Colonel H. C. Wylly CB
The title tells the origins of the battalion. It was raised in India in 1661 by the Hon East india Company as four companies to provide the garrison for Bombay. In 1862 it was transferred to the Crown as the 103rd Regiment of Foot (Royal Bombay Fusiliers). In the Cardwell reforms of 1881 it became the 2nd Battalion of the newly formed Royal Dublin Fusiliers (RDF); the 1st Battalion of the new regiment had been the Royal Madras Fusiliers. 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. It was the CO of this battalion, Lt Col Mainwaring, who, along with the CO of 1st R Warwicks, Lt Col Elkington, signed a document of surrender at St Quentin on 27th August 1914 during the retreat from Mons, in order to spare the town. The situation was saved by Major Tom Bridges, 4th Dragoon Guards, who managed to assemble the men and march them out. The two COs were coutmartialled and cashiered. Elkington joined the Foreign Legion and was later reinstated, Mainwaring disappeared from history and died in 1930. At the end of the war the battalion went to Constantinople and from there to India (Multan) where it was when the order came for the disbandment of the five Southern Irish infantry regiments.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. One appendix is a copy of the Regiment’s entry in Army List of July 1922, the last published before disbandment.
