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So used are we, in The Royal Irish Regiment, to the sight of the green hackle and to the motto ‘Faugh a Ballagh’ that we often assume that these distinctions have always been with the Regiment and its predecessors. But this is not so, as documents in the National Archives at Kew show.
The whistle was first used by the Light Infantry or Rifles regiments of the British Army from the 19th century. The whistle was used to communicate to soldiers in the noise and heat of battle and there were different whistle calls for different orders in the same way that the infantry used different bugle calls, such as Reveille and Last Post.
The cross belt with whistle attached has been retained as a part of the uniform of today's Royal Irish Regiment, linking the Regiment of today to its antecedent Rifles regiment.
'I have once more to remark upon the devotion to duty, courage, and contempt of danger which has characterized the work of the Chaplains of the Army throughout this campaign.' (Field Marshal Sir John French, after the Battle of Neuve Chapelle, 10-13 March 1915.)
Chaplain to The Forces
Ambassador of Christ you go
Up to the very gates of Hell,
Through fog of powder, storm of shell,
To speak your Master's message: "Lo,
The Prince of Peace is with you still,
His peace be with you, His good-will."
**It is not small, your priesthood's price,
To be a man and yet stand by,
Below is an account of the history of the Irish Great Pipes (píob mhór) and piping in Ireland that appeared in a 1920 print of 'The Pipes of War, a Record of the Achievements of Pipers of Scottish and Overseas Regiments during the War 1914-18'. The term Irish Warpipes, so often used to decribe the píob mhór was in fact an English term.
THEIR HISTORY, DEVELOPMENT, AND DIVERGENCE FROM THE SIMPLE HIGHLAND TYPE
By W. H. Grattan Flood, Mus.D., K.S.G.
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 100th (Prince of Wales's Royal Canadian) Regiment of Foot and The 109th Regiment of Foot (Bombay Infantry) were merged, given Irish territorial titles and designated the 1st Battalion and the 2nd Battalion The Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment (Royal Canadians). Their Home Depot became Crinkill Barracks near Birr, County Offaly. The 3rd, 4th and 5th Battalion were the Militia (Reserve) battalions for the counties of King's, Queen's and Meath.
The Royal Irish Fusiliers Chapel was dedicated on St Patrick’s Day 1950, in memory of all ranks of the Regiment and of the affiliated Militia Regiments of the Counties of Armagh, Cavan and Monaghan who were killed in two world wars.
The Royal Irish Fusiliers
Panoramic (Drag image left, right, up and down to view.)
The Royal Irish Regiment's Regimental Chapel is situated in the north transept of Belfast Cathedral and was dedicated on 6 June 1981.
Construction of the cathedral began in 1899 and in 1976 a fund was launched to complete the original design and include a north transept. The Colonel of The Regiment requested his Advisory Council to study with the cathedral authorities how best the Regiment could help and, at the same time, provide a spiritual home for the Regiment.
On the evening of 7 November 1920 Brigadier General L J Wyatt DSO, Director of Graves Registrations in France, entered a small chapel at Saint-Pol-sur-Ternoise near Arras. There the remains of four unidentified British soldiers, recovered from four different battlefields of the Great War, lay in simple coffins covered with Union flags. Wyatt did not know one from another and with his eyes closed, he placed his hand on one of the coffins. In this simple act Britain's Unknown Warrior was chosen.
At the beginning of December 1917, both the the 2nd and the 5th/6th Battalion The Royal Irish Fusiliers moved up to the front near Beit Sura to the north-west of Jerusalem. The Turks had withdrawn from the Holy City and General Allenby's forces entered the city on 9 December. The public at home had their 'Christmas Present' from Allenby when he entered the city on foot on 11 December.
