horses and supplies until it moved to Fontesvilla, ‘a foul spot, infested with fever and lions’. It remained there for a week, then moved by train some 120 miles to Chirmois, close to the railhead.

On 20 July, the Irish company began a 230-mile march to Salisbury, reaching Massikessi, a small Portuguese town on the border and crossing into Mashonaland on 23 July 1896. On the march to Salisbury many lions, ostriches, and various kinds of buck were seen and the Force reached Salisbury, Rhodesia (now Harare, Zimbabwe) on 16 August 1896.

*
The British South Africa Police was said to have been modelled on the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) with the first officers trained by the RIC at its Depot in Phoenix Park, Dublin.