The Irish on the Somme: Being a Second Series of 'The Irish at the Front'MacDonagh, Michael
History
The Irish on the Somme: Being a Second Series of 'The Irish at the Front'
MacDonagh, Michael
Great Britain. Army; Somme, 1st Battle of the, France, 1916; World War, 1914-1918 -- Regimental histories
From Ireland, according to the latest official figures, 173,772
Irishmen are serving in the Navy and Army, representing all classes
and creeds amongst our people. Careful inquiries made through the
churches in the north of England and Scotland and from other sources,
show that, in addition, at least 150,000 sons of the Irish race, most
of them born in Ireland, have joined the Colours in Great Britain. It
is a pathetic circumstance that these Irishmen in non-Irish regiments
are almost forgotten, except when their names appear in the casualty
lists. Some of the Irish papers have, for a considerable time past,
been publishing special lists of killed and wounded under the heading,
"Irish Casualties in British Regiments." One of these daily lists,
taken quite haphazard, and published on November 1, 1916, contains 225
names, all distinctively Irish--O'Briens, O'Hanlons, Donovans, etc.
These men were scattered amongst the following non-Irish regiments--
Grenadier Guards.
Coldstream Guards.
Scots Guards.
Welsh Guards.
Royal Field Artillery.
Royal Engineers.
Royal Scots Fusiliers.
The Black Watch.
Northumberland Fusiliers.
Yorkshire Regiment.
East Yorks Regiment.
Dorsetshire Regiment.
Cheshire Regiment.
York and Lancaster Regiment.
Lancashire Fusiliers.
King's Royal Rifles.
London Regiment.
Manchester Regiment.
King's Liverpool Regiment.
Loyal North Lancashire Regiment.
Royal Warwickshire Regiment.
Highland Light Infantry.
Leicestershire Regiment.
Worcestershire Regiment.
Sherwood Foresters.
King's Own Yorks Light Infantry.
Border Regiment.
Durham Light Infantry.
Notts. & Derby Regiment.
Machine Gun Corps.
Army Service Corps.
Army Cyclist Corps.
As showing the extent to which Scottish regiments at the Front are
made up of Irishmen, one newspaper quotes four hundred names from the
casualty lists issued on four successive days one week. All the names
are Irish, all the addresses are Scotch, and in only about twenty
cases were the men enrolled in Irish regiments, all the others being
attached to Scottish regiments. These sad records show the many
thousands of Irishmen serving in non-Irish regiments who are never
taken into account to the credit of Ireland, in estimating the part
she is playing in this war, until they come to light in the casualty
lists.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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