Royal Irish Rangers

The Royal Irish Rangers 27th (Inniskilling), 83rd and 87th was an infantry regiment of the British Army. It was formed in 1968 by the amalgamation of the three remaining Irish infantry regiments:

• The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers
• The Royal Ulster Rifles
• The Royal Irish Fusiliers

These three regiments together made up the North Irish Brigade, which was unique in the army at that time in containing regiments of different designations, in this case fusiliers and rifles; this made the decisions on amalgamation more difficult than those of the other large regiments formed at the time.

• Queen's Regiment
• Royal Regiment of Fusiliers
• Royal Anglian Regiment
• Light Infantry
• Royal Green Jackets

The discussions between the commanders led to the decision that neither title should be favoured, and that a unique regiment with the designation rangers being adopted, a title that had not existed in the British Army since 1922 (see Connaught Rangers).

The Royal Irish Rangers came into being on 1st July 1968, a date initially known as Vesting Day (and then Ranger Day), emphasising that the traditions of the old regiments were vested in the new.

• The caubeen was adopted as the headdress for the new Regiment as all the former regiments had worn it
• The green hackle was formerly worn by the Royal Irish Fusiliers
• The Castle collar badges had been worn by the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers
• The black buttons had been worn by the Royal Ulster Rifles
• The brown cross belt was a compromise between the brown Sam Browne belts worn by the Fusiliers and the black cross belt worn in the Rifles
• The Great Irish Warpipes carried by the Royal Ulster Rifles pipers and the Brian Boru Pipes carried by the The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers pipers were abandoned in favor of the Great Highland Bagpipe, which thus became standardized throughout the British Army.

The reorganisation of the infantry at that time meant that the new regiment would immediately lose one battalion, with the 3rd Battalion (former Royal Irish Fusiliers) being disbanded in December 1968.

With the creation of the Divisions of Infantry, the Royal Irish Rangers became part of the King's Division, along with regiments from the north of England. This continued until 1991 and Options for Change. Under this reorganisation, the Royal Irish Rangers were amalgamated with the Ulster Defence Regiment to form the new The Royal Irish Regiment (27th (Inniskilling) 83rd and 87th and Ulster Defence Regiment). During the troubles the Royal Irish Rangers did not deploy to northern Ireland ( unlike all other British infantry regiments ) and were therefore seen as relatively non-sectarian and continued to recruit a significant proportion of Roman Catholics. In contrast the Ulster Defence Regiment served in a para-military role within Northern Ireland, and seen as being sectarian. The amalgamation was therefore presentated as move towards a non-sectarian militry structure for Northern Ireland. Today, the name of the Royal Irish Rangers continues through the Territorial Army battalion in Northern Ireland, which nominally exists to fill gaps in the Royal Irish Regiment's ORBAT, but can be deployed in support of any regular unit. With the announcement that all the home service battalions will be disbanded on the 1st August 2007, it has been suggested that the Royal Irish Rangers may be renamed the Royal Irish Regiment, to move in line with its regular counterpart.

Music of the Regiment

Regimental Quick March

The Regimental Quick March is Killaloe. Killaloe is a popular march in the Irish Regiments of the British army . The following is some of the background to the tune . Killaloe was written around 1887 by a 41-year-old Irish composer named Robert Martin, for the London Musical "Miss Esmeralda" and sung by a Mr E J Lohnen. The lyrics relate the sorry story of a French teacher attempting to make himself understood to a difficult Killaloe class who, totally misunderstand his French, and as a consequence beat him up. The Killaloe song, with original melody in 2/4 time, was made well known in military circles by a cousin of Lt. Charles Martin, who served with the 88th Connaught Rangers (The Devil's Own) from 1888 until his death in 1893. He composed a new set of lyrics, in 6/8 time, celebrating his Regiment's fame, and although no mention is made of the tune in the Regimental history, there is an interesting explanation which may well account for the shout or yell in the military version of Killaloe. In the lst. Battalion (Connaught Rangers), formerly the 88th, a favourite march tune was "Brian Boru" and this was played generally when the Battalion was marching through a town, or when after a hot and heavy march, the Battalion was feeling the strain and the Commanding Officer wished to revive the spirits of the men.
On such occasions, at a time generally given by the Sergeant Major, all ranks would give a regular "Connaught Yell". during which the Band would make a pause, and then continue playing. The march became popular among the other Irish Regiments and various other sets of lyrics were devised, some none too complimentary in tone.
The first known recording of Killaloe was made by Richard Dimbleby when serving as a BBC war correspondent somewhere in North France in 1939/1940, shortly before Dunkirk, during an outside broadcast of advancing troops. The "Famous Irish Regiment" Dimbleby reports playing as they march past Is not actually named. but would have been either the Royal Irish Fusiliers or the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers.
Again in 1944, the BBC recorded The 1st. Battalion, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers Pipes & Drums playing Killaloe, by then adopted unofficially as the march of the famous 38th (Irish) Brigade, during the approach to Monte Cassino. Killaloe was adopted by The Royal Irish Rangers on its formation on lst. July 1968 (Vesting Day) and again later by the Royal Irish Regiment on its amalgamation in 1992.
To hear the tune visit: [1]

Regimental Slow March

Eilean Allanagh