The Royal Signals Campaigns Roll of Honour
Historical context summarised from Honours, Decorations, and Medals to The Royal Corps of Signals for Gallantry & Distinguished Service 1920-2020.[1]
Other than matters related to the First World War, Home Rule for Ireland was the biggest issue facing the successive British governments of the early twentieth century. The pre-war Home Rule crisis and the Easter Rising in 1916 led almost inevitably to the conflict that erupted after the war in Europe was over. In the general election of December 1918 Sinn Féin achieved a surprise landslide victory, securing 73 seats and nearly twice as many votes as the Unionists and the Irish Parliamentary Party combined. A Declaration of Independence was pronounced in Dublin on 21 January 1919 at the first meeting of the Dáil Éireann, the self-declared parliament of Ireland. On the same day, and unconnected with the proceedings in Dublin, Constables James MacDonnell and Patrick O’Connell of the Royal Irish Constabulary were shot and killed at Soloheadbeg in County Tipperary. Ireland slipped into a period of violent revolution with the Royal Irish Constabulary bearing the brunt of the attacks by the Irish Republican Army.
The formation of Royal Signals took place in the early stages of this conflict. In the period of demobilisation after the First World War, with a demand for manpower elsewhere in Europe, the Middle East and in India, the provision of signal personnel to support the Army in Ireland had not been a high priority. In May 1920, at a meeting of ministers at 10 Downing Street, a detailed briefing was delivered by General Sir Nevil Macready, Commander-in-Chief of the Forces in Ireland. He reported that in the divisional signal companies and the Special Signal Company the deficiency amounted to over 640 all ranks (i.e. about 85% of establishment) and one of the issues that had become of great concern was the shortage of wireless/telegraph operators. The urgency was such that the Secretary of State for War undertook to investigate the matter and report back to the Cabinet that afternoon and the Chancellor of the Exchequer undertook to examine a bonus payment scheme for wireless/telegraphy operators.
The issue was soon resolved and, for most of the campaign in Ireland, some 700 soldiers served there at any one time in the Special Signal Company (which supported General Headquarters and links to its subordinate formations), 5th and 6th Divisional Signal Companies (in the Curragh and Cork respectively), Dublin District Signal Company (from the spring of 1920), 1st Divisional Signal Company (in Belfast from the spring of 1920), 3rd Cavalry Brigade Signal Troop at the Curragh, and in ‘K’ Signal Company (men embedded in General Post Office telegraph stations).
As violence escalated the British Army became increasingly embroiled in operations against the IRA and soldiers were regularly attacked on and off-duty. From the formation of the Corps in June 1920 until July 1921 when the truce was declared, two Royal Signals soldiers were killed by the IRA and a despatch rider died on duty in a motorcycle accident. Two other soldiers died of causes unrelated to military action.
The Ireland, 1920-1921 Roll of Honour
(Click on the link on the title immediately above or on the image of the document below.)
(For the casualties in the overlapping period with commemoration for the First World War (i.e. up to 31 August 1921) reference is made to whether or not the casualty is also commemorated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.)
1. (Back) Metcalfe N. P. (2021). Honours, Decorations, and Medals to The Royal Corps of Signals for Gallantry & Distinguished Service 1920-2020. Royal Signals Institution: Blandford.