The Army In Ireland 1660 1686

Author : Richard Cannon
Publisher : W. CLOWES AND SONS
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 47 pages
Book Rating : 4./5 ( download)

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Download or read book Historical Record of the Eighteenth or The Royal Irish Regiment of Foot written by Richard Cannon and published by W. CLOWES AND SONS. This book was released on with total page 47 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Royal Irish Regiment of Foot existed many years, as independent companies of pikemen and musketeers on the establishment of Ireland, previous to the formation of the regiment in 1684; several of these companies having been in the service of the Commonwealth in the time of Oliver Cromwell. At the Restoration in 1660, King Charles II. disbanded the army of the Commonwealth in England, and embodied several new corps. Little alteration was, however, made in the Irish forces, excepting the formation of a regiment of foot guards, called the "Royal Regiment of Ireland," which, with about twenty independent troops of horse and eighty companies of foot, constituted the military force of Ireland. Towards the close of his reign, King Charles II. took particular interest in improving the organization of the military establishments of his dominions, and the Irish independent troops of horse were embodied into three regiments of cavalry; at the same time the companies of foot were constituted seven regiments of infantry. The colonelcy of one of these corps was conferred on Arthur Earl of Granard, by commission dated the 1st of April, 1684; it is the only one of these ten regiments which has continued in the service of the British crown; and it now bears the title of the Eighteenth, or the Royal Irish Regiment of Foot. 1685 On the 6th of February, 1685, King Charles II. died, and was succeeded by his brother, James II.; and in June following James Duke of Monmouth erected the standard of rebellion in the west of England, and asserted his own pretensions to the throne. On this occasion the Earl of Granard's regiment was ordered to proceed to England: it embarked from Dublin, landed at Park Gate, and marched to Chester. In a few days after its arrival in England the rebel army was overthrown at Sedgemoor, and the Duke of Monmouth was subsequently captured and beheaded; when the regiment returned to Ireland. 1686 The King, being of the Roman Catholic persuasion, soon evinced a determination to use his utmost endeavours to subvert the Protestant religion and the constitution of the kingdom; commencing in Ireland, where the Catholics were more numerous than the Protestants. The Earl of Clarendon was nominated Lord-Lieutenant; but "Colonel —— Talbot, a furious Papist, was empowered to model the army, and he dismissed the greater part of the Protestant officers, filling their places with those of his own religion. After having performed this signal service, he came over to England, where he was created Earl Tyrconnel and lieut.-general of the Irish army." The Earl of Granard, not approving of these proceedings, resigned the colonelcy of the regiment in favour of his son, Arthur Lord Forbes, whose commission as colonel was dated the 1st of March, 1686. 1687 In the summer of 1687, the regiment was encamped, with the other Irish corps, on the Curragh of Kildare; and the Earl Tyrconnel made a minute inspection of every troop and company, inquiring the name of every man, and discharging many because they were the descendants of men who had served Oliver Cromwell. When the regiment went into quarters, nearly all the Protestant officers and soldiers were dismissed from the service, a few only being retained to discipline the recruits, and the ranks were completed with men of the Roman Catholic religion. Colonel Lord Forbes being a spirited young nobleman of the Protestant religion, Earl Tyrconnel paid some deference to his Lordship, to avoid an open collision with so chivalrous an officer; and more Protestants were retained in Lord Forbes's regiment than in any other Irish corps. To be continue in this ebook...