Category Archives: Royal Irish Fusiliers

The Dedication of the Ulster Battlefield Memorial Tower, 19 November 1921

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My great-grandfather, Sergeant William Neill DCM, served with 9th Royal Irish Fusiliers—Blacker’s Boys—during the First World War. One hundred years ago he returned to the Somme, to Thiepval, for the dedication of the Ulster Battlefield Memorial Tower. This is an account of the events and includes a gallery of the memorabilia that he kept. It also includes a scene-by-scene description of the news clip filmed for Pathé News, in which he appears at the very end.

Ulster Tower

The Ulster Battlefield Memorial Tower was proposed in November 1919 by Sir James Craig MP. Based on Helen’s Tower at Clandeboye in County Down, it was designed by Bowden and Abbott Ltd of London[1] and built quickly by Fenning & Co Ltd, specialists in granite memorials, and the Société de Construction et Travaux Publics d’Arras. (See the plans here.) The land had been purchased from three families that farmed the area around Thiepval. The Ulster Tower, as it has become known, was the first official memorial raised on the Western Front—it was opened and dedicated on Saturday 19 November 1921. The tower is owned by the Somme Association and you can read more about its centenary here.

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March 1918 – Sergeant James Hughes DCM, MM

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The medals of Sergeant James Hughes DCM, MM

In March 1918, for the third time in 21 months, the 9th Royal Irish Fusiliers in 108th Brigade, 36th (Ulster) Division was all but destroyed. Blacker’s Boys devotes a whole chapter to the actions fought in the week following the German attack south of the River Somme and the subsequent action against the German second phase attack south of Ypres.

In these actions, 36th (Ulster) Division suffered over 7,200 casualties, of which over 5,600 were missing, most of whom had been captured. This was the highest casualty rate of any division facing the German attack. The 9th Royal Irish Fusiliers lost 46 killed or died of wounds, 142 wounded and an estimated 334 captured. By this stage of the war the Battalion was nothing like that which had landed in France in October 1915. The majority of its men were those who had joined from 2nd North Irish Horse, there was also a fair number of Englishmen—from Yorkshire, Derbyshire and London—and Irish soldiers from all over Ireland, both Catholic and Protestant.

Many of the men killed in the actions fought in March 1918 were later described as falling in the period 21-29 March or on 29 March but neither of these descriptions is wholly accurate. Continue reading →

‘The Boche had beaten us, and the slaughter terrific.’

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The graves of Lieutenant Colonel S J Somerville, the Commanding Officer, and Captain R D Miles, C Company, Brandhoek New Military Cemetery No. 3

Few of the 154 officers and men of the 9th Royal Irish Fusiliers who were killed immediatley prior to or during the attack on 16 August 1917 lie in marked graves—three-quarters are commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial, a substantially higher proportion that those killed on 1 July 1916 who are commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial. There are four primary reasons for this: firstly, very few bodies could be recovered immediately after the action from the area over which the Battalion had attacked; secondly, the area was subjected to continued severe shelling and was not captured until over a month later, by which time many of the bodies were destroyed; thirdly, in early 1918 a narrow gauge railway was built over the area from which the attack was launched, and, fourthly—in consequence—few of the bodies were identified by name in the post-war battlefield clearance.

When the heavy rain began on 31 July 1917, the men of the 9th Royal Irish Fusiliers were at Watou, seven miles west of Ypres preparing for the forthcoming offensive. On 2 August, the Battalion was ordered forward with 13th Royal Irish Rifles and two battalions from 109th Brigade to take over a reserve position in the trenches from which 55th (West Lancashire) Division had attacked on the first day of the battle. This period in the line was short but exhausting, spent in muddy, partially destroyed and crowded trenches and, in the last few hours as the men began the move back west of Ypres, under gas attack. Miraculously, casualties were few but two men, James Greer from Rathfriland and Isaac Hague from Nottingham, would die of their injuries some days later.[1]

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Cather VC

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Geoffrey Cather’s Victoria Cross

One hundred years ago today at Buckingham Palace, King George V presented the Victoria Cross to the families of five recipients who had either died in the act or been killed since. Amongst them was Margaret Cather, the widowed mother of Lieutenant Geoffrey St. George Shillington Cather VC, the Adjutant of the 9th Royal Irish Fusiliers, who had so gallantly died on 2 July 1916 while out rescuing men who had fallen in the attack at Hamel the previous day.[1] When she died in 1939 her effects were left to her other son, Dermot, who later presented the Victoria Cross to the Royal Irish Fusiliers museum, where it resides today.[2]

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Blacker’s Letters – ‘Finis’

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When the last commanding officer of the 9th Royal Irish Fusiliers signed off the final page of the Battalion’s war diary on 9 June 1919 he did so with a Gallic flourish – ‘Finis’. That is the word that most readily comes to mind as I write this.

After 444 letters recording the thoughts and comments of Lieutenant Colonel Stewart Blacker, the identification of nearly 300 men and women to whom he referred, and many footnotes to explain events, the Blacker’s Letters project has ended. The project was made freely available to read via the project’s website and on social media.

Blacker’s Letters also contributed to the BBC project Voices 16, and I am very pleased that it has been web-archived by the National Library of Ireland and will be added to the web archive of the Public Records Office of Northern Ireland.

 

Blacker’s Letters – January 1917

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Distinguished Service Order

 

Lieutenant Colonel Blacker was awarded the Distinguished Service Order in the New Year Honours and when he returned from leave at the beginning of January 1917 he assumed temporary command of 108th Brigade. Nonetheless, he still found time to visit and comment about the activities of the Battalion. His letters home written in January have now been published and they can be read on the project’s website.

Blacker’s Letters – November 1916

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The letters written by Lieutenant Colonel Blacker in November 1916 have now been published and they can be read on the project’s website. The letters cover a wealth of subjects from equipment and clothing, to promotion and the award of medals, and, of course, the weather. In a few days Lieutenant Colonel Blacker will go home on leave and we won’t hear from him again until early January 1917/2017.

The Thornton Trench Coat - "New Thornton coat and long gum boots kept me quite dry in spite of rain and flood."

The Thornton Trench Coat – “New Thornton coat and long gum boots kept me quite dry in spite of rain and flood.”

 

Blacker’s Letters – October 1916

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Lieutenant Colonel S W W Blacker DSO

Lieutenant Colonel S W W Blacker DSO

Lieutenant Colonel Blacker’s letters home in October 1916 are all now published and you can read them all on the project’s website. His comments about the weather are reminiscent of those written the year before; this time, however, the Battalion must contend with the nearby River Douve, which regularly breaks its banks flooding the trenches. These letters reflect the routine of life for many in the line south west of Ypres—cold and boring in the most part with occasional flurries of activity and noise, described by Blacker as ‘hideous’.

Blacker’s Letters – September 1916

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The letters written by Lieutenant Colonel Blacker in September 1916 have now been published and you can read them all on the project’s website. The Battalion continues to settle into its new routine in increasingly wet weather.

The River Douve, which ran near the Battalion's trenches, flooding them when it burst its banks.

The River Douve, which ran near the Battalion’s trenches, flooding them when it burst its banks.

Blacker’s Letters – August 1916

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The letters written by Lieutenant Colonel Blacker in August 1916 have now been published and you can read them all on the project’s website. There is a familiarity to the tone of the letters; the Battalion is engaged in much the same work that it was in the Somme region prior to the attack on 1 July. The difference being the weather, the flies and the poor billets out of the line.

Cloth Hall, Ypres

Cloth Hall, Ypres