Liverpool Irish

Liverpool Irish
Liverpool Irish
Active	1860–1922, 1939–present
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	Army Reserve
Type	Field Artillery
Size	Troop
TA Centre	Aigburth Road, Liverpool
Nickname(s)	The Irish Brigade (arcane)
Motto(s)	Some versions of the cap badge featured the motto Erin Go Bragh (Ireland Forever) within a scroll
Uniform	Caubeen headress ; Pipers: Saffron kilt crawford tartans, green shawls
Equipment	L118 Light Gun
Decorations	Victoria Cross: 2nd Lt. E.F. Baxter
Battle honours	South Africa 1900-02
Commanders
Honorary Colonel	Valentine Charles, 5th Earl of Kenmare, CVO (1906)

The Liverpool Irish is a unit of the British Army's Territorial Army, raised in 1860 as a volunteer corps of infantry. Conversion to an anti-aircraft regiment occurred in 1947, but the regimental status of the Liverpool Irish ceased in 1955 upon reduction to a battery. Since 1967, the lineage of the Liverpool Irish has been perpetuated by "A" Troop, in 208 (3rd West Lancashire) Battery, 103rd (Lancashire Artillery Volunteers) Regiment. The 103rd has provided individual reinforcements to regular artillery regiments equipped with the AS-90 and L118.^[5]

Liverpool's large Irish community formed the 64th Lancashire Rifle Volunteer Corps on 25 April 1860, one of many volunteer corps raised in Lancashire in response to heightened tension with France.^[6]^[7]^[8]^[9] The Liverpool Irish became a volunteer (later Territorial Force) battalion of the King's (Liverpool Regiment) in July 1881. As such, it fought in the Second Boer War and First World War, sustaining thousands of casualties in numerous battles that prominently included Givenchy, Guillemont, Third Ypres, and the Hundred Days Offensive. Disbanded after the Great War in 1922, the Liverpool Irish reformed in 1939 before the Second World War and constituted the nucleus of the 7th Beach Group that landed at Juno Beach on 6 June 1944, D-Day.

Irish heritage was asserted in the traditions and uniform of the Liverpool Irish. Once adopting a uniform similar in appearance to the Royal Irish Rifles, the Liverpool Irish eventually wore the caubeen headdress with red and blue hackle; the attire of pipers the battalion maintained on its strength included the saffron kilt and shawl.^[10] While the battalion derived pride from its Irish identity, some, including the 17th Earl of Derby, associated Irish status with indiscipline and disobedience, which the Liverpool Irish gained a reputation for.^[11]^[12]

^ The Irish in Mid-Victorian Lancashire: The Shaping of a Working-class Community, p193
^ Beckett (1982), p61
^ Fitzsimons (2004), p12
^ "No. 27947". The London Gazette. 7 September 1906. p. 6116.
^ 103 Regiment Mission Statement, army.mod.uk. Accessed 10 October 2006 Archived October 9, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
^ Beckett, passim.
^ Frederick, p. 128.
^ Mileham (2000), p54
^ Westlake, p. 145.
^ Harris (1989), pp265-267
^ McCartney, Citizen Soldiers: The Liverpool Territorials in the First World War, pP184-185
^ Bowman (2004), Irish Regiments in the Great War: Discipline and Morale, pp20-21

[1] The Irish in Mid-Victorian Lancashire: The Shaping of a Working-class Community, p193

[2] Beckett (1982), p61

[3] Fitzsimons (2004), p12

[4] "No. 27947". The London Gazette. 7 September 1906. p. 6116.

[5] 103 Regiment Mission Statement, army.mod.uk. Accessed 10 October 2006 Archived October 9, 2006, at the Wayback Machine

[6] Beckett, passim.

[Frederick128-7] Frederick, p. 128.

[Mileham_2000,_p54-8] Mileham (2000), p54

[Westlake-9] Westlake, p. 145.

[10] Harris (1989), pp265-267

[11] McCartney, Citizen Soldiers: The Liverpool Territorials in the First World War, pP184-185

[12] Bowman (2004), Irish Regiments in the Great War: Discipline and Morale, pp20-21

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