The Story of the Disbanded Irish Regiments

On 12 June 1922, a special ceremony was held at Windsor Castle to mark the disbandment of six British Army regiments which had traditionally recruited in the south of Ireland.

The Royal Irish Regiment, the Connaught Rangers, the Prince of Wales’s Leinster Regiment (Royal Canadians), the Royal Munster Fusiliers, the Royal Dublin Fusiliers and the South Irish Horse had all served in the First World War (1914-18), during which many of their soldiers had been killed in action.

But following Ireland’s war for independence (1919-21), and the subsequent creation of the Irish Free State, their service with the British Army came to an end and they were formally disbanded.

These six regiments were just some of many distinguished British Army units which have been raised in Ireland. Recruited locally, as well as in Britain and abroad, soldiers of these regiments have served in every corner of the globe and in many of the Army’s most arduous campaigns.