South Irish Horse

A Brief History of the South Irish Horse Regiment 1902 - 1922

The South Irish Horse Regiment is one of the six southern Irish Regiments disbanded as a result of Ireland’s independence in 1922. In existence for a mere twenty years, the regiment served with distinction on the western front during the 1914-1918 war.

The South Irish Horse was formed in 1902 and has its roots in the Imperial Yeomanry units of the Anglo Boer war. A number of Yeomanry units were raised throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland to make up the shortfall of regular troops fighting in South Africa. The 61^st (South Irish Horse (Dublin)) Coy and the 74^th (Dublin)Coy are most closely associated with the regiment at this time. The unit was initially named the South of Ireland Imperial Yeomanry in 1902 and retained this title until the 1908, when as a result of the Haldene reforms into the armed services, the more familiar title of the South Irish Horse was used.

The principal objective of the Regiment was as a part time cavalry unit, whereby recruits would sign for a set period of time to serve as reserve troops, called on in time of need. They attended training sessions throughout the year, culminating in a yearly three week camp. (Usually as part of the regular forces pretty much the same way as the territorial units of today operate.) However as there were no territorial units in Ireland at that time, the Regiment was designated as a Reserve cavalry Regiment, together with its sister regiment the North Irish Horse. Recruitment was principally from the south of the country and from all walks of life, an interest in all things horsey a distinct advantage!

The Regiment was at the end of their camp when the outbreak of hostilities was announced on the 4^th August 1914. Mobilisation was immediately put in place and B Squadron South Irish Horse, departed Ireland on the 17^th August 1914, to arrive in France on the 19^th August 1914. The Regiment has the distinction of being one of the first non regular units to fight with the BEF, arriving in France as part of the Irish Horse contingent (one squadron of South Irish Horse and two squadrons of the North Irish Horse). The squadron took part in the retreat from Mons and held the line at the Aisne, an action that was to save the retreating French V Army from severe disruption by the advancing German Army.

During the latter part of 1914 and throughout 1915, further Squadrons of the Regiment joined B Squadron in France. As they arrived they were assigned to the various Corps Cavalry divisions as and when the need arose. Their principal duties included mounted police duties, prisoner of war guards, repairs to trenches, escort duties to the c-in-c, mounted dispatch duties and other secondary support duties behind the front line.

In late 1916 C, E and S Squadrons joined together to form the 1^st SIH, in 1917, A, B and F Squadrons formed the 2^nd SIH and G Squadron (3^rd SIH) was the depot regiment based in Cahir.

Small sections of men were sent to the trenches as snipers, bombing parties and machine gunners. However, on the 26^th September 1916 as part of the Somme offensive, Lt Bence-Jones’ troop (A squadron attached to XV Corps) were involved in action south of Gueudecourt. They were sent to seize positions on high ground n.e. of the village. They found the high ground strongly held by the enemy and took up positions dismounted at the n.w. corner of the village at about 2:00pm, with a squadron of the 19^th Lancers (Indian Army) on their right. They maintained touch with infantry on their left by patrols and were continually under intense fire from the Germans. At about 6:30pm the infantry entered the village and the troop were relieved with the loss of one man killed, (Pte Allen) and four horses wounded.

As a mounted unit, the Regiment suffered their greatest number of casualties during 15^th June to the 1^st July 1917, when a working party building strong points in front of the British line for the 46^th division based at Lievin were shelled resulting in 7 fatal casualties and 28 wounded men (some of whom were to die later of wounds received.)

As it became more obvious that the fast moving warfare best suited to cavalry was not going to happen, a number of mounted regiments throughout the BEF were dismounted and the South Irish Horse were one of these. The 1^st SIH and 2^nd SIH were amalgamated, dismounted and reformed as the 7^th (SIH) Battalion Royal Irish Regiment (7^th SIH) in September1917 and proceeded to retrain as an infantry battalion. The 7^th SIH joined the 16^th (Irish) Division on the 14^th October 1917and continued training with spells in the front line throughout the remainder of the year. It was on the 12^th December 1917 that the Regiment suffered their first large scale loss of life. This was not from action at the front but as a result of german shelling as the regiment was relieved and returned to their billets. The billets themselves were shelled resulting in 28 men killed and 40 men wounded.



The beginning of the new year (1918) found the Regiment as part of the 16^th (Irish) Division attached to the V Army under General Gough occupying the area around Ronsoy, a poorly defended and sparsely occupied section of the line chosen as the area for the March offensive by the German High Command. So it was that on the 21^st March 1918 Operation Michael commenced with the German Army unleashing a massive bombardment on the positions around Ronsoy before attacking in force. Those men not killed or wounded by the sheer force of the German shelling were overrun by the German stormtroopers and infantry in a matter of hours. There were spirited pockets of defensive action, but the majority of troops had to fall back, fighting as they did so. No formal casualty figures are known but the war diaries record that at the end of the first day of the offensive, the strength of the battalion was 1 officer and 40 other ranks, the remaining troops either killed wounded or captured. In fact the whole of the 16^th Division suffered overwhelming casualties effectively wiping out the capability of the unit to fight as a division.

In May, as the battalion was pulled out of the line to reorganise it received another 700 men as replacements and set about digging further defensive lines. However the 7^th SIH were reduced to a training cadre in the middle of May and were assigned to the newly arrived American divisions to commence their training to acclimatise them to life in the trenches. In June the regiment received further reinforcements (approx 830 men from the Royal Dublin Fusiliers, Munster Fusiliers and the Royal Irish Regiment) and once again were able to act as a fighting unit.

A final engagement with the enemy occurred in September and October in and around Wulverghem and Wervicq before the ceasing of hostilities on the 11^th November 1918. The 7^th SIH Regiment was once again reduced to a cadre before being finally demobilised and wound up on the 24^th October 1919. The South Irish Horse was finally disbanded in 1922.

On the 12 June 1922 at Windsor Castle, King George V received the colours of five of the six disbanded Irish Regiments into his care. The Regiments were the Royal Irish Regiment, Royal Dublin Fusiliers, Royal Munster Fusiliers, Connaught Rangers and the Prince of Wales Leinster Regiment (Royal Canadians). The South Irish Horse, however, did not have colours and instead presented a plaque to the King. (Interestingly, the South Irish Horse when dismounted, albeit briefly, as the 7th (SIH) Batt. Royal Irish Regiment from September 1917 to 1918, were presented with their own colours).