The Royal Dublin Fusiliers
The Royal Dublin Fusiliers was an Irish Infantry Regiment of the British Army raised in 1881 and garrisoned in Ireland. The Regiment was disbanded in 1922.
Battalions during the Great War.
- 1st Battalion
- 2nd Battalion
- 3rd (Reserve) Battalion
- 4th (Extra Reserve) Battalion
- 5th (Extra Reserve) Battalion
- 6th (Service) Battalion
- 7th (Service) Battalion
- 8th (Service) Battalion
- 9th (Service) Battalion
- 10th (Service) Battalion
- 11th (Reserve) Battalion
|
|
May 2010 - Please note we currently have a large backlog of submitted material, our volunteers are working through this as quickly as possible and all names, stories and photos will be added to the site. For updates please see our
news page.
World War 1 One ww1 wwII greatwar great
|
Private George Humphreys Royal Dublin Fusiliers the family story goes that great grandfather george ran away as a 14/15 year old to join the fusiliers at the turn of the 20th century.(1902 or 1903) and was posted to india.nothing is known of his time in india,but his medal card from ww1 shows he first saw action on 25 april 1915,the first day of the gallipoli campaign.after remarkably surviving this he was sent to the western front.he was pensioned out in 1916 due to wounds and returned to dublin where he raised his family with wife,katie.very little detail is known as he never spoke of his involvement in ww1. |
Michael Ward 9th Btn. Dublin Fusliers My Great Grandfather, Michael Ward left Dublin in 1916, 3 years after the death of his wife Elizabeth. He left 8 young children behind in a tenement house. He served for 2.5 years and returned to Dublin where he worked in Guinness's. He died at the age of 92. I am so proud of him. |
Pte. James Collins 2nd Btn (d.24th May 1915) My Great Uncle Jimmy Collins was gassed at Mouse Trap Farm on 24 May 1915, aged 19 years. |
Pte. William Joseph Duffy Dublin Fusiliers William Duffy signed up with the Royal Dublin Fusiliers on the 8th of August 1914, he first saw action in France on the 9th of Febuary 1915, and then went on to serve in the Dardanelles until he was discarged 8th of August 1916 due to sickness. He was awarded the silver war badge, also the 1914 star ,the 1915 star and the victory medal. He died 1965 in Dublin. |
Pte. Michael Keogh 2nd Btn. Dublin Fusiliers My father, Pte. Michael Keogh,(No.32276 'A' Company - 2nd Battalion), joined the Royal Dublin Fusiliers, I think around 1918, putting his age up in order to join his brother Patrick Keogh who had just returned from serving in France. My father went to Turkey, Asia Minor, with the Black Sea Army and served in the Anatolian Mounted Infantry. From there he went to India with the RDF and served on the northwest frontier(Punjab) in what is now Pakistan. His discharge certificate is marked 30-10-1926.
He wrote numerous poems and vignets about this period of his life; some of which show extraordinary sensitivity in one so young. In addition, his sense of humour as experienecd through the daily life of a soldier, speaks of another generation of tough, hardy and resourceful men. I grew up listening to his 'war stories'and I gathered the impression that despite the dangers and hardships, the time he spent with the "Dubs" was the happiest in his life. Although he abhorred war and its futility, he held his comrades in high esteem and the code of honour they shared.
Michael Keogh migrated to Australia in 1924 and died there at the age of 70 years in 1971. To his last day he still maintained the bearing of a soldier, something he attributed to his training with the Royal Dublin Fusliliers.
I have some photographs and articles which I will post at a later date. I would love to hear from any relatives of former RDF members who served during this time. |
Pte. Patrick McCabe 18th Btn. Kings Liverpool Regiment (d.22nd Sept 1917) Pat joined the Royal Dublin Fusiliers in 1914 and served in the Balkans and France. He deserted in January 1917, then re-enlisted under the name of James Conway in Feburary 1917 in the King's Liverpool. He was killed on the 22nd September 1917 whilst stringing wire with 7 others. He is buried at Torekien Farm no 1 Cemetery near Wijtschate. |
Pte Patrick Moreland 2nd Btn. Royal Dublin Fusiliers (d. ) My Grandfather Patrick Moreland was in the 2nd Royal Dublin Fusiliers and was held by the Germans in Limburg Lahn |
Percy " " Harvey 2nd Btn. Royal Dublin Fusiliers I am looking for information on my grandfather and his son, my uncle. My grandfathers name was Percy Harvey and he was in the 2nd Battalion Royal Dublin Fusiliers. He was wounded and captured at Mons and taken POW, I think to Chimintz in Germany.
My Uncle's name was Roy Harvey and he was in the 1st Airborne and was captured at Arnhem and made POW but I do not know where. It is a remarkable story that both father and son would be POW's in 2 different World Wars. Both men survived and my grandfather lived on into old age (97) and I have some photos of him in uniform. He join the Duke of York's School in Chelsea when he was about 12 and was 23 when the Great War started.
|
L/Sgt. William Mulvey 9th Btn. Royal Dublin Fusiliers (d.23rd Oct 1918) I only had a name and a single photo of my Grandad, William Mulvey in Army uniform and knew nothing about him until I received his medals from a cousin in Canada. This began a long, interesting, sometimes frustrating but deeply satisfying journey to discover something about him. Through my research and reading his Battalion War Diaries I now know he was at Hulluch, Ginchy, Guillemont, Messines and Wytschaete and would have seen the beginning of air warfare and the introduction of tanks to the battlefields.
He contracted 'Trench Fever' a debilitating louse born disease that invalided him out of the horror and filth of the trenches back home to Ireland to recover over several months whilst serving in the Labour Corps barracks in Kildare only to contract 'Spanish Flu' and Pneumonia and die in 5 short days just three weeks before the end of the war.
He had effectively been demoted because of ill health, and for a man who had the responsibilities of a L/Sgt that could not have come easily to him. I have yet to track down his service records but I consider my work as a memorial to a life I was not privileged to be part of. He had two children a daughter and my own Father who was born whilst he was away in France and whom I doubt he ever saw, like so many of his generation he was robbed of the chance of a normal life so my work is keeping his memory alive. |
List of those who served with The Royal Dublin Fusiliers during The Great War
|
CROWN AND COMPANY 1911-1922. 2nd Battalion Royal Dublin Fusiliers Col. H. C. Wylly
This volume is concerned principally with the battalion’s service in the Great War during which it fought on the Western Front in 10th Brigade, 4th Division till the end of 1916 when it was transferred to 48th Brigade of 16th(Irish) Division. The last part gives a very full and often moving description of the disbandment of the battalion. 269 officers and 4508 WOs, NCOs and men of the Regiment died during the war and an appendix lists the names of the officers showing which battalion they were serving in. There is a full list of Honours and Awards including Mentions in Despatches and foreign awards for the whole regiment. Another appendix lists the officers of the 1st and 2nd battalions serving at the time of disbandment and shows which regiments they transferred to or whether they retired.
|
|
