Welcome to the Tyneside Irish Brigade Association.

The Tyneside Irish Brigade Association has been set up to Remember the Men of 24th, 25th, 26th and 27th (service) Battalions of Northumberland Fusiliers over 5,000 men from the region took up arms in WW1 as part of the Tyneside Irish Brigade.
Our aim is to ensure that those brave men and boys are not forgotten and that their story is made known to as many people as possible.  

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The Battle of the Somme
"the gates of hell were opened and we accepted the invitation to enter" 26/880 Lance Sgt, Edward Dyke.

The battle raged from July to November 1916 was one of the bloodiest battles humanity has ever seen, with the British suffering 60,000 casualties on the first day

Casualties of War
When the Battle of the Somme ended in November, the British had suffered 420,000 casualties, the French 195,000 and the Germans around 650,000. 
The Brigades first battle casualty was Major E A Leather O.C B Company 27th Battalion.

​The casualties of the Tyneside Irish Brigade on 1st July 1916 were tremendous but it is sad to relate that the majority of those who died were never identified, and lie in unmarked graves. 
the Thiepval Memorial to the missing  records the names of 73,412 men who died in 1916 - 18  and who have no known graves. Of those men the highest number of missing from any one regiment is 2,931 Northumberland Fusiliers.  Of this total 514 are original other ranks of the Tyneside Irish Battalions who died between the 1st and 4th of July 1916. This figure is only exceeded by the Tyneside Scottish Brigade, with 590 missing.