Formation to end 19th century The regiment was formed in 1684 by the
Earl of Granard from independent
companies in
Ireland. As '''Hamilton's Foot''', it served in
Flanders during the
Nine Years War and at
Namur on 31 August 1695, took part in the capture of the Terra Nova earthwork, later commemorated in the song '
The British Grenadiers.' In recognition, of this,
William III renamed the unit as
The Royal Regiment of Foot of Ireland. As part of the
Irish establishment, it escaped disbandment after the 1697
Treaty of Ryswick and when the
War of the Spanish Succession began in 1701, returned to Flanders as part of
Marlborough's field army. It served there throughout the war, including major actions at
Schellenberg,
Blenheim,
Ramillies,
Oudenarde and
Malplaquet. The war ended with the 1713
Peace of Utrecht and in 1718, the regiment joined the garrison of the British-held island of
Menorca, where it remained here until 1742, with the exception of a detachment sent to
Gibraltar in
1727. The regiment spent most of the next 25 years on garrison duty in Britain and Ireland; in 1751, reforms ended the tradition of naming units after their current colonel and the regiment was officially ranked as the
18th Regiment of Foot. When the
American War of Independence began in April 1775, most of the unit was in
Boston; for the first time in over 50 years, it saw action at
Lexington, Concord and
Bunker Hill. Boston was abandoned in early 1776 and the regiment evacuated to
Nova Scotia, where many of its men were drafted into other units, then to
Dover Castle in England. In 1782, it moved to
Guernsey where in 1783 it helped the local militia put down a mutiny by soldiers of the 104th Regiment based at
Fort George. The Government of Guernsey publicly thanked both units and awarded them a cash bounty of 100
guineas. After this, the unit returned to Gibraltar later in the year, where it remained until the
Siege of Toulon in 1793 during the
French Revolutionary Wars.
The 19th century in China, 26 August 1841 The regiment also saw action at the
Battle of Alexandria in March 1801. The 1st Battalion served in
Jamaica and the 2nd Battalion served in
Curaçao during the
Napoleonic Wars. On 19 November 1807, 120 members of the 18th Regiment of Foot were drowned when
HM Packet Ship Prince of Wales sank in
Dublin Bay. They were buried at
Merrion Cemetery, Bellevue. During the
First Opium War in China, the regiment next saw action at the
Capture of Chusan in July 1840,
Battle of Canton in May 1841,
Battle of Amoy in August 1841,
Second Capture of Chusan in October 1841,
Battle of Ningpo in March 1842,
Battle of Tzeki in March 1842,
Battle of Chapu in May 1842,
Battle of Woosung in June 1842, and
Battle of Chinkiang in July 1842. It took part in the
Siege of Sevastopol during the
Crimean War; Captain
Thomas Esmonde was awarded the
Victoria Cross for saving a party of colleagues from a fire of shell and grape. The regiment also took part in the
Second Anglo-Afghan War. The 2nd Battalion, which was re-formed on 18 September 1857, began to arrive in New Zealand from 4 July 1863 and served in the
Waikato and
Taranaki campaigns of the
New Zealand Wars. The regiment was not fundamentally affected by the
Cardwell Reforms of the 1870s, which gave it a depot at
Victoria Barracks in
Clonmel from 1873, or by the
Childers reforms of 1881 – as it already possessed two battalions, there was no need for it to amalgamate with another regiment. Under the reforms the regiment became
The Royal Irish Regiment on 1 July 1881. It served as the county regiment of
Tipperary,
Waterford,
Wexford and
Kilkenny. Militarily, the whole of Ireland was administered as a separate command within the
United Kingdom with Command Headquarters at Parkgate (
Phoenix Park) Dublin, directly under the
War Office in London. The 1st Battalion was stationed in
British India and Afghanistan from 1875 to 1884, when it were transferred to
Egypt to take part in the
Nile Expedition. It was back in home barracks from 1885 to 1891, then in Ireland until it was sent to
South Africa as part of reinforcements for the
Second Boer War in late 1899. The battalion took part in several battles, and played an important role at the Battle of Slabbert's Nek in July 1900 during the war. The 2nd Battalion saw action in Egypt during the
Anglo-Egyptian War in 1882. In 1908, the Volunteers and Militia were reorganised nationally, with the former becoming the
Territorial Force and the latter the
Special Reserve; the regiment now had two Reserve but no Territorial battalions.
Regular Army The 1st Battalion landed at
Le Havre as part of the
82nd Brigade in the
27th Division in December 1914 for service on the
Western Front but moved to
Salonika in November 1915. The 2nd Battalion landed at
Boulogne-sur-Mer as part of the
8th Brigade in the
3rd Division in August 1914 for service on the Western Front but was almost completely destroyed at the
Battle of La Bassée in October 1914 with many men being taken as
prisoners of war. The 3rd (Reserve) Battalion, largely made up from local Dubliners, were the first army troops to engage the Irish rebels during the
Easter Rising: the rebels were fighting to establish an
Irish Republic in
Dublin. Eight of the Royal Irish Regiment were killed and sixteen more wounded. Some of these are buried in
Grangegorman Military Cemetery. A Royal Irish Regiment officer reported that "
they regarded, not unreasonably, everyone they saw as an enemy, and fired at anything that moved".
New Armies The 5th (Service) Battalion (Pioneers) landed in
Suvla Bay as pioneer battalion for the
10th (Irish) Division in August 1915 but moved to Salonika in September 1915. including the Royal Irish Regiment. On 12 June, five regimental
colours were laid up in a ceremony at St George's Hall,
Windsor Castle in the presence of
HM King George V. The six regiments were then all disbanded on 31 July 1922. ==Battle honours==