I have focussed on the men who served with the battalion during the first two months of the war partly because the events that unfolded between August and October 1914 are in themselves extraordinary. In a few short weeks there took place the first hostile contact between the British and the Germans at Mons, the crucial battle of Le Cateau, the long and hot retreat to the outskirts of Paris, the successes on the Marne and the stalling of the allies’ advance at the Aisne. Then, at the beginning of October 1914 the battalion was redeployed north and took part in the fighting around La Bassee. On the 20th of October at Le Pilly, they were surrounded and overwhelmed. All but 135 men and one officer were either killed, wounded and/or taken prisoner. This means that since they had disembarked in France on 14th August well over a thousand members of the battalion had become casualties. Such a casualty rate among the battalions of the First World War may not in itself be exceptional. However, what needs to be taken into account is the fact that many of those who proceeded to France with the 2nd Battalion Royal Irish Regiment had been serving together for years and in some cases decades. Some may have fought together in the Boer War or have had a shared experience of the hardship of years of service in India. They genuinely were comrades in arms, which must have made the destruction of this regular army battalion all the more affecting for those who survived. The first day of the Somme may well have produced equally shocking statistics. However, the close camaraderie of the regular army was by then a thing of the past and replaced by a weary acceptance of the brutalities of trench warfare and an understanding that too great an investment in those around you was best avoided. It is the poignancy of all those friendships and long-standing associations torn asunder in eight short weeks that makes this tale so compelling.
Created by: , Patrick63223
British Army 10442 Private Royal Irish Regiment 2nd Battalion (embarkation for France to join BEF)
Born 1893
Died 1914
British Army 10299 Private Royal Irish Regiment 2nd Battalion
British Army 10714 Private Royal Irish Regiment 2nd Battalion (embarkation for France to join BEF)
Born 1896
Died 1914
British Army 4422 Private Royal Irish Regiment 2nd Battalion
British Army L/15366 Private Corps of Lancers
British Army 10730 Private Royal Irish Regiment
British Army 9139 Private Royal Irish Regiment
British Army 344691 Lance Corporal Royal Air Force
British Army 9139 Lance Corporal Royal Irish Regiment
Born 1894
Died 1914
British Army 10815 Lance Corporal Royal Irish Regiment 2nd Battalion
Born 1895
Died 1914
British Army 9981 Drummer Royal Irish Regiment 2nd Battalion
Died 1914
British Army 6820 Private Royal Irish Regiment
British Army 6820 Lance Corporal Royal Irish Regiment 2nd Battalion
British Army 9946 Private Royal Irish Regiment 2nd Battalion (embarkation for France to join BEF)
Died 1914
British Army 10535 Private Royal Irish Regiment 2nd Battalion
Died 1914
British Army 10864 Private Royal Irish Regiment 2nd Battalion
British Army 23065 Private Royal Garrison Artillery
British Army 8566 Lance Corporal Royal Irish Regiment