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2nd Battalion, Royal Irish Fusiliers
2nd Battalion, Royal Irish Fusiliers were at Quetta in India when war broke out in August 1914. They returned to Britain, and joined 82nd Brigade, 27th Division at Winchester on the 20th of November 1914. They proceeded to France via southampton landing at le Havre on the 19th of December. as a much-needed reinforcement. The 27th div concentrated in the area between Aire and Arques being joined by Territorial units taken from other Divisions. In 1915 they saw action at St Eloi and in The Second Battle of Ypres. In November they were ordered to Salonika in November 1915 and embarkation began on the 17th, with the 2nd Irish Fusiliers sailing in mid December, but it was not until the 13th of February 1916 that whole Division finally arrived. Between the 30th of September and 2nd of October 1916 they were engaged in the capture of Karajakois, followed swiftly by the capture of Yenikoi and then the battle of Tumbitza Farm On the 2nd of November 1916 they transferred to 31st Brigade, 10th (Irish) Division. They sailed from Salonika to Egypt in early September 1917, concentrating near Rafa to prepare for the Palestine Campaign. Between April and June 1918, many British units of the Division were replaced by Indian units. On the 12th of November 1918 the Division concentrated at Sarafand, before moving back to Egypt, being in Cairo by the 1st of December.
14th Mar 1915 Enemy attacks
8th May 1915 The "Second Battle of Ypres". 1st Battalion fighting at Sanctuary Wood, Zillebeke, Belgium 1915. 
The 1st Battalion Royal Scots position on 8th May 1915 shown on map (1/R. Scots) 1st Battalion fighting at Sanctuary Wood, Zillebeke, Belgium.
1st Battalion Royal Scots ordered to form part of Composite Brigade with 2 Companies each. 2nd Brigade Royal Irish Fusiliers and 2nd Brigade Leinster Regiment.
Lt. Col. Callender to command composite Brigade with Captain H. E. Stanley-Murray as Staff Officer - Command of the battalion devolved upon Major H.F. Wingate with Cap. J. Burke as Acting Adjutant.
Composite dissolved at 6pm and the battalion proceeded with all speed to the Zouave Wood (Hooge) under command of Lt. Col. Callender.
The Germans attacked the area of woods south of the Menin Road after a horrendous artillery bombardment all day.
Heavy fighting near Hooge and North of Menin Road.
The 1st Battalion Royal Scots were sent up the line in support of 81st Brigade. The 81st were in a small salient and the northern side was ' sagging '. When the 1st Royal Scots arrived they found the unit to their left had been forced from their trenches and the Germans were in the process of occupying them. The 1st RS fixed bayonets and charged, evicting them in disarray.
The 1st Royal Scots and their territorial companions in the 9th Royal Scots held these trenches, without losing a sap, until relieved on the night of 22nd/23rd May.
About 6pm orders were received to proceed to Sanctuary Wood.
The battalion arrived soon after dusk and were halted at Zouave Wood.
Officers went ahead and inspected trenches held by 2nd Gloucester's, and the battalion took over these trenches before dawn the following day.
Disposition of battalion - A & D Coys fire trenches, B & C Coys support trenches.
14th Jul 1915 Heavy Shelling
15th Jul 1915 Change of Billets
2nd Sep 1915
10th of October 1915 New and Old Armies
11th of October 1915 Subalterns Adventures
16th Oct 1915 The Derby Scheme
18th of October 1915 More Reliefs
1st Dec 1915 Derby Scheme Armlets
11th Sep 1915 Last day of Derby Scheme Recruitment
10th Jan 1916 Group System Reopens
9th February 1916 Call Ups
13th May 1917 Bombardment
15th May 1917 Attack Made
16th May 1917 Counter Attack
18th August 1917 Orders
1st Sep 1917 On the Move
5th Sep 1917 On the Move
22nd Sep 1917 On the Move
30th Sep 1918 In Action 
4th October 1918 Reports
14th of October 1918 A Busy Day
15th of October 1918 Attack Continues
25th of October 1918 Heavy Fighting All Day
15th of February 1919 Boxing Tournament
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 with2nd Battalion, Royal Irish Fusiliers during the Great War 1914-1918. - Behan Patrick. Pte. (d.15th Jul 1915)
- Boyde MM. William. Pte.
- Boyde MM William. Pte
- Clarke Christopher. Pte. (d.4th Apr 1915)
- Crichton MM. Daniel. Sgt.
- Devlin James. Pte.
- Ferris Samuel. Pte.
- Grace Patrick. Pte.
- Hughes Stanley George. Pte. (d.23rd July 1917)
- Keenan Patrick. Pte. (d.1st September 1916)
- Kelly Thomas. Pte. (d.10th May 1915)
- Maddix John Joseph. Pte.
- McNamara John. Pte (d.7th June 1917)
- Pilcher Arthur James. Pte (d.8th February 1915)
- Rae William. Pte. (d.8th May 1915)
- Sherlock John. L/Cpl. (d.12th Apr 1915)
- Sutherland Alexander. Cpl. (d.7th July 1915)
- Thynne John. Pte. (d.6th Dec 1918)
- Wright Benjamin. Pte
- Wright Charles. Pte. (d.17th Feb 1915)
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 2nd Battalion, Royal Irish Fusiliers from other sources.
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Pte. Christopher Clarke 2nd Btn. Royal Irish Fusiliers (d.4th Apr 1915) Christopher Clarke served with 2nd Royal Irish Fusiliers, he was killed on 4th of April 1915.
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Pte. Thomas Kelly 2nd Btn. Royal Irish Fusiliers (d.10th May 1915) Thomas Kelly of the 2nd Royal Irish Fusiliers was found near Lock No.9 of the Ypres-Commines Canal.
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L/Cpl. John Sherlock 2nd Battalion Royal Irish Fusiliers (d.12th Apr 1915) Following the death of his son George in the vicinity of Sanctuary Wood, John Sherlock joined up in Taunton, Devon, 17 September 1915, as a Shoeing Smith, ASC Remount, K Squad, Service Number 9586.
He 'Specially Enlisted' and was to be paid 5 shillings per day. 'Specially Enlisted' appears to cover the fact that he was by then 65 years of age, an age altered to one more respectable by a connivance with the Recruiting Officer.
George Sherlock was just 23 at the time of his death, being born 09 Aug 1891 at O'Rourke's Cottages, Phibsborough, Dublin, Ireland,
Although John Sherlock was determined to repay the German's in kind for the loss of his son, he was worn down by his hard life as a Blacksmith, and he was subsequently discharged as unfit for further War Service 9th of June 1916.
Upon that discharge he was described as suffering from Senility, and his address was given as 29 Upper Blessington Street, Dublin.
Subsequently he was awarded a pension of 15s weekly on the 21 Sep 1917 but died soon after on 28th Feb 1922, still grieving for the loss of his son.
His wife Alice Sherlock, later lived at 10 Norton Avenue, Phibsborough, she passed 28 Feb 1933 at 197 Phibsborough Road, Dublin, Ireland.
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Pte. Charles Wright 2nd Btn. A Company Royal Irish Fusiliers (d.17th Feb 1915) Charlie Wright and his friends from Glasslough Street, Monaghan walked to Armagh to enlist.
His family have part of an original letter sent to his mother from the front in 1915 detailing his death, the treatment he received after being wounded and correction of a mistake on his grave.
They believe the letter was written by a friend of his from Glasslough Street but they are missing the second page and would dearly love to find it to determine if it was written by his friend or not.
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Sgt. Daniel Crichton MM. 2nd Battalion Royal Irish Fusiliers Daniel Crichton, my grandfather, was born in 1885, no records exist regarding him within the family because his home in Finsbury was bombed in the Second World War. My grandfather was very ill from the effects of his war effort and the family were in difficult financial circumstances. We have tried for the past 30 years to accumulate records. It has become easier with digitalised versions of the records today. But we still do not have one photograph of him.
My father is nearly 80 and has been searching for information about his father all his life. I want to redress the balance between the information available regarding officers in war diaries and other material and include my grandfather's name wherever possible so anyone else looking for him will know that there are people he belongs to.
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Pte. Patrick Keenan 2nd Btn. Royal Irish Fusiliers (d.1st September 1916) Private Keenan was 31 when he died and is mentioned on a special memorial in the Killeevan (St. Livinus) Catholic Graveyard, Co. Monaghan, Ireland.
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Pte Arthur James Pilcher 2nd Btn. Royal Irish Fusiliers (d.8th February 1915) Arthur Pilcher is commemorated on the Menin Gate at Ypres, Belgium.
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Pte. Samuel Ferris 2nd Btn. Royal Irish Fusiliers Samuel Ferris fought at Battle of the Somme, he had been seconded (unverified) to Canadian Forces to fight at Vimy Ridge. He received a medal for gallantry (might have been mentioned in dispatch).
He was wounded and gassed at Passchendaele and sent home with 'corrupted lungs', according to my uncle and mother.
He found labour difficult and was forced into carpentry in the cabinet trade. Subsequent poverty relegated his family to substandard living conditions. Samuel died of T.B. in 1931; as did his wife and youngest daughter (my Aunt Elizabeth) in 1933. My mother's memory of his passing is that on the night he died, he was delirious and yelling, "They're coming over the top, boys! They're coming over the top."
This brave and loyal soldier's remaining two children were then sent to one of Dr. Bernado's orphanages in England.
Both his children, my mom and my uncle Jim, fortunately made it to a more egalitarian country, Canada, wherein class and parentage mattered less. I mean, what, you blame the orphan for his parents' deaths?
I am nonetheless proud of my Grandfather. He somehow managed to survive the Battle of the Somme and another full year of degradation I can barely comprehend let alone fathom.
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Pte. Patrick "Paddy" Grace 2nd Battalion Royal Irish Fusiliers Patrick Grace was my paternal grandfather. Born in Dublin in 1893, he joined up in 1912 and served until 1921 after re-enlisting in 1919. I have a lovely photograph of him at the age of 19 in Royal Irish Fusiliers uniform at Dublin Castle. Handwritten on the back is 'Paddy age 19 at Dublin castle, gunshot wounds and broken collar bone'. He re-enlisted in 1939 at the age of 47 and served for the whole of World War 2 as cookhouse staff. He married in 1924 and had 8 children. He died in 1954 in an accident at the silo works where he worked at Ringsend in Dublin at the age of 61. Very sad end for a brave man who survived both world wars with nothing more than shrapnel wounds and a broken collar bone. Although he died 10 years before I was born, I am very proud to call him my Grandad.
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Pte. Patrick Behan 2nd Btn. Royal Irish Fusiliers (d.15th Jul 1915) Patrick Behan served with the 2nd Battalion Royal Irish Fusiliers and died from his wounds on the 15th July 1915 aged 24. He is buried near the south boundary in Houtkerque Churchyard.
Patrick was the son of Patrick and Lottia Behan, of Dublin.
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Pte. William Rae 2nd Btn Royal Irish Fusiliers (d.8th May 1915) I am researching the possibility that William Rae served as a firefighter before he joined the colours, can anyone provide any information?
I work with the Fire Services National Museum in Northampton plus with the Firefighters Memorial London. I have been researching almost for two years for Firemen that joined the colours in WW1 & WW2 and were killed in action. We have at this moment approx 500 firemen on our list. If you know of anyone that may of been fireman and killed in action, please get in touch.
Thank you for your time.
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