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Although teaching the younger generation is very important to us, raising funds for worthy causes is also something else that we very much value. In 2009 we managed to raise funds for the East Anglia Children's Hospice at the various events we attended. In 2010 we raised £100 for the Royal Ulster Rifles Association and in 2011 we raised more than £300 for the charity ' Combat Stress ' We like to think as a group we are giving something back. Finally i hope that you enjoy viewing our website. On some of the pages i have included pieces of film. In order to listen to these the background music for the website can be turned off and controlled useing the muic box at the bottom of this page. Best wishes to you all..Steve

The first Victoria Cross ever issued would be awarded to an Irishman, Charles Lucas, Royal Navy, during the war in the Baltic in 1854. The youngest winners of the VC were also Irish. These were 15 year old Andrew Fitzgibbon and Thomas Flinn. The first Victoria Cross won by the British Army was awarded to Sergeant Luke O' Connor, of the 23rd Regiment of Foot, from County Roscommon for his action during the Battle of Alma, in the Crimean War in 1854. And almost 60 years later another Irishman Lieutenant Maurice Dease from County Westmeath, would be the first recipient of the same award during the Great War. Ever since the 18th Century Irishmen have formed the backbone of recruitment to the British Army until Irish Independence. And even though Ireland remained neutral during World War Two, thousands of Irish rallied to the cause against Nazi Germany and Japan, either deserting from the Irish Army, or volunteering to fight. At one point during the 19th century 42 percent of soldiers in the British Army were Irish born, which meant there were more Irish Soldiers in the British Army than English. Levels would remain high, although recruitment steadily dropped from the period of the Irish Famine until 1900, but the Irish would remain over represented compared to the size of the population. At the turn of the 20th Century numbers of Irish Volunteers reduced, as the criticism by nationalists of the recruitment to the army

The date of constitution of the 86th Regiment as Cuyler's Shrpshire Volunteers is Novemebr 2nd 1793. The Regiment was so styles because it was raised by Major-General Cornelius Cuyler. Colonel Fitch and Generla Cuyler both came from the 55th Regiment. The 83rd was raised in Dublin and so was an Irish Regiment from its beginning. The 86th was raised in Shrewsbury and only in later years became an Irish Regiment, being styled the Leinster Regiment of Foot. They then aquired the nickname of ' The Irish Giants ' due to their fine phtsique. That was in contrast to the 83rd who were known as ' Fitch's Grenadiers ' owing to the diminutive stature of most of their soldiers. A Grenadier by tradition and convention, is a very tall soldier so they carried the naickname in much the same way as the soldier lacking in inches is frequently known to his comrades as ' Lofty ' Neither the 83rd nor the 86th was a Rifle Regiment and they were both what Riflemen refer to as ' redcoats ' As such they beat drums and carried colours.

It was not long before the 83rd and the 86th were to prove their mettle as effective fighting units. As such they played a full part in the years of almost continuous warfare with France and her Allies which ended only with the defeat of the Emperor Naploeon at Waterloo in 1815. The 83rd campaigned in the West Indies and the 86th sent detechments to sea to act as Marines with the

fleet, thereafter serving at the Cape of Good Hope, in India, and in Egypt, mainly on active service. The 83rd expanded into two battalions, the 1st going to the Cape some ten years after the 86th and the 2nd to fight with valour and glory in the Peninsular War of 1808-1814. In 1810, in recognition of their proewss in the capture of of the French Isle of Bourbon, the 86th were granted the title of the Royal County Down Regiment and were permitted to wear on their buttons the insignia of the Irish Harp and Crown. The motto ' Quis Separabit ' was added in 1832. The Militia throughout these years fulfilled their home defence and internal security role within the shores of Ireland being, for much of the time, on an active full time basis. There followed years of garrison duty, the 86th returning in 1819 to the United Kingdom after 23 years and 4 months of foreign service mainly on active service. The 2nd/83rd having made its great and glorious contribution to the history and honours of the Regiment, was disbanded. The 83rd served in Canada and the 86th n Ireland and both in the Indian Mutiny.

In 1859, by her Majesty Queen Victoria's pleasure, the 83rd were styled The County of Dublin Regiment in formal recognition of their connection with their birthplace. In 1873 the two Regiments were, for the first time, linked and a combined Depot was established at Victoria Barracks, Belfast, where it remained until after the First World War. It was in 1881, that the Regiment assumed the shape that, with minor alterations, it retained until after the Second World War. By the reforms of that year the 83rd ( County of Dublin ) and the 86th ( Royal County Down ) Regiments were combined to form the one Regiment to be know as the Roya Irish Rifles, becoming respectively the 1st and 2nd Battalions. The Militia Regiments of Antrim, Dow and Louth were reconstituted at the same time as Militia Battalions of The Royal Irish Rifles. The reforms took effect on the 1st July 1881. This is the day on which we started our career as a Rifle Regiment, with all the changes in dress and custom thereby involved.

In the war against the Boer farmers in South Africa ( 1899-1902 ) both the 2nd and the 5th ( Royal South Down Militia ) Battalions of The Royal Irish Rifles fought with some distinction. In the First World War of 1914-1918, The Royal Irish Rifles expanded to 21 Battalions and covered nearly all theatres of that vast and tragic conflict, including at various times the Western Front, Gallipoli and Salonika. In a time of conscription ( in England, not Ireland ) every man was a volunteer. The Regiment suffered 25,000 casualties including 7,000 officers and men killed in action or died of wounds. In that war the Regiment gained three Victoria Crosses to add to the four gained in the Inian Mutiny. Shortly after the end of the First World War the Regiment shrank to its two Regular Battalions and the Depot. On January 1st 1921, the title of the Regiment was changed to The Royal Ulster Rifles. Following the 2nd Battalions short, very sharp campaign of Mesopotamia in 1920, came years of garrison duty, with one battalion on home service and another on foreign service. The home stations included the Isle of Wight, Aldershot, Belfast, Gravesend and Catterick. The foreign stations included the Rhine, Egypt, India, the Sudan, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Palestine. This period was not entirely peaceful, ranging from duties in aid of civil power to minor campaigns in Waziristan and Palestine.

Both battalions in these years of peace built up for themselves a great reputation, not only for soldiering ( competitive shooting, perhaps in particular ) but also in the fields of sport, specialising in boxing and football. During the Second World War there was again some expansion of the Regiment but not to an extent comparable with that of the First World War.

Battalions of the Regiment, including the London Irish Rifles, now an integral part, fought with the British Expeditionary Force in 1940, and in North Africa, Sicily and Italy. Both regular Battalions took part in the invasion and final campaign in North-West Europe, the 1st Battalion with the Airborne Forces. After the Second World War, the 83rd and the 86th were brought even closer together as the Regiment was reduced to one Regular Battalion. For this purpose the 1st ( 83rd ) and the 2nd ( 86th ) Battalions were amalgamated to form the 1st Battalion. The Royal Ulster Rifles ( 83rd and 86th ) thus retaining the traditions and histories of both.

As compensation however, the first Territorial unit of the Regiment to be raised in Northern Ireland, the 6th Battalion was formed in 1947 with its Headquarters in Belfast. But the Regiment had of course maintained the close association with The London Irish Rifles which in 1937 became a Territorial Battalion of the Regiment. In 1950 the Regiment was off again the 1st Battalion being sent at short notice to Korea where for twelve months they fought in most difficult country and in an extreme climate. Thereafter they spent two years in garrison in Hong Kong returning to the United Kingdom in 1954 on route to the British Army of the Rhine. Thence in 1957 the Battalion

moved to Cyprus. On the 1st July 1968, under reforms of the Army, the Royal Ulster Rifles was amalgamated with the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers and the Royal Irish Fusiliers to form the Royal Irish Rangers ( 27th ( Inniskilling ) 83rd and 87th ) Soon after creation in December 1968, and as part of a general reduction in the Army, the 3rd Battalion ( former Royal Irish Fusiliers ) was disbanded. The three Regiments had old and differing traditions ( Rifle and Fusilier ) and to avoid favouring one above another, a unique designation ' Rangers ' was adopted. The title had not existed in the British Army since 1922. With the creation of the Divisions of Infantry, the Royal Irish Rangers became part of the King's Division, along with regiments from the north of England. This continued until 1992 and ' Options for Change ' The Ulster Defence Regiment and the Royal Irish Rangers amalgamated to form the Royal Irish Regiment of today.