The Tyneside Irish Brigade was a British First World War infantry brigade of Kitchener's Army, raised in 1914. Officially numbered the 103rd (Tyneside Irish) Brigade, it contained four Pals Battalions from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, largely made up of men of Irish extraction. (Another Newcastle brigade — the 102nd (Tyneside Scottish) — contained Tynesiders with Scottish connections). The men were all volunteers draw from communities all over the North East.
The Brigade's four Battalions were known as the 1st to 4th Tyneside Irish. When taken over by the British Army, these became Battalions of the Northumberland Fusiliers:
24th Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers (1st Tyneside Irish)
25th Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers (2nd Tyneside Irish)
26th Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers (3rd Tyneside Irish)
27th Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers (4th Tyneside Irish)
The reserve battalions were the 30th and 34th (Reserve) Battalions, Northumberland Fusiliers (Tyneside Irish).
Along with the 101st and 102nd Brigades, the Tyneside Irish made up the 34th Division which arrived in France in January 1916 and first saw action in the Battle of the Somme that year.
Recruitment
The first notice giving indication of the raising of a Battalion from the tyneside Irish Community came in a letter to the editor of the Newcastle Evening Chronicle on Saturday 12th September 1914 informing of a meeting on Sunday 13th September in the Collingwood Hall, Irish National Club Clayton St, Newcastle upon Tyne, and every representative Irishman on tyneside regardless of politics or religion was asked to consider it his duty to attend.
Early recruits were given a piece of green cloth to wear as an armband, to denote that they had volunteered for the Irish Battalion. in the same way, the Newcastle Commercials wore a red lanyard and the Tyneside Scottish a Royal Stewart armband.
The Brigade's four Battalions were known as the 1st to 4th Tyneside Irish. When taken over by the British Army, these became Battalions of the Northumberland Fusiliers:
24th Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers (1st Tyneside Irish)
25th Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers (2nd Tyneside Irish)
26th Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers (3rd Tyneside Irish)
27th Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers (4th Tyneside Irish)
The reserve battalions were the 30th and 34th (Reserve) Battalions, Northumberland Fusiliers (Tyneside Irish).
Along with the 101st and 102nd Brigades, the Tyneside Irish made up the 34th Division which arrived in France in January 1916 and first saw action in the Battle of the Somme that year.
Recruitment
The first notice giving indication of the raising of a Battalion from the tyneside Irish Community came in a letter to the editor of the Newcastle Evening Chronicle on Saturday 12th September 1914 informing of a meeting on Sunday 13th September in the Collingwood Hall, Irish National Club Clayton St, Newcastle upon Tyne, and every representative Irishman on tyneside regardless of politics or religion was asked to consider it his duty to attend.
Early recruits were given a piece of green cloth to wear as an armband, to denote that they had volunteered for the Irish Battalion. in the same way, the Newcastle Commercials wore a red lanyard and the Tyneside Scottish a Royal Stewart armband.