6th Battalion

[happelw]

My great Uncle enlisted August 27, 1914, in the 6th Bat. and he was from Belfast. I am curious if there would have been a recruiting 'desk' for the 6th in Belfast. I undersatnd the 6th is a Dublin battalion but word through the family says he enlisted in Belfast. Is this possible?

THis battalion was also one of the most 'mixed' battalions of the NOrth and SOuth Irish, did they 'get along'. Reason for this question is my great uncle served in Gallipoli in August 1915, and he was wounded, he was convalesed home to Belfast and transferred to the 2nd Bat RIR. I am supposing that he either had no desire to return to the 6th for reason either internal or external. THe 6th had moved on to Salonka or he wanted to fight the Germans in France.

WHile I am at it, is there any record available from Gallipoli to show who was wounded besides the officers? I have read the 29th BRig and the RIR records from August and as my Great uncle was a Rifleman he is listed as Other Ranks...and no names are posted for their sacrifice.

Any knowledge is appreciated.

[Coldstreamer]

welcome to the forum

lists of wound men can be found in The Times on Line - you need access through some library cards but occassionally they give free access to the masses

If your relative was a ranker he almost certainly had no choice which unit he was sent back to

Where you enlisted can have no bearing on who you joined

By worth you changing the thread title to include his regiment as more people will look then - I only looked in passing as I cant sleep!!!!

[markinbelfast]

http://www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_detail...casualty=691253

will show a man from Belfast in the 6th.

The sdgw lists 48 Belfastmen as having died with the 6th!

[Desmond7]

All I have read and researched leads me to the conclusion that the guys who joined 6th Rifles were ultra keen to 'get in' ... a thoroughly mixed unit as seen from my local perspective with everything from UVF men/Orange types to Irish Vols. and keen young recruits all mixed in together.

In terms of recruiting, I think the areas men were drawn from was equally mixed with a very healthy 'northern' contingent.

See Ballymena website below - go to 'weekly war 1915 section' and scroll down to you see articles about Gallipoli. Quite a few 6th Riflemen mentioned etc.

Hope this helps, Des.

[curranl]

Hello Rfn Lindsay and welcome to the forum.

I am assuming we are talking about the 6th Royal Irish Rifles here? My granduncle served with them in Gallipoli, Salonika and Palestine and survived the entire war unscathed, apart from contracting malaria.

The 6th, as with all Royal Irish Rifles Battalions, were primarily a Northern Ireland battalion, possibly even primarily drawn from the Belfast area. As Des says they attracted many men from varied backgrounds who simply wanted to get into the fight - in common with the rest of 10th (Irish) Division. Why my grand uncle joined them, (when he was a Kilkenny man), has always puzzled me. As far as I know they were never specifically associated with Dublin.

They landed at Anzac Cove on Gallipoli on the 5th of August, 1915 and took terrible casualties over the 9th and 10th in a failed attempt to take part of the Chunuk Bair hills and a subsequent counterattack by the Turks. By the 15th of August, there were only 36 men left who could answer the roll call - out of a total of 775 who landed on the 5th of August.

You can find a good account of the action in The 10th Irish Division at Gallipoli (ISBN 0-7165-2517-8) by Bryan Cooper, Orange, Green and Khaki (ISBN 0 7171 1994 7) by Tom Johnstone and the recently published Field of Bones by Phillip Orr (sorry, don't have ISBN to hand).

As others here have said, your man would have had very little (if any) say in which battalion (or indeed regiment) he was assigned to after he had recovered from his wounds.

The dead of 6th RIR at Gallipoli are commemorated on the Helles Memorial at Gallipoli and most of them are buried in a mass grave at The Farm.

Regards,

Liam.

[happelw]

Hello Rfn Lindsay and welcome to the forum.

I am assuming we are talking about the 6th Royal Irish Rifles here? My granduncle served with them in Gallipoli, Salonika and Palestine and survived the entire war unscathed, apart from contracting malaria.

The 6th, as with all Royal Irish Rifles Battalions, were primarily a Northern Ireland battalion, possibly even primarily drawn from the Belfast area. As Des says they attracted many men from varied backgrounds who simply wanted to get into the fight - in common with the rest of 10th (Irish) Division. Why my grand uncle joined them, (when he was a Kilkenny man), has always puzzled me. As far as I know they were never specifically associated with Dublin.

They landed at Anzac Cove on Gallipoli on the 5th of August, 1915 and took terrible casualties over the 9th and 10th in a failed attempt to take part of the Chunuk Bair hills and a subsequent counterattack by the Turks. By the 15th of August, there were only 36 men left who could answer the roll call - out of a total of 775 who landed on the 5th of August.

You can find a good account of the action in The 10th Irish Division at Gallipoli (ISBN 0-7165-2517-8) by Bryan Cooper, Orange, Green and Khaki (ISBN 0 7171 1994 7) by Tom Johnstone and the recently published Field of Bones by Phillip Orr (sorry, don't have ISBN to hand).

As others here have said, your man would have had very little (if any) say in which battalion (or indeed regiment) he was assigned to after he had recovered from his wounds.

The dead of 6th RIR at Gallipoli are commemorated on the Helles Memorial at Gallipoli and most of them are buried in a mass grave at The Farm.

Regards,

Liam.

[happelw]

welcome to the forum

lists of wound men can be found in The Times on Line - you need access through some library cards but occassionally they give free access to the masses

If your relative was a ranker he almost certainly had no choice which unit he was sent back to

Where you enlisted can have no bearing on who you joined

By worth you changing the thread title to include his regiment as more people will look then - I only looked in passing as I cant sleep!!!!

[happelw]

welcome to the forum

lists of wound men can be found in The Times on Line - you need access through some library cards but occassionally they give free access to the masses

If your relative was a ranker he almost certainly had no choice which unit he was sent back to

Where you enlisted can have no bearing on who you joined

By worth you changing the thread title to include his regiment as more people will look then - I only looked in passing as I cant sleep!!!!

Thank you and yes he was Royal Irish Rifles. I have been so deep into this...i didn't even think, silly of me really.

He served in Gallipoli and convalesed in Belfast and re-entered the war and was a 2nd Battalion machine gunner. On the 8th of July he was killed by an artillery shell at Ovilliers and his body not recovered.

I have been trying to look into his short life and taking the aspect of historical first through the books and records. I will investigate the Times, if I have a trouble may I ask again for direction? I live in the States and some things may be, well no pun intended, a reach to get information in the UK. Thanks

[happelw]

All I have read and researched leads me to the conclusion that the guys who joined 6th Rifles were ultra keen to 'get in' ... a thoroughly mixed unit as seen from my local perspective with everything from UVF men/Orange types to Irish Vols. and keen young recruits all mixed in together.

In terms of recruiting, I think the areas men were drawn from was equally mixed with a very healthy 'northern' contingent.

See Ballymena website below - go to 'weekly war 1915 section' and scroll down to you see articles about Gallipoli. Quite a few 6th Riflemen mentioned etc.

Hope this helps, Des.

Thank you he was a ROyal Irish Rifle and yes I have looked at the Ballymena site. THank you. I am curious if you might have additional information about your gr uncles time during August 5-12? My uncle was one of the ones to have made it to Egypt when he was wounded and then home to Belfast where he was or transferred to the 2nd Bat RIR and was a machine gunner. He was killed at the Somme July 8th at Ovilliers by artillery.