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8th Battalion, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers
8th Battalion, The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers was raised at Omagh in October 1914, part of Kitchener's Second New Army. They joined
49th Brigade, 16th (Irish) Division, training at Tipperary, moving in August 1915 Finner Camp. They crossed to England in September 1915 for final training at Woking. They proceeded to France in February 1916 and were in action on the Somme during the The Battle of Guillemont in which the Division captured the village and The Battle of Ginchy. In 1917 they fought at the The Battle of Messines and The Battle of Langemark, during the Third Battles of Ypres. On the 23rd of August 1917 they amalgamated with 7th Inniskillings to become the 7/8th Battalion.
16th Oct 1915 The Derby Scheme
1st Dec 1915 Derby Scheme Armlets
11th Sep 1915 Last day of Derby Scheme Recruitment
10th Jan 1916 Group System Reopens
3rd Feb 1916 Orders Received
9th February 1916 Call Ups
17th Feb 1916 On the Move
18th Feb 1916 On the Move
19th Feb 1916 On the Move
20th Feb 1916 On the Move
21st Feb 1916 On the Move
22nd Feb 1916 On the March
20th Apr 1916 Reliefs
24th Apr 1916 Reliefs 
26th Apr 1916 In Billets
27th Apr 1916 7th Inniskillings under attack In the early hours of the morning of 27th April 1916 enemy action began
with bursts of rifle and machine gun fire, followed by a heavy artillery
bombardment. About 04.45 hours gas was released, the wind carrying it in
the direction of the 7th and 8th Inniskilling's front lines. The Germans left their
trenches, suffering some casualties as they crossed the open ground, but
they succeeded in penetrating the trench lines of B and C companies.
Hand to hand fighting ensued, and the Germans retreated with a few
prisoners. At 08.00 hours the Germans released more gas and advanced
again, but their attack broke down under very heavy fire when Lieutenant
H.B.O. Mitchell with his Lewis-gun team stopped their advance. By 11.00
hours the crisis had passed and the Inniskillings set about re-building
their defences and counting their casualties. Of the 24 officers and 603 other ranks who came into the line, 10 officers and 253 other ranks were listed as casualties. 8 men were missing, 52 wounded, 137 gassed, and 66 dead, including Private John O’Neill. Private William Wilson of Cookstown died of his wounds on 28 April. Subsequent actions over the next few days brought the total to 71 dead of the 7th Inniskillings and 57 dead of the 8th Inniskillings.
27th Apr 1916 Gas
28th Apr 1916 Reliefs
29th Apr 1916 Reliefs
25th Jun 1916 Heavy Shelling
20th July 1916 Wire received
21st July 1916 Reliefs
21st July 1916 Operational Order
1st Sep 1916 In Reserve
2nd Sep 1916 Orders
3rd Sep 1916 On the March
4th Sep 1916 Orders
5th Sep 1916 Reliefs
6th Sep 1916 Consolidation
7th Sep 1916 Line Consolidated
8th Sep 1916 Reserve
9th Sep 1916 In Action
9th Sep 1916 Bombardment
10th Sep 1916 Reliefs
1st May 1917 Reliefs
5th May 1917 Reliefs
7th May 1917 Bombardment
9th May 1917 Bombardment
10th May 1917 Reliefs
14th May 1917 Reliefs
15th May 1917 Working Parties
16th May 1917 Working Parties
17th May 1917 Working Parties
18th May 1917 Working Parties
28th May 1917 Shelling
29th May 1917 Working Parties
31st May 1917 Working Parties
1st June 1917 In Reserve
2nd June 1917 Reliefs
3rd June 1917 Artillery in Action
4th June 1917 Reliefs
5th June 1917 Trench Raid
6th June 1917 Reliefs
7th June 1917 In Action
8th June 1917 At Rest
9th June 1917 Into Camp
10th June 1917 Working Parties
11th June 1917 Working Parties
12th June 1917 Working Parties
If you can provide any additional information, please add it here.
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These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Great War.
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Those known to have served with8th Battalion, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers during the Great War 1914-1918. - Allen Herbert. Pte. (d.5th Aug 1917)
- Allen William. Pte. (d.9th Sep 1916)
- Allen William. Pte. (d.9th Sep 1916)
- Barry William Francis. Pte. (d.1st May 1916)
- Beggs Joseph. Pte. (d.6th Sep 1916)
- Connolly Patrick. Pte.
- Corrigan James Joseph. (d.8th May 1916)
- Dougan Robert James. Pte. (d.8th Oct 1916)
- Fagan James Edward. 2nd Lt. (d.5th Oct 1916)
- Falls Stephen. Pte. (d.29th Apr 1916)
- Foye Thomas. Pte. (d.7th Jun 1917)
- Gallagher Thomas. L/Cpl. (d.29th May 1917)
- Gill W.. Pte. (d.7th Jun 1917)
- Hagan Michael. Pte. (d.5th August 1917)
- Hamriding James. Pte. (d.16th Aug 1917)
- Hepworth John Richard . Pte. (d.16th August 1917)
- Heward Samuel William. L/Cpl. (d.9th Apr 1916)
- Hill Alexander. Pte. (d.16th August 1917)
- Hill James. L/Cpl. (d.10th Sep 1916)
- Hoy Frank Cecil. Pte. (d.15th Sept 1917)
- Jenner William Farquhar. Pte (d.7th June 1917)
- Kavanagh John. Pte. (d.1st March 1918)
- Mann William Samuel. Pte. (d.6th Aug 1917)
- Mason Hambleton. Pte. (d.16th August 1917)
- McEnerney John Edward . Sgt.
- McEvoy William John. Pte. (d.16th August 1917)
- Mckay David. Pte.
- Philpott George. Sgt. (d.2nd May 1916)
- Robson William. Pte. (d.16th Aug 1917)
- Rush John. Cpl. (d.7th Jun 1917)
- Smaje Louis Henry. Pte. (d.16th Aug 1917)
- Smaje Louis Henry. Pte.
- Sumner Thomas Ignatius. Pte. (d.15th August 1917)
- Sweeney David. Pte. (d.29th April 1916)
- Teaz Joseph. ACSgt (d.16th August 1917)
All names on this list have been submitted by relatives, friends, neighbours and others who wish to remember them, if you have any names to add or any recollections or photos of those listed,
please Add a Name to this List
Records of 8th Battalion, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers from other sources.
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L/Cpl. Samuel William Heward 8th Btn Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers (d.9th Apr 1916) Samuel Heward enlisted in the Middlesex Regiment and was subsequently transferred to the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers.
He was my great Uncle and, as a child, I remember always going to the remembrance parade at Hampstead Parish Church where Samuel is recorded on the war memorial.
He is also remembered on the war memorial at Loos in France where he was killed on 9th of April 1916 and where I visited some time ago.
Samuel left behind his wife Elizabeth and five children, Elizabeth, Queenie, Winifred, Ivy and Samuel who was just 10 days old when his father was killed.
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Sgt. John Edward McEnerney 8th Btn. Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers John McEnerney served with the 8th Inniskilling Fusiliers and the Labour Corps.
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Pte William Farquhar Jenner 8th Btn Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers (d.7th June 1917) William Jenner served with the 8th Battalion, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers in WW1. He died 7th of June 1917 aged 20 years and is remembered on the Ypres Menin Gate Memorial. Son of George and Mary Ann Jenner of 67 Northumberland St., Sunderland.
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Pte. Frank Cecil Hoy 8th Btn. Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers (d.15th Sept 1917) Frank Hoy was my husband's great uncle who enlisted at Warley and died of his wounds on the 15th of September 1917, aged 23.
He is buried in Bucquoy Road Cemetery at Ficheux in France. The date of his death and place of burial indicate that he took part in the 3rd Battle of Ypres sometime after the Battle of Langemarck, but before the success of the Gheluvelt Plateau. More research to be done.
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Pte. John Richard Hepworth 8th Btn. Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers (d.16th August 1917) Private John Richard Hepworth, son of Mr. & Mrs. G. Hepworth, 1 Neotsbury Road, Ampthill, Bedfordshire. Enlisted at Warwick with 8th Battalion, Inniskilling Fusiliers (service no.41764). He was killed in action on 16th August 1917 aged 20 years and is commemorated at Tyne Cot Memorial, Belgium. He is remembered on both The War Memorial and The Alamada, St. Andrews Church, Ampthill. Information courtesy of www.roll-of-honour.com
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Pte. John Kavanagh 8th Btn. Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers (d.1st March 1918) John Kavanagh who served as P. Ashford, was the son of William and Annie Kavanagh of 6 Back St., Little Bray.
John was aged 25 when he died and is buried on the far side of the ruin in the Old Connaught Burial Ground, Little Bray, Co. Dublin, Ireland.
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Pte. Alexander Hill 8th Btn. Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers (d.16th August 1917) Private Alexander Hill is commemorated at the Tyne Cot Memorial.
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Pte. Louis Henry Smaje 8th Btn. Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers (d.16th Aug 1917)  Louis Smaje served with the 8th Battalion, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, he was killed on the 16th of August 1917, he was aged 26 and is remembered on the Prescot Roll of Honour, on the Memorial at St Luke's Church, St. Helens and on the Tyne Cot Memorial in Belgium.
In 1901 the Smaje family lived at 2, Chester Street. The family comprised parents David, 38, an Electrical Cable Capper and Mary, aged 37, along with their children David (17) and Thomas (16), both General Labourers, Simon (12), Louis (9), Ethel (5), Arthur (3) and Herbert (2 months). Louis was born in Liverpool
Louis married May Whittle in the first quarter of 1913 in Prescot. The had two children Frank (1913) and Harold (1915) both born in Prescot.
He enlisted in St Helens, Lancs and had previously served as No. 5417, Royal Field Artillery.
His Medal Index Card records that his first Theatre of War was the Balkans, where he arrived on 22nd of September 1915, entitling him to the 1914-1915 Star in addition to his British War Medal and Victory Medal.
The 8th Battalion, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers did not serve in the Balkans, and so it is safe to assume that Louis served there with the Royal Field Artillery. It is not clear from the surviving service information exactly when Louis transferred from the artillery to the infantry.
The 8th Battalion had been formed in 1914 at Omagh before moving to Tipperary. After training, they finally moved to England in September 1915 then onwards to join the British Expeditionary Force in France in February 1916.
In Flanders in the summer and autumn of 1917, a series of battles took place which collectively became known as the Third Battle of Ypres. The action in which the 8th Battalion of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers were involved in mid-August was the Battle of Langemarck.
Third Ypres was supposed to have as its strategic aim the liberation of the Belgian Channel ports and their denial to U-boat operation. One imperative that did exist was the need to attack the Germans and take the pressure of the French Army, which was beset by mutiny; another was Haig's need to secure a victory before the Americans arrived. The immediate tactical aim of the offensive was the recapture of higher ground from which the German artillery could observe and accurately bombard any target in the vicinity of the last Belgian town in Allied hands, Ypres. In the end its most significant result was its sucking in and pulverisation of the majority of the divisions of the German Army, in relentless and bloody attrition that fatally weakened its ability to wage grand war.
The British attacks in the summer and autumn of 1917 took place in the wettest weather in seventy-five years. The vital drainage channels of this low-lying area of Belgium were pounded out of existence by the British and German artillery. The water table of the Ypres salient turned into the sea of mud and blood that became known as Passchendaele, after the village that crowns the horseshoe of ridges that lie to the east of Ypres. The village is only 6 miles from the offensive's start line near Ypres but it took the Allied forces four and a half months to reach that goal, at a cost of over three hundred thousand casualties, including Private Louis Smaje.
The Battle of Langemarck began on the morning of 16th August 1917 at 4.45, with a tremendous artillery barrage. Not only were the many German strongpoints bombarded, but a creeping barrage was laid to keep the defenders' heads down as the British infantry advanced. The speed of the barrage advance would have been calculated to be the same as the infantry's pace. An enemy counter-barrage fell behind the British front line and was not a problem for the 8th Inniskillings, but a furious storm of machine-gun fire and snipers' bullets met them shortly after they had begun their attack.
The fortification in front of the 8th battalion was Borry Farm. This was a strongpoint consisting of three concrete dugouts linked by a breastwork. It was garrisoned by at least 100 men and five machine-guns. Both Beck House and Borry Farm were covered from Hills 35 and 37, and from the Potsdam and Bremen redoubts near Zonnebeke.
A and B companies of the 8th Battalion outflanked Borry Farm and managed to advance about 800 yards, keeping in contact with the 7th Inniskillings on their left. A German counter-attack inflicted heavy casualties on these companies, killing, wounding, or capturing all but 30 men.
C company launched frontal and flank attacks on Borry Farm and were reduced to a remnant that took cover in shell holes 50 yards to the west. Increasing German pressure led to the withdrawal of all survivors of the Battalion to their original positions. The battalion had suffered over 60% casualties. At the end of the day, the 16th Division was back where it had started.
In his report of the operation the battalion commander attributed the failure of the attack partly to poor communications. German snipers appear to have particularly targeted messengers.
Louis Smaje has no known grave and is commemorated Cot Memorial near Passchendaele.
The Parish Magazine of 25th March 1918 reported that in addition to the already long list of men of the parish who had fallen, six additional names were to be added. Included in them was Pte. Louis Henry Smaje, 25, Enniskillen Fusiliers, killed 16th August 1917, of 36 Scotch Barn Lane, leaves a widow and two children, now living in St Helens.
Probably as a result of his widow and children moving to St Helens, Louis Smaje is commemorated on the memorial at St Luke's church in St. Helens.
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Sgt. George Philpott 8th Battalion Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers (d.2nd May 1916) George Phillpot died two months before the birth of his daughter Elizabeth. He left behind a widow and 3 children (including Elizabeth). She grew up never knowing a father.
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2nd Lt. James Edward Fagan 6th Btn. Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers (d.5th Oct 1916) My great uncle, James Edward Fagan from Lismacaffrey, Co. Westmeath, was a 2nd Lieutenant (temporary) with the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, 6th Battalion attached to the 8th. He was injured in late September 1916 and died of his wounds on the 5th of October 1916. I am not sure which battle he was injured in. We have his ceremonial swords, an uncle of mine has his service revolver and helmet.
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Pte. Robert James Dougan 8th Battalion Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers (d.8th Oct 1916) Robert James Dougan was my great grandfather. I have tracked down info that he is commemorated at Epsom Crematorium. He left behind a wife, Ellen, daughter, May (Mary, May) and son, William, John. They misspelt his name on the memorial Duggan instead of Dougan.
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Pte. Patrick Connolly 8th Btn. Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers My great grandfather Patrick Connolly, born on the 20 June 1882 in Belfast, served in France during the 1st World War as Lewis Gunner with 2nd and 8th Battalions, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers. Although he joined up early in the war, 19 November 1914, it would appear that he did not go to France until 18th of February 1916. He had two periods in France, the first on the 18 February 1916 until 5 July 1916 with the second being on the 18 December 1916 until 20 March 1918 when he was taken prisoner on the 21 March 1918 at St Quentin, France.
He was also involved in a railway accident while a prisoner and suffered an injury to his leg on the 14 September 1918. I am not sure what battles he fought in, but he was shot twice one of which was at Loos. He was also hit by gas shell and suffered from the effects of gas. He had to return to England for a time to recover from his injuries.
He remained a prisoner until the end of the war and returned home to Belfast early in 1919.
He died on the 1 August 1960. My grandfather did not talk much about the war as it was not easy coming back to Ireland given the situation at the time. He only said that they were very hungry and some of the soldiers caught and ate rats but he said that he did not.
While he was a prisoner a German Bishop visited the camp and gave him a German prayer book, which the family have to this day. We have a number of documents from which I obtained the above information as he had applied for a pension after the war.
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Pte. William Francis Barry 8th Battalion Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers (d.1st May 1916) I was researching my family tree and came across William Barry. He is not a relative but from the same small village as my mum. I am visiting the Somme this year and will lay a poppy wreath on his grave and pay my respects. His family still live in Cappawhite, Tipperary.
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Pte. Joseph Beggs 8th Btn. Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers (d.6th Sep 1916) Joseph Beggs was born in Dublin and later enlisted there. Before joining the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers he was a member of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers. Private Beggs was killed in action in France during the Battle of Guillemont, and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial.
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Pte. William Allen 8th Btn. Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers (d.9th Sep 1916) William Allen and his brothers were living in Boston, Massachusetts at the out break of the war. He returned home to enlist in the RIF - his brother went north and joined the Canadian Army. William died in the Battle of Ginchy.
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Pte. Thomas Foye 8th Btn. Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers (d.7th Jun 1917) Thomas Foye was my great, great grandfather. I would like to find out more about his service and how he died on that fatal day.
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Pte. William Allen 8th Bn Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers (d.9th Sep 1916) William Allen was living in Boston, USA at the outbreak of the war. He went home to enlist. He died in the Battle of Ginchy. His body was never recovered. His name appears on the Thiepval Memorial. His two brothers went to Canada and enlisted there.
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Pte. Herbert Allen 8th Btn. Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers (d.5th Aug 1917) Bert was the son of Edward and Margaret Edith Allen, of Chapel Road. Born in Epping, he enlisted into the Dorsetshire Regiment in Chiseldon, Wiltshire, and later transferred to the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers. He was killed in action during the Third Battle of Ypres. There is a memorial to him on the Allen family grave headstone in Epping Cemetery, and he is commemorated in a memorial tablet in Epping Methodist Church.
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