The brigade's four
battalions were known as the 1st to 4th Tyneside Irish. When taken over by the
British Army, these became battalions of the
Royal Northumberland Fusiliers: •
24th Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers (1st Tyneside Irish) •
25th Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers (2nd Tyneside Irish) •
26th Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers (3rd Tyneside Irish) •
27th Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers (4th Tyneside Irish) The reserve battalions were the
30th and
34th (Reserve) Battalions, Northumberland Fusiliers (Tyneside Irish). Along with the 101st and 102nd Brigades, the Tyneside Irish made up the
34th Division which arrived in
France in January 1916 and first saw action in the
Battle of the Somme that year. On the
first day on the Somme, the 34th Division attacked astride the
Albert-
Bapaume road at
La Boisselle. The brigade's losses on 1 July were so severe that on the 6th, it, along with the 102nd (Tyneside Scottish) Brigade, was transferred to the
37th Division, swapping with the
112th Brigade. The two brigades returned to the 34th Division on 22 August. In February 1918 the 1st, 3rd and 4th Tyneside Irish battalions were disbanded and the remaining battalion, the 2nd, was transferred to the
116th Brigade of the
39th Division. From then on the Tyneside Irish Brigade ceased to exist and the brigade was simply the
103rd Brigade. == References ==