During the past fifteen years, research into the British army during the Great War has expanded enormously. There has been a decisive move away from the stale debates of the 1920s and 1930s (themselves revisited in the 1960s) over British generalship during the conflict, and the war and society school of military history has been firmly embraced by many able historians. Issues such as the expansion of the army, officer training, the role of the Territorial Force (TF) and recruitment have now received detailed consideration.

With regard to Irish regiments, historians have been well served. The disbandment of the Southern...

This chapter will consider a number of methodological issues which are of relevance in developing this study. The differences between discipline in Irish and other British regiments and comparisons between civil and military law will then be considered. Finally, some consideration will be given to one issue surrounding discipline and morale which can be meaningfully considered in a thematic form: namely the attempts made to maintain high morale in the Irish regiments during the Great War.

In this study, I have decided to stay with basic definitions, concluding generally that morale is the force which comes from within which makes...

The period from the landing of the British Expeditionary Force in France in August 1914 until the end of September 1915 saw a large number of strains put on the discipline and morale of the Irish regiments and the expeditionary force in general. Firstly, there was the transition from a peacetime to a wartime situation, which naturally saw many changes in the British army, not least in its disciplinary code. Offences, such as sleeping on duty and desertion, which would, in peacetime, have led to little more than a short term of imprisonment, became capital offences in wartime.

Secondly, the...

The outbreak of the Great War saw in Ireland, as in the rest of the United Kingdom, the rapid expansion of the army. In Ireland, the 10th (Irish), 16th (Irish) and 36th (Ulster) Divisions were raised and all spent a considerable amount of time training in the United Kingdom. The 10th (Irish) Division first went overseas in July 1915, while the 49th Brigade of the 16th (Irish) Division finally departed for France in February 1916. It is clear that deficiencies in equipment, training and leadership affected these units’ performance at the front. Similarly, the political affiliations of the 16th (Irish)...

The period from July 1915 to September 1916 saw the peak of Irish involvement on the Western Front, with the arrival of the 16th (Irish) and 36th (Ulster) Divisions in that theatre and also saw a significant contribution of Irish troops, both regulars and members of the 10th (Irish) Division, to the British forces in the Eastern Mediterranean. This period saw a number of disciplinary problems occurring in Irish units. Some regular units, which had reformed on a number of occasions, witnessed indiscipline from members of the unit who felt insulted at being left as a cadre when their comrades...

The period October 1916 to February 1918 is a crucial one for understanding the development of discipline and morale in the Irish units of the BEF. The aftermath of the Battle of the Somme left both the 16th (Irish) and 36th (Ulster) Divisions seriously understrength, at the very time that voluntary recruiting in Ireland had all but ceased. This resulted in the disbandment and amalgamation of many Irish units, a process which meant that by February 1918, both the 16th (Irish) and 36th (Ulster) Divisions were mainly composed of Irish regular battalions. Conscription did not apply to Ireland; however, a...

The period March to November 1918 raises a number of important issues relating to the discipline and morale of Irish units serving on the Western Front. Firstly, the German Spring Offensive almost destroyed both the 16th (Irish) and 36th (Ulster) Divisions, and it is worth considering just how well these units reacted to this onslaught. Secondly, when the 10th (Irish) Division was Indianised in the Middle East, its Irish infantry units were mostly sent to France. These Service battalions, along with Irish regular battalions on the Western Front, provided more than enough manpower to reform the 16th (Irish) Division, yet...

It seems quite fashionable to refer to elements of the British army in the Great War as ‘unknown’¹ and with justification this term could also be applied to the Irish Special and General Reserve battalions during the conflict. The neglect of these units is somewhat understandable. Most soldiers or officers writing their memoirs saw service in a reserve battalion as the prelude to more exciting, or at least purposeful, service in a regular or Service battalion, or as an unhappy interlude between being discharged from hospital and rejoining their own unit.² Some officers also resented the bizarre mess traditions in...

This study of discipline and morale in the Irish regiments between 1914 and 1918 has shown that during the Great War, Irish soldiers committed a large number of disciplinary offences. This, in turn, questions the conclusions of some previous works on this subject.¹ In general terms, it appears that the number of men tried by courts martial was generally higher in Irish than in English, Scots or Welsh units. It appears that Irish soldiers were more likely to be involved in crimes involving drunkenness or serious indiscipline (which, of course, could be closely interrelated) and the number of mutinies committed...