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In April 1800, the Inniskillings moved to Dover Castle, where, on 25 May, for the first time in their history, they became a two-battalion regiment.
At the beginning of the 19th century, linen production across Ireland was largely domestic in nature. However, with advances in loom technology, pioneered by James Kay of Preston, by 1825, wet spinning meant the natural fibres of flax could be spun to produce a much finer yarn. Linen was then able to compete with the cotton industry. This transformed and formalised the industry. By the end of the 19th century, there were over 200 companies across Ulster, employing over 70,000 people.
Once they had been brought up to strength and re-equipped, the 2nd Inniskillings arrived in Egypt in June 1943 having seen service in Madagascar, India and Persia. On 10 July 1943, the Battalion, now part of the 5th Division, took part in Operation HUSKY, the invasion of Sicily. They landed at Cassibile, south of Siracuse port and their final battle in Sicily was at Tremonte on the slopes of Mt Etna.
Siege of Ladysmith, Natal, South Africa 30 October 1899 - 28 February 1900.
The British Government dispatched fifteen thousand soldiers in response to the unrest in Southern Africa. The Boer leadership's reply was to raise twenty-one thousand of their own men. Despite warnings by other senior British officers to keep British troops closer to the coast, Lieutenant General Sir George White moved his soldiers into the Natal Triangle.
The 2nd Battalion The Royal Irish Rangers, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel R N Wheeler, moved from Assaye Barracks Tidworth to Wavell Barracks, West Berlin during October 1981.
2 R IRISH move from Berlin to Connaught Barracks, Dover, Kent during November 1983.
The 2nd Battalion The Royal Irish Rangers, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel R McCrum MVO, moved from Deilinghofen, Federal Republic of Germany to Assaye Barracks, Tidworth, Wiltshire during 1-30 Apr 1979. In August 1979, Lieutenant Colonel R N Wheeler assumed command of 2 R IRISH and commanded the Battalion during the deployment to Belize.
2 R IRISH, commanded by Lt Col C M Brennan MC, trooped the new Regimental Colour at Battlesbury Barracks, Warminster on 29 September 1972.
The 2nd Battalion The Royal Irish Rangers (2 R IRISH), commanded by Lt Col H Howard, deployed from Doniford Camp, Watchet, Somerset to Bahrain for a ten month unaccompanied tour on 1 Jun 1970, as one of the last tokens of a British presence in the Arabian Gulf following the Labour Government's decision to withdraw from the region.
In 1964, the colony of British Honduras was granted full internal self-government and the official name of the territory was changed to Belize in June 1973. However, Guatemala claimed that Belize was a legacy of the Spanish Empire’s Guatemalan territories and alleged that as a result of the failure by the British to fulfil previous (1859) treaty obligations, including the building of a road to the coast, Belize must ‘revert’ to Guatemalan sovereignty. In 1972 Guatemala broke off negotiations and mobilized its troops along the border.
