Connaught Rangers - Military Genealogy

Dates: 1881 - 1922

The Connaught Rangers ("the Devil’s Own") was an Irish Regiment of the British Army, formed by the almagation in 1881 of the 88th Regiment of Foot (Connaught Rangers) and the 94th Regiment of Foot. It was disbanded in 1922.

In 1881, the 88th (Connaught Rangers) Regiment of Foot (which formed the 1st Battalion) and the 94th Regiment of Foot (which formed the 2nd Battalion) were amalgamated. The amalgamation of the two regiments into one was part of the British Government’s Childers Reforms of the British Armed Forces which was, in turn, a continuation of the Cardwell Reforms implemented in 1879. At that time five infantry battalions were given Irish territorial titles.

Militarily, the whole of Ireland was administered as a separate command with Command Headquarters at Parkgate (Phoenix Park) Dublin, directly under the War Office in London. The regiment recruited mainly in the counties of Galway, Roscommon, Mayo, Sligo and Leitrim: its garrison depot was located inGalway.

The 88th were based in Bengal, British India, when they were amalgamated into the new regiment having deployed to India in 1879. The 94th were also abroad when they became the 2nd Battalion. They had deployed to the south of Africa where they had taken part in the Zulu War and in 1880 the first Boer War where in January 1881 Lance-Corporal James Murray of the regiment won a Victoria Cross.

The 2nd Battalion returned home the following year where they were stationed in Ireland and in 1887 moved to England.

In 1889 the 2nd Battalion deployed to Malta. The 1st Battalion departed India in 1890 for Aden and returned home in 1891. In 1892 the 2nd Battalion remained in the Mediterranean and deployed to Cyprus and then in 1895 to Egypt. The following year the 2nd Battalion, as-well as the machine-gun section of the 1st Battalion, deployed to the Sudan as part of the Dongola Expeditionary Force under the command of Lord Kitchener as part of the reconquest of the Sudan.

The 2nd Battalion departed for India the following year, while the 1st Battalion deployed to Ireland. In 1899 the 2nd Battalion deployed to Malta.

In 1936, the Oireachtas (Irish Parliament) passed the CONNAUGHT RANGERS (PENSIONS) ACT, 1936 An Act to provide for the payment of pensions, allowances, and gratuities to or in respect of certain former members of the 1st Battalion, the Connaught Rangers, and to make provision for other matters connected with the matters aforesaid. August 1936. The effect of the Act was to give the Mutineers parity of esteem with veterans of the Anglo-Irish War.

In 1970, the remains of Sears, Smyth and Daly were taken back to Ireland and given a military funeral with full honours.

Today, the Irish Army Rangers are the Special Forces unit of the Irish Defence Forces.

The British Army created, through amalgamation, a new Regiment in 1968 - the Royal Irish Rangers. The connection is one of a coincidence of name only; the Connaught Rangers name and traditions irrevocably came to an end in 1922 when the colours were laid up.

In 1966 a stained glass memorial window to the Connaught Rangers was included in the new Galway Cathedral, which renders honour to a regiment so long associated with that part of Ireland, the rolls of which bore the names of every family in Connaught. The cost of the window was covered by subscriptions collected by The Connaught Rangers Regimental Association via The Regimental Journal - "The Ranger" which was still being published twice yearly.