London Irish Rifles
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| The London Irish Rifles | |
|---|---|
 Cap Badge of the London Irish Rifles |
|
| Active | 1861- |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Branch | Army |
| Type | Infantry |
| Role | Light infantry |
| Size | One company |
| Part of | London Regiment |
| Garrison/HQ | London |
| Motto | Quis separabit? |
| March | Garryowen |
| Anniversaries | St Patrick's Day (17 Mar) Loos (15 Sep) |
| Commanders | |
| Honorary Colonel | General Sir Roger Neil Wheeler, GCB, CBE |
| Insignia | |
| Tartan | Saffron (pipers kilts) |
| Hackle | Blue for WO2 and Officers, Green for all others |
The London Irish Rifles (LIR) is now known more formally known as "D (London Irish Rifles) Company, London Regiment" and is a volunteer Rifle Regiment with a distinguished history. The London Irish Rifles were originally formed in 1860 during the Victorian Volunteer Movement as the "28th Middlesex (London Irish) Rifle Volunteer Corps".
During the Second Boer War, the Battalion sent 8 officers and 200 private soldiers for active service. One officer won the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) and another member gained seven bars to his South Africa Medal. In recognition of their service, the London Irish were granted their first Battle Honour of "South Africa, 1900-1902".
In 1908, the London Irish were transferred to the Territorial Force and renamed the "18th (County of London) Battalion, the London Regiment (London Irish Rifles)". During the First World War, the LIR raised 3 Battalions, and the first Battalion to be sent to France in 1915 was sent into action at Festubert in May.
In the Battle of Loos, the 1st Battalion LIR once again distinguished themselves. While storming across No-Man's Land to capture the enemy trenches, Sgt. Edwards, the Captain of the football team, kicked a football along in front of the troops. This earned the LIR their second Battle Honour—"Loos, 1915" and the football is still preserved in the Regimental Museum. To this day, the memory of Sgt. Frank Edwards is commemorated on Loos Sunday.
In 1937, the London Regiment was disbanded and the LIR became known as "London Irish Rifles, The Royal Ulster Rifles". Their distinctive piper-green head-dress, the Caubeen (which was worn by all Irish regiments later, although the LIR were the first to adopt it) was characterised by being sloped to the left instead of the right—a distinction maintained today between the Royal Irish Regiment (the sponsor Regiment of the LIR) being sloped on the right and the LIR and Liverpool Irish being sloped on the left.
The "sloping" difference was because the bonnets, which were based on the Balmoral of the time, were so big, and sloping fashions of the time were so "rakish", that Riflemen needed to slope to the left in order to see down the sights of the rifle.
2RUR (Royal Ulster Rifles) also sloped to the left.
The LIR sloped to the right whilst part of the Royal Irish Rangers, but reverted to type after the amalgamation or the RIR and the UDR. They are also unique in being the only British Army unit to wear their headdress with the cap badge positioned over the right eye - all other units wear theirs with their insignia over the left.
In 1939, is response to the requirements of Second World War, the London Irish were raised as two Battalions, the 1st leaving England in 1942 to serve in Iraq and Italy, the 2nd serving later in North Africa and Italy.
After the war, the Battalion re-formed as a Battalion of the Royal Ulster Rifles. In 1967, with the disbanding of the London Regiment, The three Irish Regular Infantry Regiments had combined to form The Royal Irish Rangers, and the LIR became D Company (London Irish Rifles), 4th Battalion The Royal Irish Rangers, remaining so until the re-formation of The London Regiment. The Royal Irish Rangers later amalgamated with the Ulster Defense Regiment to form the Royal Irish Regiment, with the Northern Irish Territorial Army (TA) company remaining as Rangers.
The LIR moved from their historic home, Duke of York's Barracks, Chelsea to Flodden Road, Camberwell in 2000.
The serving TA soldiers are reserve volunteers who train evenings and weekends and for a two week Battle Camp each year. They are proud to have sent soldiers to the Balkans, and also during the early stages of the Iraq (Second Gulf War) in the spring of 2003. They contributed troops to the wider London Regiment deployment of two composite companies (Cambrai and Messines) in Iraq in 2004, and also to Somme Company, which participated on operations in the Afghanistan as part of wider NATO operations in that country.[1]
