royal irish fusiliers

[Guest benrymnd]

i am trying to find where in the first war my grandfather was, he was in the royal irish fuiliers i have the following information downloaded from the national archives if it will help.the a4 page has 6 seperate squares on with the following informatio.sq1( name) joseph bennett (company)r ir fus (rank) pte (reg n0)16576

(medals) victory (roll)b/103 b6 (page)609.

" " british " " " "

sq2 (name) joseph bennett (corps) rif brig (rank)pte (reg n0) 50429

(medals) victory (roll) m/102 b/82 (page)4140

" british " " " " "

sq3 (name) joseph bennett (corps) r ir fus (rank) pte (reg n0)20169

(medals) victory (roll) b/103 b7 (page N0) 795

" " " " " "

sq4 (name) joseph bennett (corps) m g c (rank) pte (reg n0) 58382

(medals) victory (roll) mgc b/108 b39 (page)3448

" british " " " " " "

sq5 (name) joseph bennett (corps) a&sh (rank) pte (reg n0) s/11717

" r highris " s/41047

(medals) victory (roll) g/102 b19 (page n0) 1395

" british " " " " "

sq6 (name) joseph bennett (corps) m g c (rank) pte (reg n0) 128078

(medals) victory (roll) m g c /101 b78 (roll) 6261

" " " " " " " "

how he came to be in the royal irish fusiliers i don't know as before he signed up/conscrpted he was living in warrington in lancashire i have the 2 medals belonging to him thats how i traced the information on the national archives,all the information seems to contradict itself with different sqs having different information i.e different reg numbers in each sq and different corps.

hope somone can help please.

kindest regards ray bennett

r /41047

[Ed Matthews]

Hello Ray

The other "squares" or record cards refer to different soldiers. Joseph Bennett is not a particularly unusual name and there will have been many who served with the Army at some point during the war! The page that you have not only includes the card for your grandfather but five other Joseph Bennetts too.

Can you confirm who the medals are named to? I note that there are two Joseph Bennetts who served with the RIF.

Kind rgds

Ed

[Desmond7]

You will find lots of English, Scots, Welshmen in Irish regts. and vice-versa.

E.g loads of West Countrymen in Royal irish Rifles.

Des

[kevin ley]

Hello,

You need to go to the PRO at Kew and look at the Victory/British War Medal rolls for your relative. It will list the battalions he served with in the R. Ir. Fus. Some soldiers were transferred between battalions while others served with only one.

My Gt. Grandfather served with the 1st battalion R. Ir. Fus. enlisting in Sept 1914 until his discharge due to sickness in July 1916. The 1st bn were at Le Cateau in 1914, and in Ypres (heavily involved in repulsing the German gas attacks and offensive of 2nd Ypres during April-May 1915). They were also at the Sunken Road near Beaumont Hamel on the 1st July 1916 on the first day of the Battle of the Somme - they were involved in the attack on the German trenches known as the Quadrilateral (or Heidenkopf). They were engaged in most of the actions during the war including later actions at Messines and 3rd Ypres (Passchendale).

I have the regimental history of the 1st Bn during the Great War and some extracts from the war diaries if you need any look ups.

Rgds,

Kevin.

[kevin ley]

Just for interest I am going to the regimental museum for the R. Ir. Fus. in Armagh next week. They have three albums of photos of the R. Ir. Fus. taken during the Great War and I am going to have a look.

The Museum has just published a new book called "Angels and Heroes" which contains about 100 unreleased photos of the 1st Bn during the first 8 months of the war. I am going to pick up a copy next week. It £12.99 I believe.

Rgds,

Kevin.