Leaving For France
By early January 1916 they were trained sufficiently to set off for France. They had further training behind the lines at St. Omer including route marches, musketry etc. while specialists such as signallers, scouts, snipers and bombers were sent for intensive training.
By the middle of February they had had their first experiences in the trenches at Bois-Grenier south of Armentieres, indeed the first death had occurred on the 12th February, that of 31 year old Private Joseph March from Winlaton. There followed the steady drip drip of casualties as the battalions became hardened to life on the frontline of the Western Front.
Back in England, the Raising Committee proposed a flag day and appropriately it was held on St. Patrick’s Day with the principal speaker 2nd Lieutenant Michael O’Leary VC who had won the Victoria Cross while a Corporal in the Irish Guards and had now been commissioned and transferred to the Tyneside Irish 30th (Reserve) Battalion. Among those speaking to the large crowd was the Lord Mayor of Newcastle Alderman Sir John Fitzgerald, Irish-born brewer and founder of the pub chain. He was to lose his son only months later.
It is recorded that most of the men got their shamrocks on the day with the 27th Battalion receiving theirs from John Redmond, leader of the Irish Nationalist Party.
By early January 1916 they were trained sufficiently to set off for France. They had further training behind the lines at St. Omer including route marches, musketry etc. while specialists such as signallers, scouts, snipers and bombers were sent for intensive training.
By the middle of February they had had their first experiences in the trenches at Bois-Grenier south of Armentieres, indeed the first death had occurred on the 12th February, that of 31 year old Private Joseph March from Winlaton. There followed the steady drip drip of casualties as the battalions became hardened to life on the frontline of the Western Front.
Back in England, the Raising Committee proposed a flag day and appropriately it was held on St. Patrick’s Day with the principal speaker 2nd Lieutenant Michael O’Leary VC who had won the Victoria Cross while a Corporal in the Irish Guards and had now been commissioned and transferred to the Tyneside Irish 30th (Reserve) Battalion. Among those speaking to the large crowd was the Lord Mayor of Newcastle Alderman Sir John Fitzgerald, Irish-born brewer and founder of the pub chain. He was to lose his son only months later.
It is recorded that most of the men got their shamrocks on the day with the 27th Battalion receiving theirs from John Redmond, leader of the Irish Nationalist Party.