Wellington’s Irish Soldiers — Meet the Troops Who Helped the British Hold the Line at Waterloo

The Irish may or may not have saved civilization, as proclaimed by a famous 1996 non-fiction best-seller, but they certainly helped saved Wellington at the Battle of Waterloo. (Image source: WikiMedia Commons)

“That regiment with the castles on their caps is composed of the most obstinate mules I ever saw. They don’t know when they are beaten.” — Napoleon Bonaparte

By Brendan Farrell 

FOR ALMOST a millennium, the Irish have provided men and military expertise to the English and British crowns. From the hobelar light cavalry in the 13th century to the First World War and beyond, soldiers from Ireland have made outsized contributions.

The Battle of Waterloo, June 18, 1815, stands as a shining example of Ireland’s place in Britain’s military history.

The 1798 Irish rebellion. (Image source: WikiMedia Commons)

Taking the King’s Shilling

The Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars, which had raged continuously from 1781 to 1815, would have a profound influence on the course of Irish history, fomenting bitter divisions engendering the opposing ideologies of Republicanism and Unionism.

The economic booms and busts produced by the decades-long war with France left Ireland’s economy in a perilous state. That coupled with the aftermath of the disastrous 1798 rebellion left many families destitute. For some, the only realistic option for survival lay in the enlistment of a son or a father (or both) into the British army.

Captured rebels were left with even starker choices: the hangman’s noose, transportation or conscription into the King’s forces. Consequently, by the late 18th century one third of the British army consisted of Irish-born soldiers.

Of course, not all sons of Ireland fought for the British. The French and even German states fielded their own share of first- and second-generation Irish regiments, although as many as 40 per cent of these foreign fighters ended up in red coats.

Unlike Britain, which was undergoing an industrial revolution at the turn of the 19th century, Ireland was suffering from massive unemployment. The destitute were disproportionately from the Catholic majority — victims of discrimination legalized by the harsh anti-papist penal laws.

Despite this, the British army at Waterloo fielded three predominantly Irish, Gaelic-speaking and predominantly Catholic regiments: The 27th (Inniskilling) Regiment of Foot, the 6th Inniskilling Dragoons and the 18th Kings Irish Hussars.

Following his escape from Elba and his hundred-day return to power in 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte had massed an army of 73,000 battle-hardened troops. Facing him was an Anglo-allied army of 68,000 led by the Irish-born aristocrat, Arthur Wellesley, First Duke of Wellington. A Prussian army of 50,000 led by the old war horse Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher would eventually join the battle at Waterloo and decisively turn the tide for Wellington.

Napoleons’ troops were largely experienced veterans who were fiercely loyal to their emperor; Wellington led an assembly of troops from Dutch and German states along with 25,000 British regulars.

Despite Wellington famously declaring that his redcoats were the scum of the earth, he would graciously concede in 1829, when the Catholic Emancipation Bill was put before the House of Lords, that “It was mainly due to the Irish Catholic that we (the British) owe our pre-eminence in our military career.”

Wellington’s support for Catholic emancipation would even lead to his participation in an 1829 duel with the rabidly anti-Catholic Earl of Winchelsea.

Of the 25,000 British troops at Waterloo, only 7,000 had any real battle experience, most of those were infantry, the majority being Irish.

A dramatization of the closing of the gate at Hougoumont. (Image source: National Museum of Scotland)

“The Bravest man at Waterloo.”

The Battle began just after 11 a.m. with the French attacking Wellington’s right flank at Hougoumont farm. Capturing this strategic, high-walled compound would enable Napoleon to out manoeuvre Wellington. Recognizing its importance, the British commander reinforced the position with troops from the Coldstream Guards and Scots Guards. Their heroic defence of the impromptu citadel was dramatically depicted on canvas in Robert Gibb’s painting Closing the Gates at Hougoumont. The picture captures the crucial moment when opportunistic French soldiers force open the gates of the compound but are savagely repulsed by British soldiers. And not surprisingly, an Irish soldier played a key role in the storied moment.

Corporal James Graham of County Monaghan was most instrumental in this action, having slid the cross beam into place securing the gate once it was pushed shut. Some years later Graham received a substantial reward for his contribution: nomination for being the “the Bravest man at Waterloo” by Wellington in recognition of his courage and for saving the life of the Garrison Commander Lieutenant-Colonel James MacDonnell of Glengarry.

“The success of the battle turned upon the closing of the gates at Hougoumont,” Wellington would write.

(Image source: WikiMedia Commons)

“The regiment that saved the centre.”

The 27th (Inniskilling) Regiment of Foot had occupied a key strategic position on the forward slope of a ridge in the centre of Wellington’s line.

For two, seemingly eternal hours, the 27th, consisting of 747 infantrymen, endured continual sniping from French sharpshooters and pounding from enemy artillery. Despite this, the line still held.

As the battle progressed squares were formed to repulse the onslaught of the French cavalry. Comrades, brothers, cousins fell. But with extraordinary courage and amazing resolve, the 27th still held.

By this most remarkable display of self-sacrifice the 27th had given Wellington a most precious gift: time. Without it, the Anglo-allied line might have collapsed before the decisive arrival of Blücher’s Prussians.

A monument to the 27th Regiment of Foot at Waterloo. (Image source: WikiMedia Commons)

“They don’t know when they are beaten.”

The 27th held out, blocking the road to Brussels and a likely French victory.

The Inniskillings had suffered more than 50 per cent casualties. Only two other regiments that day would take such appalling casualties, both of those were Scottish.

“That regiment with the castles on their caps is composed of the most obstinate mules I ever saw,” Napoleon famously remarked about the Inniskillings. “They don’t know when they are beaten.”

But of course, help for the 27th, and the entire Anglo-allied army at Waterloo was on the way.

Following the Prussian defeat at Ligny two days earlier, Blücher’s seasoned Prussian army led a 33,000-man column detached from Napoleon’s main army away from but parallel to Wellington. Led by Marshal Grouchy, these troops would be sorely missed at Waterloo.

On the afternoon of the June 18, Blücher, with Grouchy’s army trailing far behind, was marching towards the fighting at Waterloo seeking bloody revenge. Their arrival would tip the balance.

Having spotted the Prussian army approaching from the East, Wellington, who up to that point was convinced he was losing the engagement, suddenly felt reassured; with overwhelming numerical superiority over the French, victory for the Anglo-allied army was certain. The rest, as they say, is history.

Soldiers of a British army Irish regiment in the First World War. (Image source: WikiMedia Commons)

POSTSCRIPT                                                        

On the Nov. 23, 1918, Irish soldiers would again take to the field at Waterloo yet again.

After more than four years of unimaginable horror in the trenches of the Western front. The 2nd Leinsters would be the first British army regiment to march across the battlefield of Waterloo since 1815.

Leading the outfit were the pipers. My grandfather of Newstone Drumconrath, County Meath, Peter Farrell, was, I’m proud to say, one of them.

Brendan Farrell is a writer based in County Wicklow, Ireland. When not writing about history, he owns and operates Turin Castle in County Mayo. You can follow him on Instagram @brendanjosephfarrell and on twitter @brendanjfarrell.

2 thoughts on “Wellington’s Irish Soldiers — Meet the Troops Who Helped the British Hold the Line at Waterloo

  1. Very interesting. Many other regiments that weren’t on the surface Irish regiments also had a large amount of Irish soldiers. “Some 37 per cent of the 1st Regiment of Foot (infantry) and 27 per cent of the 32nd Foot were Irish, according to earlier research carried out by Maynooth student Peter Molloy based on the battalion books which listed places of birth.” – https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/heritage/just-how-many-irish-fought-at-the-battle-of-waterloo-1.2254271

    In fact my own ancestor from Co. Louth was in the 32nd Foot at Waterloo.

  2. The quote about the Duke regarding the Catholic emancipation bill is not true, unfortunately. No source has ever been found that he said this and if appears to have been made up some decades later. This hasn’t been properly checked before it was claimed.

    The majority of the redcoats were also not Irish, a third of them were. If you mean to say the majority with battle experience were Irish, that’s a curious claim and I am not sure how you could reasonably make it. Nobody is denying the contribution the Irish made to Waterloo, least of all myself, but there’s some misinformation here and the article needs some closer scrutiny.

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