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10th (South Belfast) Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles
The 10th (South Belfast) Battalion was raised in Belfast September 1914 from the Belfast Volunteers. They joined the 107th Brigade 36th (Ulster) Division at Ballykinler. The Ulster Division was formed from the Ulster Volunteer Force in August and September 1914, a process complicated by the tension surrounding the issue of Home rule. In July 1915 they moved to Seaford, Sussex in England. They proceeded to France in the first week of October, landing at Boulogne. The 36th (Ulster) Division concentrated near Flesselles, north of Arras. With training and familiarisation, including periods in the trenches with 4th Division in the front line north of the River Ancre near Albert. On the 21st of October they moved to the area around Abbeville. From the 5th November 1915 to 3rd Feb 1916 the 8th served with with 107th Bde, 4th Division for winter training. On the 29th August 1917 the 8th amalgamated with 9th Bn to form 8th/9th Battalion The 36th Ulster Division took over the front line in Spring. In 1916 they Division suffered heavily on the first day of the Battle of the Somme where they attacked at Thiepval. In 1917 They were in action at The Battle of Messines, capturing Wytschaete and in the The Battle of Langemarck during the Third Battles of Ypres and the The Cambrai Operations where the Division captured Bourlon Wood. In early 1918 the army was reorganised and the 8th battalion was disbanded in France on the 20th of February 1918.
The Ulster Tower, at Thiepval is a memorial to the men of the 36th (Ulster) Division, built as a copy of Helen's Tower at Clandeboye, County Down, where men of the 36th Division trained. There is a small visitor centre with a cafe behind the tower which is staffed by members of the Somme Association. Inside the tower is a small chapel with a number of paintings and plaques from Northern Ireland.
Today Thiepval Wood is owned by The Somme Association and guided tours are available of a section of recently excavated trenches.
Please note that Thiepval Wood is not open the public, it is used by French huntsmen who use live ammunition and who will shoot, you are putting yourself at risk by entering without permission. Please go to the visitor centre at the Ulster Tower to arrange a guided tour.
A DVD is now available, released for the official opening of the wood for guided tours on the 1st of July 2006, follows the Community Archaeology Project, undertaken by The Somme Association and No Man's Land, The European Group for Great War Archaeology. You can order a copy on-line by clicking the image below:
23rd of November 1914 Reorganisation
8th of October 1915 Inspection
10th of October 1915
13th of October 1915 First Casualties
16th Oct 1915 The Derby Scheme
18th of October 1915 Instruction
25th of October 1915 Royal Inspection
4th of November 1915 More Moves
25th of November 1915 Orders
29th of November 1915 Moves Completed
1st Dec 1915 Derby Scheme Armlets
11th Sep 1915 Last day of Derby Scheme Recruitment
8th of January 1916 Moves 
10th Jan 1916 Group System Reopens
2nd of February 1916 Moving to the Trenches
7th of February 1916 New Sector
8th of February 1916 Shelling
9th of February 1916 Villages Shelled
9th February 1916 Call Ups
10th of February 1916 Shelling and Bombs
12th of February 1916 A Line Rearrangement
14th of February 1916 Mine Blown
15th of February 1916 Digging and Mending
16th of February 1916 Collapsing Trenches
18th of February 1916 Lots of MG Fire
19th of February 1916 Under Heavy Fire
20th of February 1916 System for Reliefs
21st of February 1916 Active German Patrols
23rd of February 1916 Weather Turns
25th of February 1916 Heavy Snow and a German Patrol
26th of February 1916 A Store Burns
28th of February 1916 Changes to the Front
29th of February 1916 Active Aeroplanes
1st of March 1916 Reorganisation
2nd of March 1916 Very Strong Enemy Wire
3rd of March 1916 Divisional Artillery Relieved
6th of March 1916 Hot Fire
7th of March 1916 Trench Mortars Bombard Village
25th of March 1916 Hostile Aeroplanes
5th of May 1916 Bombs and Reliefs
4th of June 1916 A Successful Reconnaissance
24th of June 1916 Our Artillery Cuts Wire
27th of June 1916 Intense Bombardment
29th of June 1916 Assault Positions
1st Jul 1916 Over the Top
1st July 1916 Terrible Losses
2nd of July 1916 A Gallant Plan
10th of July 1916 Entraining Plans
31st of July 1916 Back to Kortepyp Billets
1st of June 1917 Instructions for the Offensive
7th of June 1917 Attack a Complete Success
13th of June 1917 On the Move
12th of August 1917 A Bavarian Deserter
30th of September 1917 Battle Narrative
1st of February 1918 An Inspection
10th of February 1918 Reorganisation Complete
If you can provide any additional information, please add it here.
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| Want to know more about 10th (South Belfast) Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles? There are:5286 items tagged 10th (South Belfast) Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles available in our Library
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 with10th (South Belfast) Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles during the Great War 1914-1918. - Agnew Joseph. Rfm (d.1st July 1916)
- Ashe W. G.. (d.1st Jul 1916)
- Bennett Robert William . Rfm. (d.7th Jun 1917)
- Blair A. G.. (d.1st Jul 1916)
- Bowler Harold. L/Cpl. (d.28th Jul 1917)
- Brown James. Pte. (d.5th Aug 1917)
- Craig David Washington. Rflmn. (d.15th August 1916)
- Deane R.. (d.1st Jul 1916)
- Dodds James. Rflmn. (d.17th Aug 1917)
- Foster William. CSM.
- Hadden Ernest Samuel. Rfmn. (d.3rd Jul 1916)
- Hanna Alexander. Sgt.
- Hawthorne G. A.. (d.1st Jul 1916)
- Hoey William Robert. Rflmn. (d.15th July 1916)
- Hoy G. A.. (d.1st Jul 1916)
- Hoy Samuel. Rfmn. (d.7th Jun 1917)
- Insley John. Rflmn. (d.14th August 1917)
- Kerr A G.. L/Cpl. (d.1st Jul 1916)
- Leinster David A.. Rfm (d.24th Dec 1917)
- Lewis William. Rfmn. (d.1st July 1916)
- Mathers DCM. John. CSM.
- McCoy J.. (d.1st Jul 1916)
- McCrory Samuel. Pte. (d.1st Jul 1916)
- Moore William. Rifleman
- Murphy M.. (d.1st Jul 1916)
- Nicholl Samuel. Rfmn.
- Patton T. J.. (d.1st Jul 1916)
- Richardson I.. (d.1st Jul 1916)
- Ross Edward. Rflmn. (d.7th June 1917)
- Scott Walter. 2nd Lt. (d.22nd Nov 1917 )
- Stewart Samuel. CQMS.
- Thomson Richard. Rflmn. (d.28th August 1916)
- Torrans Samuel. Rfmn. (d.7th Jun 1917)
- Watson J.. (d.1st Jul 1916)
- Woolf Hyam. Rflmn. (d.27th April 1918)
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 10th (South Belfast) Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles from other sources.
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Rfmn. William Lewis 10th Battalion Royal Irish Rifles (d.1st July 1916) William James Lewis was the son of William James Lewis and Ellen Lewis of 58 Rutland Street, South Belfast. He was my Grandfather's brother.
William joined the Royal Irish Rifles, 36th Ulster Division and was sent to war in France on 4th of October 1915. As part of the 107th brigade he was attached to the 4th division Nov 1915 until Feb 1916 to receive trench warfare instruction, and on the 7th Feb 1916 he was moved to the front line between the river Ancre and the Mailly - Maillet to Secre Road. In March 1916 he was moved to Thiepval Wood. He was killed in on the opening day of the Battle of the Somme
Rifleman William Lewis 15157, 10th Bn, Royal Irish Rifles is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, Somme, France.
I believe William was also the company Bugler.
My grandfather Wilfred Lewis was 6 years younger than William so survived the great war, but we will never forget him or the sacrifice he made for our freedom.
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Pte. Samuel McCrory 10th Btn. Royal Irish Rifles (d.1st Jul 1916) My great uncle Pte. Samuel McCrory served with the 10th Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles, part of the 36th Ulster Division and was killed on the 1st July 1916. Samuel McCrory, Army number 395 has no known grave but is recorded on the Thiepval Monument and he came from the Donegal Road area of South Belfast.
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CQMS. Samuel Stewart 10th Battalion Royal Irish Rifles Samuel Stewart was promoted in the field to Colour-Sergeant.
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CSM. John Mathers DCM. 10th Battalion Royal Irish Rifles John Mathers served with the 10th Royal Irish Rifles.I don't know much about my grandfather. My father never spoke about him.
The only thing I have are his medals
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Rflmn. John Insley 10th Btn. Royal Irish Rifles (d.14th August 1917) I understand that my uncle John Insley joined the 11th Battalion of the Sherwood Foresters at Derby, presumably in September 1914. At some point during the war he and many others of the battalion were transferred to the 10th Battalion of the Royal Irish Rifles. To date I have not discovered when and why this occurred.
I had no idea where he had been killed until I took a party of cubs and scouts to Ypres and the Menin Gate in the 1990s. Whilst there I said to my son that I had a feeling that he was there somewhere. We searched the local regiments Notts & Derby, South Staffs etc, with no luck. The guide informed us that to find out where relatives were buried we could contact the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. This I did to be told that he was on panel 40 of the Menin Gate under the Royal Irish Rifles.
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Rflmn. David Washington Craig 10th Battalion Royal Irish Rifles (d.15th August 1916) Death recorded on 15th August 1916. Buried in Le Plus Douve (annexe) Cemetry Ypres beside Ration Farm.
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Rflmn. Richard Thomson 10th Batt Royal Irish Rrifles (d.28th August 1916) My grandmother's first husband Richard Thomson was wounded in 1916 and died in Graylingwell War Hospital, Chichester on 28th of August 1916. He is buried in City Cemetery, Belfast.
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Rflmn. Edward Ross 10th Btn. Royal Irish Rifles (d.7th June 1917) Edward Ross was only 15 years old and lied about his age. He and his best friend joined up at 15 years old. They went to Ballykinler, then France. Edward suffered trench feet and ended up in hospital in France. His body was never found. I don't know the name of his friend but I have the origional letters from him to his mother.
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Rflmn. Hyam Woolf 10th Btn Royal Irish Rifles (d.27th April 1918) Rifleman Hyam Woolf was my great-uncle. I was born 1935 long after his death. He is buried in the Gwalia Military Cemetery near Poperinghe, Belgium which I visited with my son about 10 days ago. It is stated he died of wounds and would like to know more about his military career and how a Jewish boy from Hackney ended up in the Royal Irish Rifles. He is the only Jew buried in the Gwalia cemetery.
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Rflmn. James Dodds 10th South Belfast Btn. Royal Irish Rifles (d.17th Aug 1917) I have been doing some research into my family history and found my great-uncle James Dodds had served during the war.
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Rfmn. Samuel Nicholl 10th Btn. Royal Irish Rifles My granda was Sammy Nicholl from 53 Walton St., Crumlin Rd. He served as a Rifleman in the 10th Royal Irish Rifles. He served in Afghanistan before getting ill and was sent back to Britain when he recovered he was sent to France in 1915 were he was captured and was interned for the war until 1918.
My father volunteered this info on his hospital bed.
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Rfmn. Ernest Samuel "Sa" Hadden 10th Btn. Royal Irish Rifles (d.3rd Jul 1916) Ernest Samuel Haddon was my great uncle and my grandfather's younger brother.
He was a signatory to the Ulster Covenant (as was my grandfather)
He served with the Royal Irish Rifles 10th Battalion. He was wounded in action on day one of the Somme and died two days later on 3rd July 1916 in a field hospital.
My father remembers as a young boy visiting his granny Graham who had a trunk with Sammy's effects in them. He distinctly remembers seeing a cigarette case with dents in (bullet hits?).
Unfortunately he has no idea what happened to it when she died.
My uncle did have a photograph, but annoyingly he has lost it.
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Rfmn. Samuel Hoy 10th Battalion Royal Irish Rifles (d.7th Jun 1917) Samuel Hoy is my Great Uncle and was born on 4th February 1898 to parents Samuel and Letitia of Upper Meadow Street, Belfast.
He enlisted in the Kings Royal Rifle Corp (KRRC) in early 1916, with the Regimental number of 19903 and subsequently transferred to the 10th Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles.
He was killed in action aged 19, on 7th June 1917 during the Battle of Messines. Having No Known Grave, he is remembered on Panel 40, of the Menin Gate.
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Rfmn. Samuel Torrans A Coy,10th Btn. Royal Irish Rifles (d.7th Jun 1917) Samuel Torrans was 22 when he died. I was not a relative of his, but knew his descendants as I used to live in 13 Schomberg Street.
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Pte. James Brown 10th Btn. Royal Irish Rifles (d.5th Aug 1917) James was eldest son of James and Jeannie Brown of Belfast. He joined the 10th Battalion in 1914 and shipped to France in October 1915. His father died in 1913 and Jeannie died in early 1917. James himself was killed near Wieltje by a German shell whilst assisting to move casualties from the front line. He was survived by three brothers.
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Rifleman William Moore 10th Royal Irish Rifles Rifleman Moore was my Granda and served in France during WW1. He had 3 medals and was shot and wounded in 1917.
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CSM. William Foster 10th Btn. B Coy. Royal Irish Rifles William Foster was the Company Serjeant Major of B Company 10th Royal Irish Rifles whilst they were in France and became an active member of the Memorial Association.
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