The history of the Irish Guards as an infantry regiment of the British Army dates from the Regiment's formation in 1900. The Irish Guards have an over one hundred year-long history during which the regiment have served with distinction in almost all of the United Kingdom's conflicts throughout the 20th and early 21st centuries ranging from the First World War to the War in Afghanistan.
The Irish Guards were formed by Queen Victoria in 1900 to honour the Irishmen who had fought in the Second Boer War. The Irish Guards first saw combat as a regiment in the First World War during which they fought on the Western Front from the beginning to the end of the war. The regiment played a significant role in many of the First World War's pivotal battles such as the First Battle of Ypres, the Battle of Loos and the Battle of the Somme. By the end of the war, the regiment had experienced significant losses and won four Victoria Crosses, two of them posthumous. The Irish Guards were to experience similar fighting just twenty one years later with the commencement of the Second World War. The regiment won two further Victoria Crosses and saw action during the Norwegian Campaign, the Battle of France, the Tunisian Campaign, the Italian Campaign, Operation Overlord and Operation Market Garden. Following the conclusion of the Second World War, the Irish Guards were involved in several conflicts arising from the decline of the British Empire, including the Jewish insurgency in Mandatory Palestine, against the EOKA group in Cyprus and in the Aden Emergency. Moving into the 21st Century, the Irish Guards served in the Balkans Conflicts, the Iraq War and the War in Afghanistan.
Creation
The Irish Guards was formed on 1 April 1900 by order of Queen Victoria to commemorate the Irish people who fought in the Second Boer War for the British Empire. This followed an initial suggestion from the Irish-born British Army officer Field Marshal Viscount Wolseley to allow soldiers in Irish Regiments to wear the shamrock in their headdress on St. Patrick's Day. This developed into a suggestion that an Irish Guards regiment should be created.
The Irish Guards' first honorary Colonel-of-the-Regiment was Field Marshal Lord Roberts, known to many troops as "Bobs". Because of this, the regiment gained the nickname "Bob's Own" but are now known affectionately as "The Micks" (although a generally derogatory term if used in society, this term is not seen as offensive or derogatory by the regiment.)
Roberts, as the new Commander-in-Chief in the Second Boer War, was too busy at the time to take over a new regiment, but he was appointed a Colonel of the regiment on 17 October 1900. Major Richard Joshua Cooper, of the 1st Battalion, Grenadier Guards, was appointed the first Commanding Officer on 2 May 1900 and 200 Irishmen from the same regiment were transferred as the nucleus of the new regiment. Selected members of the line infantry regiments were chosen to fill out the ranks of the new regiment.
The regiment's first Colours were presented by King Edward VII to the 1st Battalion on 30 May 1902 at Horse Guards Parade. A few Irish Guardsmen saw action as mounted infantry in the final stages of the Boer War. Otherwise, the Irish Guards were stationed in the United Kingdom for the first fourteen years of its existence, performing ceremonial duties in London during that time until the beginning of World War I.
First World War
1914-1915: Outbreak of War and the first battles on the Western Front
The 1st Battalion, Irish Guards deployed to France, eight days after the United Kingdom had declared war upon the German Empire, as part of 4th (Guards) Brigade of the 2nd Division, and would remain on the Western Front for the duration of the war. The battalion took part in the Battle of Mons and the subsequent arduous and bloody Great Retreat. The Irish Guards was part of the rearguard during the retreat and took part in a small-scale action at Landrecies against the advancing Germans. The 1st Irish Guards also took part in another rearguard action at the woods near Villers-Cotterets, on 1 September, during the Battle of Le Cateau in which their Commanding Officer, Lieutenant-Colonel the Hon. George Morris and the Second-in-Command Major Hubert Crichton were killed. Le Cateau was a successful action that inflicted very heavy losses on the Germans and helped delay their advance towards Paris.