Lives of the First World War

WW1 Royal Irish Regiment cap badge

WW1 Royal Irish Regiment cap badge

SS Herschel, the ship which transported the Royal Irish Regiment across the channel to France. They disembarked in Boulogne on 14th August 1914.

The area around the hospital and cemetery, to the east of Mons, where the Royal Irish Regiment first came in contact with the enemy

La Bascule crossroads, Mons, Belgium, where a small detachment of the Royal Irish Regiment held out for hours against a superior enemy force.

Restaurant Leon on Chausee de Binche on the site of the former Chateau Gendebien which was used as a Red Cross hospital at the time of the Battle of Mons

The road south on the western edge of Bois La Haut, Mons. The Royal Irish Regiment were hotly pursued down this road by the Germans on the afternoon of the 23rd August 1914.

Map of the Battle of Mons from The Campaigns and History of the Royal Irish Regiment, Vol. II (drawn by Major St.Leger)

The Memorial to the Royal Irish Regiment at Mons overlooks the ground on which the 2nd Battalion fought on the 23rd August 1914. It was unveiled by Lord Ypres on 11th November 1923.

The plaque at the base of the Mons memorial to the 2nd Battalion Royal Irish Regiment. The memorial was unveiled on 11th November 1923 at La Bascule crossroads.

The fields between Caudry and Audencourt where the fighting between the Royal Irish Regiment and the advancing Germans took place on 26th August 1914.

The road cutting south west of Audencourt where Lieutenant Colonel Cox, Commanding Officer of the 2nd Battalion Royal Irish Regiment was severely wounded at around 10 am on the morning of 26th August 1914.

Map of the actions at Caudry/Audencourt from The Campaigns and History of the Royal Irish Regiment, Vol. II (drawn by Major St.Leger)

Orly-sur-Morin where the Royal Irish Regiment came in contact with the enemy on 8th September 1914

Map of the action at Orly on 8th September 1914 (from the War Diary and drawn by Major St Leger)

Le Chateau de Vauxcelles, Vailly-sur-Aisne, in the vicinity of which the Royal Irish Regiment were dug in during the fighting in September 1914

Courcelles where the 2nd Battalion Royal Irish Regiment rested and refitted after the Battle of the Aisne

The La Ferté-sous-Jouarre Memorial commemorates 3,740 officers and men of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) who fell at the battles of Mons, Le Cateau, the Marne and the Aisne between the end of August and early October 1914 and have no known graves...The memorial was designed by George H. Goldsmith, a decorated veteran of the Western Front, and unveiled by Sir William Pulteney, who had commanded the III Corps of the BEF in 1914, on 4 November 1928. (From CWGC Cemetery Details)

One of the ditches which were occupied by the Royal Irish Regiment at Le Pilly on 19th/20th October 1914 and where they were surrounded and eventually wiped out.

Rue du Pilly, Herlies, Pas de Calais, where the 2nd Battalion Royal Irish Regiment met its destruction

The station building in Le Pilly where Lieutenant Jackson of the RAMC tended to the wounded after the battalion had been overwhelmed.

Map of the actions at Le Riez and Le Pilly from The Campaigns and History of the Royal Irish Regiment, Vol. II (drawn by Major St.Leger)

The Le Touret Memorial commemorates those who fell and have no known grave. It was designed by John Reginald Truelove and unveiled by the British Ambassador to France, Lord Tyrrell on 22nd March 1930. The soldiers of the 2nd Battalion Royal Irish Regiment are to be found on panels 11 and 12.

Widnes, where Michael Handley was born in 1882

The pave road along which the Royal Irish Regiment hurriedly retreated with the Germans close behind around 6pm on 23rd August 1914, Mons, Belgium. These roads were hard on the feet of the retreating soldiers of the BEF, especially those reservists whose feet had grown soft and had not had sufficient time to grow accustomed to day-after-day of hard marching.

Vieille-Chapelle after the first bombardment, 1914