Irish Army (1661–1801) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Irish Army |
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| Active | 1661–1801 |
| Country | Kingdom of Ireland |
| Type | Army |
| Role | Land warfare |
| Size | 7,500 (1661) c. 36,000 (1690) 12,000 (1699–1767) 15,235 (1767–1801) |
| Commanders | |
| Commander-in-Chief | James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormond (1661–1685) Richard Talbot, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell (1685–1689) Frederick Schomberg, 1st Duke of Schomberg (1689–1690) Godert de Ginkel (1690–1692) Lord Galway (1692–1701) Thomas Erle (1701–1705) Lord Cutts (1705–1707) Richard Ingoldsby (1707–January 1712) William Steuart (1711–1714) Lord Tyrawley (1714–1721) Lord Shannon (1721–1740) Owen Wynne, 1728 Gervais Parker (1740–1750) Viscount Molesworth (1751–1758) Lord Rothes (1758–1767) William Keppel (1773–1774) George Augustus Eliott Sir John Irwin (1775–1782) John Burgoyne (1782–1784) Sir William Augustus Pitt (1784–1791) George Warde (1791–1793) Lord Rossmore (1793–1796) Lord Carhampton (1796–1798) Sir Ralph Abercromby, 1798 Lord Lake, 1798 Lord Cornwallis (1798–1801) |
The Irish Army, also known as the "monarch's army in Ireland," was the official army of the Kingdom of Ireland. This kingdom was closely linked to England and later Great Britain. It existed from the early 1660s until 1801. At that time, it joined the British Army. For much of its history, the Irish Army was the largest military force available to the British monarch. It was even bigger than the armies in England and Scotland.
At first, the monarch alone controlled the army. But from 1699, the monarch and the Parliament of England shared control. The Parliament of Ireland took on more duties in 1769. After 1782, it began passing its own laws about the army. The Irish Army was paid for by Irish taxes and had its own top commander, called the Commander-in-Chief, Ireland.
For a long time, only Anglo-Irish Protestants from the Church of Ireland could join the army. Most Irish Catholics and other Protestants were not allowed to enlist. However, when the Catholic king James II ruled (1685–1688), Catholics were actively recruited. They quickly became the majority in the army.
When James II was overthrown in 1688 during the Glorious Revolution, most Irish Army units stayed loyal to him. They fought for him as Jacobites in the Williamite–Jacobite War (1688–1691). After James's defeat, many of these units went to France. There, they formed the main part of the famous Irish Brigade.
After the Williamite victory, the army was rebuilt. It was once again mainly Protestant. But because of a shortage of soldiers, some Catholics were eventually allowed to join. This became legal in 1778. Irish soldiers fought for Britain in several wars. These included the Nine Years' War (1688–1697), the French and Indian War (1754–1763), and the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783). The army also fought against the United Irishmen during the Irish Rebellion of 1798. However, most of the fighting in Ireland was done by two other forces: the Irish Militia and the Irish Yeomanry.
After the Acts of Union 1800, the Parliament of Ireland was abolished. The Irish Army's regiments then became part of the British Army. The modern Irish Army, formed after 1922, does not trace its history back to this earlier Irish Army.
Contents
History of the Irish Army
Early Armies in Ireland
After the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland in the late 1100s, English kings claimed control over parts of Ireland. The rest of the island was ruled by Irish kingdoms. Both English lords and Irish chiefs raised their own armies for battles.
By the 1400s, direct English control had shrunk to a small area called the Pale. In 1542, the Kingdom of Ireland was officially created. King Henry VIII of England became King of Ireland. The English then began to take full control of the island. This led to many conflicts, like the Desmond Rebellions and the Nine Years' War. The English won these wars by 1603. After 1607, all of Ireland was under the control of the English Crown.
Wars of the Three Kingdoms (1640s)
In the early 1640s, King Charles I allowed a 'New Irish Army' to be formed. This army was mostly made up of Catholic Irish people. It was meant to help the King in Scotland. However, there were rumors that Charles I planned to use this army against his enemies in the English Parliament.
When the Irish Rebellion of 1641 started, the existing Irish Army was too small. Many soldiers from the 'New Irish Army' joined the rebels. They soon controlled large parts of Ireland. In 1642, they formed the Irish Catholic Confederacy and their own army.
England sent many soldiers to Ireland in 1642 to help the King's supporters. Scotland also sent an army. Irish Protestants in Ulster formed their own 'Laggan Army'. These armies fought against the Irish Confederate army in what became known as the Irish Confederate Wars.
In 1649, a large English Parliamentarian army, led by Oliver Cromwell, invaded Ireland. They conquered Ireland by 1653. The King's Irish army went into exile with Charles II. English republican troops then guarded Ireland until 1660.
Rebuilding the Army (1660s)
In 1660, Charles II became King of Ireland again. He kept the large army in Ireland, which had about 7,500 soldiers. This was the biggest army he had in the British Isles. Many of these soldiers had fought against him before. So, in 1661, the new Viceroy, the Duke of Ormonde, began to reform the army.
Ormonde first created a 1,200-strong regiment of Foot Guards in Dublin. Many of these soldiers were brought from England to reduce the influence of former enemies.
By 1672, the rest of the Irish army was organized into six new regiments. However, most soldiers were still spread out in small garrisons. The soldiers were often poorly paid and equipped. A report in 1676 said the army was "in a most miserable condition." All officers and soldiers were supposed to be Anglican Protestants. Catholic soldiers were only allowed to serve abroad. By 1676, most soldiers were on leave because there wasn't enough money to pay them. The Foot Guards were the only effective unit.
By 1685, when Charles's Catholic brother James II became king, the army had several regiments of foot and cavalry. Their main job was to keep peace within Ireland.
The Army Under King James II
King James II wanted to create an army loyal to him. So, his new commander, Richard Talbot, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell, started removing Protestant officers. He replaced many of them with Catholics. He also quickly recruited more Catholics into the army. By the summer of 1686, two-thirds of the soldiers and 40% of the officers were Catholic.
This change worried many people in Ireland and England. There were reports of tension between Catholic soldiers and Protestants. In 1688, James was removed from power by his Protestant daughter Mary and her husband William of Orange. James had sent 2,500 Irish soldiers to England just before this happened. These soldiers were disarmed and many were sent to serve in other armies in Europe. Only one regiment, the 18th Foot, continued to serve William.
Irish Protestants started a rebellion in 1689, supporting William. Tyrconnell kept control of most towns with the remaining soldiers loyal to James. In January 1689, Tyrconnell began to greatly expand the army. Many new regiments were formed, but they often lacked uniforms and proper weapons. James's Irish army eventually grew to about 36,000 men.
The Williamite War (1689-1691)
Williamite War in Ireland King James landed in Ireland in March 1689 with French soldiers. He hoped to use Ireland to regain his kingdoms. In August, Schomberg landed in Ireland with William's main army. He had over 20,000 men.
The Williamite War lasted two years. It caused many deaths. King William himself arrived in June 1690 with more soldiers. James's army was defeated at the Battle of the Boyne in July. This led to the loss of Dublin. But James's army stopped William's advance at the Siege of Limerick in September. Both James and William left Ireland in 1690, leaving others to finish the war.
In July 1691, the Battle of Aughrim was fought. This was one of the bloodiest battles in Irish history. The Irish army's commander was killed, and many officers were captured. This was a huge blow to James's cause.
The Treaty of Limerick
In October 1691, a peace agreement called the Treaty of Limerick was signed. It allowed soldiers still loyal to James to leave for France and join the French army. This event is known as the "Flight of the Wild Geese" in Ireland. About 19,000 soldiers and irregular fighters left. Including women and children, the total was over 20,000 people.
A separate Irish Brigade had already formed in France. The new arrivals from Ireland joined this brigade. They continued to wear the red coats of the Irish Army, which sometimes caused confusion when they fought the British Army.
William reformed the Irish Army. He used it to recruit soldiers for his international wars, like the Nine Years' War. Catholic recruitment was officially forbidden again, but this rule was often ignored when more soldiers were needed. In 1699, the English Parliament passed a law to reduce the size of the army. This cut the English army to 7,000 soldiers and the Irish army to 12,000.
The Eighteenth Century Army
For most of the 1700s, the Irish Army was used to keep a group of regiments ready for war. These regiments were kept at a lower strength in Ireland. Then, they were brought up to full strength when needed for wars abroad. "Irish" regiments could be moved to other armies or sent overseas.
It was officially forbidden to recruit ordinary soldiers in Ireland until 1756. However, this rule was often ignored during times of war. It was expensive and difficult to recruit soldiers in Britain. So, officers often secretly enlisted Irish Catholics or tried to pass Irish Protestants off as Scots.
By 1767, British leaders wanted to make the army bigger. But the British Parliament resisted expanding the British army. So, they decided to increase the Irish army instead. The limit on the Irish army was raised from 12,000 to 15,235 soldiers. In 1769, the Irish Parliament agreed to keep these extra soldiers.
This situation led to the Irish Patriot movement. They argued that Ireland had to support a large army mainly for Britain's benefit.
French and Indian War
The British government used regiments from the Irish army for the French and Indian War in North America. The 44th and 48th regiments were quickly sent from Ireland. They suffered heavy losses at the Battle of the Monongahela. Both regiments continued to serve in the war and returned to Ireland in 1763.
American War of Independence
When the American colonies rebelled in 1775, Ireland provided many recruits for the British Army. The Irish Parliament agreed to let several Irish Army regiments serve in America. This raised concerns that Ireland was not well defended when France joined the war in 1778.
A group called the Irish Volunteers formed to defend Ireland from invasion. These Volunteers soon became a political movement. They demanded that London give Ireland more power. This led to the Constitution of 1782, which gave the Irish Parliament more control over its own armed forces.
Rebellion of 1798
Irish Rebellion of 1798 In the 1790s, the army was not considered ready for a major conflict. This was a time when ideas from the French Revolution were spreading. There were fears of revolutionary ideas reaching Britain and Ireland. The Irish Army played a role in fighting the rebels during the Irish Rebellion of 1798.
Amalgamation
The Irish Army was combined with the British Army after the Acts of Union 1800. By this time, the old ban on Irish Catholics serving in the army had been removed. Catholics began to make up a growing number of soldiers.
See also
- Commander-in-Chief, Ireland
- Military history of Ireland
