An Old Contemptible and An Irish Pasha: A Biography of Lt. Colonel T W Fitzpatrick, Pasha, C.B.E., O.B.E., D.C.M.

By Reg Fitzpatrick

This is a true story of the adventurous times and heroism of Lt Colonel T W Fitzpatrick, a latter-day hero of the 19th and 20th centuries. It is a mixture of Lawrence of Arabia, Sharpe and Hornblower but with much, much more! There are numerous different facets to his adventures, including his army experiences, police exploits, handling of riots, assassinations, terrorism and murder, along with his interactions with kings, popes, prime ministers and parliaments. This biography takes the reader on a thrilling journey, packed with adventure, from rural Ireland to India, back to Ireland, to England, to France during World War I, and then onto the Middle East: Palestine, Transjordan and Egypt in World War II. He has blood-curdling adventures in Alexandria, Cairo and Eritrea. Finally it's back to Britain and ministerial shenanigans in the corridors of power.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Release date: Apr 29, 2022
• ISBN: 9781398440043

Reg Fitzpatrick

Reg Fitzpatrick, a 75-year-old Irish Mining Engineer living in Malta, worked in England, firstly in the RAF and then as a Mining Engineer with British Coal. He retired from colliery as General Manager of a 2000-man coal mine and, in 2005, moved to Malta. Having left home in Cork at sixteen he knew little about his family history. Prompted by grandchildren he started exploring his ancestry. When his research reached his paternal grandfather, he was astounded to find what an incredible character and diverse hero he had been. He began an amazing journey in discovering his grandfather's career and the amazing story unfolded.

Book preview

About the Author

Reg Fitzpatrick, a 75-year-old Irish Mining Engineer living in Malta, worked in England, firstly in the RAF and then as a Mining Engineer with British Coal. He retired from Colliery General Manager of a 2000-man Coal Mine and in 2005, moved to Malta.

Having left home in Cork at sixteen he knew little about his family history. Prompted by grandchildren he started exploring his ancestry. When his research reached his paternal grandfather, he was astounded to find what an incredible character and diverse hero he had been. He began an amazing journey in discovering his career and his amazing story unfolded.

Dedication

This biography is dedicated to the Guinness family, in particular the late Honourable Bryan Guinness, the 2nd Baron Moyne, who was a loyal friend to my grandfather.

He and his daughters cared for and provided accommodation for Lt Colonel Fitzpatrick in his 70s, when the establishment had abandoned him.

I will be forever grateful for the kindness the Guinness family showed to him.

Copyright Information ©

Reg Fitzpatrick 2022

The right of Reg Fitzpatrick to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

ISBN 9781398440029 (Paperback)

ISBN 9781398440036 (Hardback)

ISBN 9781398440043 (ePub e-book)

www.austinmacauley.com

First Published 2022

Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd®

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Acknowledgement

I would like to acknowledge the treasure trove of memorabilia and newspaper cuttings, provided by my older brothers Tom and Jim, which were invaluable in detailing our grandfather’s biography.

Prologue

On Sunday, 23rd August 1914, as part of the British Expeditionary Force, nicknamed years later as the ‘Old Contemptibles’, the 2nd Battalion, the Royal Irish Regiment, engaged with the German Army for the first time just after midday at Mons! On that day one, particular action concerning Quartermaster Sergeant Thomas William Fitzpatrick was recorded in the book ‘Deeds That Thrill the Empire’ some time later.

This account describes just after midday on the outskirts of the Belgian town of Mons, only days after the start of WWI, the Royal Irish and the Middlesex Regiments came under a fierce onslaught from the Germans, and by mid-afternoon, began falling back. Quartermaster Sergeant Fitzpatrick saw a gap opening up at La Bascule crossroads between the two regiments. As regimental quartermaster sergeant, he wasn’t required to be at the front, but on seeing this, he rounded up 50 cooks, drivers, batmen, etc. and manned the trench at the crossroads. With a recovered and repaired machine gun, this small force held up the full might of the German army for 11 hours and so allowed both regiments to safely retreat. At 11.00 pm that night, 4 hours after the regiments had left, Fitzpatrick led 16 surviving soldiers, from the 50, safely away, and they rejoined their regiment the next day.

Forty years later, he recounted in his memoirs that fateful night when he marched silently away from La Bascule crossroads through the darkness of the Belgium night:

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As we marched I felt as if I had awakened from a dream, my brain did not seem to function or to think clearly, but strangely I had a certain feeling of elation combined with, if it was possible, a feeling of depression.

Elation in the same manner as if we had won the final in an important football tournament, not because we managed to withstand the German attack and to cause them many casualties, but we had upheld the tradition of our Regiment and as a part of the British Army we were better men and better trained than the Germans who seemed to me a kind of machine levered by their officers, and without initiative. I thought the War would not last long when we met them on a level ground and in sufficient strength.

Again a feeling of depression, not because of the loss of our comrades and the hardships involved, but the humiliation of being compelled to retire before the Germans. How little did I know what we were up against that day!

After marching for about three miles, in company with my grasshopper thoughts, I suddenly saw a light in the distance. My guide had told me the Germans had forbidden light – I ordered the party to halt and lie down. With the guide and two men I went forward to reconnoitre – the light was in a small cottage and the door was open. I stealthily crept up and entered, a woman screamed and my guide calmed her. She said a young British officer, seriously wounded, was lying in her bed unconscious. She had been visited by the Germans an hour previously, they had seen the condition of the officer and allowed her to illuminate the room, but she must not communicate with anyone. I called on two more of my men with the intention of carrying away this officer. I entered the bedroom – it was young 2nd Lieut. J. D. Shine of my own Regiment. He was barely conscious and when he saw me he made an effort to smile and nodded recognition. From his pallor and general appearance I knew he was in grave danger – I understood from the woman that a German doctor or medical orderly had seen him. She shook her head, I did not speak and recognised that he could not possibly be moved. I placed my hand on his forehead as a token of farewell and silently took my departure. I had a feeling that he was still wearing his sword, or was it lying on the bed beside him, and that I should have taken it away with me, but consoled myself with the thought that he would be happier in its company – to the last.

On the way to re-join my men, depression seemed to superimpose all other feelings. Was War worth the glory and its adventures, why should men kill one another – the men did not perhaps mind, but what of those left behind? But still elation again uppermost by the memory of those Germans lying in huddled groups and their stretcher bearers endeavouring to find traces of animation amongst them. I wish I could have told Shine. Again we marched silently on, occasionally halting to assist men who were too tired and exhausted to continue.

The outstanding features of our day at Mons was that we had no artillery support, at least not in my sector. We saw no Uhlans, British Cavalry, or Mons Angels and I honestly think that not one of my men had the faintest idea what they were fighting for, in fact I was not sure myself – which illustrates the unconquerable spirit of the British soldier of that day – the Irish soldier in our case. They were there to fight without thought of clan or creed and how well they responded to the call of duty and the traditions of their gallant regiments.

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For his courageous actions that Sunday in Mons, Quartermaster Sergeant Fitzpatrick was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal by his Sovereign, the Medaille Militaire by the French and the Cross of St George by the Russian Emperor, Nicholas II.

Yet who was this thoughtful Irishman? What had shaped his characteristics? Who had spawned his discipline, his fighting spirit and instilled his amazing courage?

For the answers to these questions, we have to go back in time to Saturday, the 9th of August 1879, in a tiny village called Duncormick in County Wexford, Ireland when Anastasia Fitzpatrick presented her husband, Constable Thomas William Fitzpatrick Snr, with their first child, a baby boy. This was the beginning of life for Thomas William Fitzpatrick Jnr.

Chapter 1

The Royal Irish Constabulary in the 1800s

Constable Thomas William Fitzpatrick

1798 to 1894

Duncormick, where Thomas William Fitzpatrick Jnr was born, is a picturesque little Wexford village, partway between Rosslare Harbour on the southeast ‘heel’ of Ireland and the county town of Waterford. As small as it was, it still boasted a church, cemetery, school, post office, a thatched roof public house as well as the obligatory police barracks!

On entering the village from the western, Waterford, side, the first building you encounter on the right is the grey-slated dreary building which was the police barracks, still there, preserved to this day. Built around 1850, it was similar to such buildings built at that time all over Ireland in every village, town and inhabited area. Each one was home and workplace to a sergeant and five or six constables of the Royal Irish Constabulary. Stationed in Duncormick police barracks in 1879 was Constable Thomas William Fitzpatrick Snr. To understand the upbringing of his eldest son, it is necessary to acquaint oneself with the environment his father lived and worked in and therefore influenced the way he brought him up.

As described in the Classic of Irish history called ‘The Royal Irish Constabulary’ written by Constable Thomas Fennell, a précis history of the constabulary is graphically reproduced:

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After the failure of the 1798 Insurrection and the passage of the Act of Union by the English government, Ireland lay prostrate in the dust and remained wounded and broken during the first decade of the nineteenth century. There seemed little hope that she would ever stand strong and erect, to continue the long struggle she had waged to regain her freedom; fate seemed to have sealed the lot of her people to absolute slavery. Yet the spirit of revolt still lived on in the form of numerous secret societies. The English government had not only to deal with mass discontent but with a new re-emerging revolutionary movement as well. A semi-military police force, trained, armed and drilled as soldiers was therefore conceived and a new training Depot was built in Phoenix Park in Dublin and all new recruits were to be trained there.

In 1836 the new force was created when the mixture of policing all over Ireland was amalgamated into one force and called the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC). On an appointed day the police of every county in Ireland, officers and men, ceased to hold office and joined the new RIC and swore allegiance to the Crown of England. This force was now intended to be a machine to enforce English rule over all of Ireland.

The qualifications required for new recruits was strict. They had to be of a sound constitution, able bodied, under 40 years of age, able to read and write and of good character for honesty, fidelity and activity. Recruits were usually aged between 18 and 27 years of age although the average age was 20 to 22. They had to be at least 5 foot 9 inches tall with a minimum chest measurement of 37 inches. They were examined in reading and writing. They also had to produce two references to their character from the clergy and one other local notable. Once trained they were not allowed to serve in any county where they came from, or had lived in, or even had relatives there.

At a time of great poverty and destitution the pay for new recruits was very attractive. On joining they would receive £1.00 per week plus an allowance for uniform and boots. This pay reached a maximum of £70.00 per annum after 20 years’ service. Sergeants got £86.00 per annum and Head Constables £96.00 to £104.00 per annum.

Almost all recruits were single when they joined and they lived, worked, ate and slept in their allocated Barracks. They were never off duty or out of uniform and up until the 1880s it was an offence for them to enter a public house either on or off duty. The Police Barracks were run on the lines of strict army-like discipline. They were more like military outposts with tables, army-like forms for everything, arms on racks, regulations posted up and an armed orderly on duty at all times.

Constables were not given permission to marry until they had served a minimum of seven years as a constable and lived in Barracks all that time. Once married, they were allowed to live in approved lodgings in their village but even that was with certain conditions. They were not allowed to engage in any other employment of any kind. They could not keep a pig, a goat, a dog or even chickens. Even their spouse was not allowed employment either, nor could she engage in any dressmaking or doing laundry. The whole process was designed to totally condition them to one master, the RIC, and completely integrate the constable and his family and so command complete dedication and loyalty to the force to the exclusion of all else.

Records were kept in books in every station on every inhabitant of the village, their families and children plus all known personal details such as age, politics, occupation, interests, etc. Logs were kept of all possible suspects of any crime and records of any dissidence. Written reports on this information were sent by the Sergeant to Dublin every week. The constables were instructed to remain friendly and courteous to all inhabitants in order to obtain maximum information.

Religious bigotry was rife in Ireland in this period and segments of it remain to this day. All public offices from Dublin Castle down to the Courts were, with few exceptions, manned by Protestants. A new recruit to the Royal Irish Constabulary had to swear the following oath:

‘I A… B…. do swear that I will well and truly serve our Sovereign Lord, the King, in the office of constable without favour or affection, malice, or ill will, that I will see and cause His Majesty’s peace to be kept and preserved, and that I will prevent, to the best of my power, all offences against the same, and, that whilst I shall hold the said office, I will, to the best of my skill and knowledge, discharge all the duties thereof in the execution of warrants and otherwise, faithfully according to law; and that I do not now belong, and that I will not, while I shall hold the said office, join, subscribe, or belong to any political society, whatsoever, unless the society of the Freemasons.’

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So the only society they could belong to was the Freemasons and at that time in Ireland, its members were exclusively protestant. Because these freemasons were sworn to look after their brothers in the society, all promotions to senior officers of the RIC were almost exclusively protestant whilst the majority of the constables and some sergeants were catholic.

As is obvious from the above description, this was a police force like no other and it was often described as an espionage force. It was successfully created and employed in the suppression of any dissidence or movement of revolution. Its other prime function was to enforce English laws, no matter how harsh, on the Irish population.

In 1871, at the age of nineteen, catholic Thomas William Fitzpatrick Snr joined the Royal Irish Constabulary, received his military training in the Phoenix Park Depot and was stationed in the Waterford area. He successfully lived under this strict disciplinary regime at local barracks for seven years and in 1878 was given permission to marry and to live in lodgings in the local village of Duncormick where he was stationed at that time. This was the father who would raise and educate the boy, Thomas, born the following year in 1879.

The year 1879 was also a major turning point in the activities of the RIC. Over the previous centuries, most of Irish land had been confiscated and given to the English aristocracy. These landowners mostly lived in England and were absent landlords with their estates being run by local land agents. Most of the land was rented out to tenant farmers who paid their rent from the produce they produced.

In 1874, agricultural prices dropped significantly and a series of bad harvests due to excessive wet weather destroyed most of the potato crops of the next five years, culminating in a famine in 1879. Most of the population were starving and as no produce was successfully grown, rents were not being paid to absent landlords by tenant farmers. Evictions followed and landlords increased rents to other tenant farmers to compensate for those not paid and the ‘Land War’ began with drastic repercussions.

The many tenant farmers and their families’ evictions from their farms on the orders of the absent landlords were implemented by bailiffs and the RIC. The relationship between the RIC and the population took a turn for the worse. An Irish National Land League was formed to assist these destitute tenant farmers and further rent strikes were organised. Their overall aim was described as a ‘Battle for the Three F’s’ – Fair Rent, Fixity of Tenure and Free Sale!

In 1881, over 100 severe criminal laws were passed in the English Parliament called the ‘Coercion Acts’ in order to legalise violent responses to this discontent and disorder in Ireland. These acts also allowed for internment without trial, and convictions were legally acceptable on the grounds of ‘reasonable suspicion’! The RIC was charged with enforcing these laws, no matter how harsh they were, and there were many deaths on both sides. These acts were implemented for the next thirteen years until they were repealed in 1894. The RIC were now seen by the general population as the enforcement arm of the occupying English government and no longer as any semblance of a normal police force.

This then was the general situation in Ireland and in their village of Duncormick as young Thomas grew up. The RIC constables and their families were a people set apart with animosity and even hatred within the very village life that they lived in.

Chapter 2

School Years

1882 to 1895

When young Thomas was two years old, on 12th June 1882, a sister was born and records show his father was still stationed in Duncormick. At the start of 1885, a second sister was born, and they now lived in Waterford. But by the end of 1885 when another sister was born, their father was then stationed in Cork. Thomas would now have been six years of age and would by now have started at the local National Primary School. This state-supported primary school system had been implemented in 1831 and was widely used by all parts of society.

By this stage in his young life, Thomas would have been considerably influenced by the disciplinary life his father was totally indoctrinated into. His entire family must have been affected with his wife also being bound by the strict code enforced on her by the RIC.

Christmas Day, 1887, saw the birth of another son to Thomas and Anastasia Fitzpatrick and this was to be their final child. By this time, Thomas was now stationed in a tiny village called Galbally, twelve miles from the town of Enniscorthy in County Wexford, and he had been there for some time.

Three months earlier, an incident occurred which was to have far-reaching effects on this village and on life there for the RIC constables. On the 9th September 1887, a protest was held in New Square, Mitchelstown, County Cork outside the court premises in which John Mandeville and William O’Brien, MP, were being tried. A battle ensued between the police and the protesters and the police retreated to their barracks. From there the police shot into the following crowd killing three and injuring dozens of others. The dead men were John Shinnick of Fermoy, John Casey of Kilbehenny and Michael Lonergan of Galbally. The incident generated considerable international attention and became known as the ‘Mitchelstown Massacre’. With Michael Lonergan being from Galbally, among the dead, anti-RIC feeling was running even higher in this village where Thomas senior was stationed and lived with his family.

By this time, young Thomas was eight years old and attending the local national school. Even at this young age, he was bullied unmercifully and given a really hard time. It certainly prepared and toughened him for his extraordinary life ahead of him.

During the latter half of 1887, Thomas’s father enquired into sending Thomas to a private boarding school called St Aidan’s Academy in Enniscorthy in order to get him away from this bullying.

St Aidan’s Academy was a private school set up by the Catholic diocese of Ferns in Mill Park Road, Enniscorthy. In 1861, a prospectus was published in The Wexford People newspaper inviting applications to be made to Bishop Furlong or any local clergy. In the prospectus, students were asked to bring ‘two pairs of sheets, six towels, a knife, a fork and a silver spoon.’ Fees were expensive at £30 a year for boarders. Especially when the average wage for an RIC constable in 1887 was £56 per annum. Described as a ‘useful and liberal education in Greek and Latin classics, English, French and Italian languages, Mathematics, Book-keeping, History and Music’ was given.

On 1st December 1888, Thomas’s father was promoted to sergeant and was redeployed to Wicklow, further north on the East Coast, where he took charge of a police barracks. Thomas was able to make a fresh start at a new school, but a certain amount of school bullying continued simply because he was the son of an RIC member. With Thomas’s promotion, his salary rose to £86.00 per annum, and with this extra money, along with what he had saved over the previous year, he decided to pay the £30.00 per year and send his son to St Aidan’s Academy to get him a better school experience and a better education.

At the age of eleven, Thomas was enrolled at St Aidan’s Academy and that decision was to have a lasting beneficial effect on him for the rest of his life. It gave him an excellent education at a time when most of the population could barely read or write.

For the next four and a half years, Thomas thrived on this education and was an avid learner, a trait that continued throughout his entire adult life. Unfortunately, no pupil records remain of this academy; they have been totally lost.

By 1895, he had, at sixteen years of age, completed his education at St Aidan’s Academy and he decided he wanted some adventure and travel, and so he decided to enlist in the Royal Irish Regiment, a famous regiment of the British Army stationed at various barracks in the south of Ireland.

Chapter 3

The Royal Irish Regiment

1684 to 1902

The Royal Irish Regiment, until 1881 the 18th Regiment of Foot, was an infantry regiment of the line in the British Army, first raised in 1684. Also known as the 18th (Royal Irish) Regiment of Foot, it was one of eight Irish regiments raised largely in Ireland, its home depot in Clonmel, the county town of County Tipperary.

The regiment was formed in 1684 by the Earl of Granard from independent companies in Ireland. In 1695, the regiment became known as the Royal Regiment of Ireland due to its performance at the Siege of Namur in 1695 under the direction of King William III.

The 18th century saw the regiment involved and earning many battle honours including the Battle of Blenheim and action in America. The 19th century saw many more battle honours from all over the world including the Chinese Opium Wars, and involvement in the Siege of Sebastopol in the Crimean War.

The 2nd Battalion was re-formed in 1857 and sent to New Zealand in 1863. Under the Cardwell reforms of the 1870s, the regiment became The Royal Irish Regiment on 1st July 1881. It served as the county regiment of Tipperary, Waterford, Wexford, and Kilkenny. The 2nd Battalion saw action in Egypt during the Anglo-Egyptian War in 1882.

In 1884, the 2nd Battalion began a long tour of Foreign Service. Firstly, stationed in Malta with a strength of about 950 all ranks. Leaving a small detachment in Malta, over 600 sailed for Bombay, India, in January 1885. By February, it was in Umballa. A month later, it was ordered up to Rawal Pindi. Onward to Subathu where it remained until November 1887. Then redeployed to Nowshera on the North Western Frontier of British India, with detachments at Fort Attock and Cherat.

Over the next year, the Royal Irish fought and won many punitive battles with recalcitrant tribes, hunting them down in the Black Mountain campaign over the border from the British frontier. The Battalion returned to Nowshera in 1888. By the end of 1890, they were in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India, where they remained until the end of 1894.

In September 1895 at the age of sixteen, Thomas walked into Kickham Barracks in Clonmel, just over the border in County Tipperary, and asked to enlist in the Royal Irish Regiment (RIR). His attempted enlistment failed, not because he lied about his age (he claimed he was 19) but because his expanded chest measurement was too small!

Disappointed but still determined to become a soldier, on the 13th September 1895, he enlisted in the 3rd Royal Irish Regiment Militia. This was a semi military force raised from the civilian population to supplement the RIR in an emergency. Probably similar to today’s Territorial Army. The recruitment criteria was not so strict as the real regiment so he was accepted.

For the next seven weeks, he enthusiastically threw himself into all his military style training, which included much physical exercise. At the end of this period, he again attempted to enlist in the RIR and this time his chest expanded enough, and he succeeded.

At the end of October 1895, Thomas took the following oath on his attestation:

‘I Thomas William Fitzpatrick do make Oath that I will be faithful and bear true Allegiance to Her Majesty, Her Heirs, and Successors in Person, Crown and Dignity against all enemies, and will observe and obey all orders of Her Majesty, Her Heirs, and Successors and of the Generals and Officers set over me. So help me God.’

His original Attestation Form shows he signed up for ‘7 years with the Colours and 5 years in Reserve’. In order to be accepted, he again lied about his age, claiming to be 19 years and 2 months of age. He was actually 16 years and 82 days of age! Most recruiting sergeants turned a blind eye to issues of age as they received a bounty for every successful recruitment. Thomas carried that three-year age anomaly throughout his entire army career.

So on 30th October 1895, he became Number 5637 Private Thomas William Fitzpatrick of the Royal Irish Regiment. This was the start of an incredible career in the British Army ending in his retirement as a highly decorated lieutenant colonel of his regiment.

Twelve months of intensive basic training succeeded in turning him into a competent and efficient soldier and on 26th November 1896, at the age of seventeen, he was posted along with others of the RIR to the North West Frontier in India.

The following précis historical account of the Royal Irish Regiment in India was described fully in ‘The Campaigns and History of the Royal Irish Regiment’ by Lieutenant-Colonel G. le M. Gretton.

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During the winter of 1896/1897 the second battalion was inspected by the Lieutenant General commanding in Bengal, who pronounced it to be in first-rate order, in a very efficient condition and quite fit for active service. Two months later matters began to go badly on the Frontier. There followed an outbreak in the Swat Valley, where the tribes suddenly attacked the outpost at Malakand in their thousands. The garrison fought gallantly and held their ground for several days until a relieving column arrived and routed the enemy.

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On 12th January 1897, Thomas was promoted to unpaid lance corporal, and during 1897, the 17-year-old continued his education in between fighting in local battles. His army records show that on 5th July 1897, he passed an examination in the Hindustani language. This earned him an award of 50 rupees.

‘The Campaigns and History of the Royal Irish Regiment’ continued:

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The Royal Irish were mobilised to the troubled area in August 1897 and the news was greeted with wild enthusiasm by the men, (including Lance Corporal Thomas William Fitzpatrick). After a recent attack of malarial fever 827 soldiers were passed fit by doctors for battle. After a train journey to Rawal Pindi and several forced marches they joined the main British forces in the Miranzai valley at the base of the foothills of the great Samana Ridge.

Whilst in this encampment the weather was very wet and steamy so much so that the men could never get their clothes dry and many men went down with fever. On the 12th September 1897 orders were given for a column to march forward to relieve a party of Sikhs who were under attack in Fort Gulistan, an advanced post on the Samana Ridge. By this time the battalion was so reduced by other detachments and sickness that only 295 were sent on this tough mission (and included Lance Corporal Fitzpatrick). The garrison was successfully relieved the next day and the Royal Irish were ordered to remain there on the Samana Ridge. The sick of the battalion were sent up from the hospitals below and in the pure air of the mountains rapidly regained their health.

In addition to the ordinary camp guards, duties and fatigues the battalion was employed in road-making and in reconnaissance among the hills. In high spirits and absolutely unaware that they had been reported on unfavourably, all ranks anxiously awaited orders for a further advance into enemy country.

A telegram reached their Colonel Lawrence from a civilian friend at Rawal Pindi telling him of a rumour the Royal Irish were to be ordered back from the front for garrison duty in India. Colonel Lawrence at once went to the General, who said it was true that the battalion was to go back, as the doctors reported it to be saturated with malaria.

At the Colonel’s request a medical board was assembled, whose members were instructed to be very thorough and searching in their examination, and to pass no one who was not thoroughly fit for the hard work of active service. The doctors did not see the whole battalion, as a hundred and fifty officers and men were absent on detachment, but out of those whom they inspected, five hundred and twenty-three were passed as absolutely fit, and above the average physique of the army. With this favourable report in his hand, Colonel Lawrence made every effort to obtain a reversal of the order but without success.

At the end of September the 2nd Battalion Royal Irish Regiment were redeployed back to Rawal Pindi for garrison duty. No decision was given for the removal of the battalion from the fighting line but civilian rumours, most injurious to their character as soldiers, were rife and ended up in Indian and British newspapers. This caused great concern to many senior officers with connections to the Royal Irish.

Major-General Sir Havelock-Allan, the Commanding Officer of the Regiment, who was in England at the time, travelled with all haste to India and without stopping to see the battalion at Rawal Pindi he hastened to the Frontier. After the fullest of enquiries in every direction he was able to assert proudly that the Royal Irish had behaved like good soldiers in the Tirah campaign.

When the authorities at Simla Headquarters refused to grant a board of enquiry for which Lieutenant-Colonel Forster had applied in order to refute the libels on the battalion, the spirits of all ranks sank very low. The dignified attitude of the officers and men under misfortune won universal respect and admiration at Rawal Pindi.

On the 9th February, 1898, General Sir William Lockhart ordered the Regiment back to the front where the expeditionary force received the Royal Irish with open arms.

The whole episode was finally concluded on June 8th, 1898, when Colonel Lawrence published a copy of a letter he had received, in his daily orders. This letter said: I am directed by the Secretary of State to inform you that a perusal of the papers connected with the withdrawal of the 2nd battalion, Royal Irish regiment from the field force on the North-West frontier has satisfied the Commander-in-Chief that a grave injustice was done to the 2nd Battalion, Royal Irish regiment when it was recalled from field service. With their proud reputation restored the Royal Irish continued to serve in the area for the next couple of years. In recognition of their gallant service Queen Victoria appointed Lord Wolseley to be the first Colonel-in-Chief of the Royal Irish Regiment.

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On 11th April 1898, Thomas was promoted to paid lance corporal. His educational background was by this time being recognised, and on 1st June 1898, he elected to come under regulations and issue Messing Allowances. On 26th October 1898, he passed a course for promotion to corporal and was duly promoted to corporal on 26th November 1898.

The following year on 27th February 1899, he passed a further course for promotion to sergeant, and in 1900, at the Poona School in Poona (now called Pune) in Maharashtra, he completed a signals instructor’s course. In that same year on 27th March, he passed Group II 1st class Educational Certificate and on 25th September passed Group I 1st class Educational Certificate. On 1st December 1900, Thomas was promoted to lance sergeant.

In 1900 when the Royal Irish were stationed in Mhow, the battalion learned from Army Orders that to commemorate the gallantry of the Irish Regiments Queen Victoria had ordered that all ranks of these corps should wear on St Patrick’s Day a sprig of shamrock in their headdresses.

In the first half of 1901, Lance Sergeant Fitzpatrick attended the Army War College in Mhow, Madhya Pradesh, India. He took part in a Mounted Infantry Course, which taught him army tactics and logistics. On 15th June 1901, the 21-year-old was promoted to sergeant.

Early in 1902, he attended the Army Staff College in Deolaly, 100 miles northeast of Bombay (now Mumbai) and completed a Musketry Course. On 4th April 1902, he became Colour Sergeant T W Fitzpatrick.

As previously mentioned in the description of Thomas’s education at St Aidan’s Academy in Enniscorthy, it left him with an avid enthusiasm to learn and so he participated in many courses to better his education in military matters.

In the meantime, the other battalion, the 1st Battalion of the Royal Irish Regiment had been deployed to the wars in South Africa, and all new recruits in Ireland were being sent directly there on completion of their training. As a consequence, the 2nd Battalion, still in India, began to run low on numbers as time-expired men left India and returned home. To remedy this, the government offered inducements for men to re-engage; £10 plus two months leave at home, or £26 and no leave if they re-engaged.

On 30th October 1902, Thomas William completed his initial 7 years’ service and continued on to his 5 years in reserve. But on the 28th November 1902, he re-engaged, collected his £26 and extended his service to complete 12 years full time. The army was by now his chosen career.

Author’s Note:

The Royal Irish Regiment served in this area of the Indian North West Frontier from 1885 until 1902 including the Swat Valley on the Afghanistan border. In the last few months of 2018, the present day Royal Irish Regiment have once again been deployed to the Swat Valley for duty again fighting the local tribesmen. It looks like nothing has changed in 133 years, since 1885!

Chapter 4

Return to Ireland

1901 to 1914

In November 1901, three companies of the RIR relieved the Black Watch at Kampti and Sitabaldi in Maharashtra, Central India. By April 1902, its headquarters and the remainder of the battalion joined them.

On 18th February 1903, the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Irish Regiment left Kampti, and on 24th February 1903, they embarked on the hired transport ‘The Sicilia’ to voyage back home to Ireland. They arrived at Queenstown (Cobh) in Ireland on 18th March, disembarked and proceeded to Fermoy by rail the same day.

The ‘New Fermoy Barracks’ was built in 1809 with accommodation for 14 field officers, 169 officers, 2,816 men, and 152 horses. By the 1830s, this was the largest military establishment on the island of Ireland. It also had a 42-bed hospital.

Colour Sergeant Thomas William Fitzpatrick, at the age of 23, had returned to Ireland after 6 years and 3 months in India and encamped with his regiment in Fermoy.

Shortly after Thomas William’s return to Ireland, he was awarded the India Medal and on it were two clasps. The first was inscribed with ‘Samana 1897’ for his participation in the action previously described. The second clasp was inscribed ‘Punjab Frontier 1897–1898’. This was awarded for his involvement in the 2nd Battalion RIR’s defence of Shakbadar and then more isolated garrisons from October 1897 to April 1898.

It was also a triumphant homecoming for his parents whom he hadn’t seen in those six years. When they last saw him, he was a sixteen-year-old boy and here he was now a strapping 23-year-old decorated veteran of many Indian campaigns and a colour sergeant to boot. His father had retired from the Royal Irish Constabulary in 1899 at the age of 47 and was now an insurance agent and living in Cork City. Both of his parents were very proud of him!

Early in 1904, this dashing 24-year-old colour sergeant met a young lady from Ballinscarthy in County Cork. Her name was Mary Jane Wagner, daughter of the railway stationmaster in Ballinscarthy. After a six-month courtship, they married on Thursday, 20th October 1904 in St Patrick’s Church in Cork. Thomas had his 16-year-old brother William as a witness and Mary Jane had her 10-year-old stepsister as her bridesmaid and as her witness. Thomas also used his parent’s address, which was now in 8 Hacketts Terrace, Cork, as his residence.

Their first home was in Married Quarters at the Army Barracks in Fermoy. ‘Moll’, as he called her, soon settled in to her new life as a regimental colour sergeant’s wife. Nine months after their wedding, on 18th July 1905, Thomas William became a father for the first time with the birth of Thomas James, my father. The boy was born in the Military Hospital within the New Barracks, Fermoy.

On 14th September 1906, the battalion proceeded to Buttevant, in the North of County Cork, on change of station.

Early in 1907, Thomas, facing the prospect of completing his service of twelve years in October 1907, considered his future especially taking into account he was now a married man and a father to his two-year-old son. The decision was taken, and on 10th April 1907, Thomas re-engaged at Buttevant Barracks to now go on and complete 21 years’ service. On the completion date of his original enlistment, 30th October 1907, Thomas ceased to be paid ‘Service Pay’ and was granted the higher ‘Proficiency Pay, Class 1’.

On 4th April 1908, Thomas was posted to the regiment’s main headquarters at Kickham Barracks in Clonmel, County Tipperary, but before they moved home from the village of Buttevant, on 19th April 1908, Thomas William became a father for the second time with the birth of a daughter, Maudie Anastasia Esther Fitzpatrick. One year later, in 1909, his wife, Mary Jane, had their youngest and final child, a boy called Joseph Alexander who was born in Clonmel.

On 19th March 1910, Thomas was promoted to regimental quarter master sergeant. This was six months prior to the entire regiment being posted to Barracks on the island of Alderney in the Channel Islands just off the coast of France on 30th September 1910.

Regimental Quartermaster Sergeant (RQMS) is the senior assistant to the quartermaster of a regiment or battalion and also usually functions as the deputy regimental sergeant major. Some units have more than one RQMS and it was a separate rank until 1915.

The quartermaster he assisted is generally a relatively senior soldier who is responsible for material management and supervises the stores and distributes supplies and provisions of all kinds to keep the army functioning. Material management consists of continuing actions relating to planning, organising, directing, coordinating, controlling, and evaluating the application of resources to ensure the effective and economical support of military forces. It includes provisioning, cataloguing, requirements determination, acquisition, distribution, maintenance, and disposal.

Quartermaster Sergeant Thomas was no longer a front-line soldier and his whole time was taken up with ensuring the soldiers were suited, booted and fed. In the meantime, he continued taking further courses, and on 30th March 1911, he passed another one in map reading. On Sunday, 2nd April