The Irish in France

FROM the 1300s onwards, Irish men had fought in the armies of various different countries and also navies.

Those numbers increased with the Flight of the Earls and most of those soldiers saw service with Spain. From the mid-1600s onwards, France became the destination for most of those Irish soldiers. The increase in numbers came, strangely enough, while there was a war going on. The French king, Louis XIV, agreed to send a force of 6,000 French troops to Ireland to fight for James against William but in return he demanded the same number of Irish recruits for his own army. Those recruits were divided into five regiments and became the Irish Brigade in the French army.

The regiments were named after their colonels – Lord Mountcashel (McCarthy), Butler, Fielding, Dillon and O’Brien – Clare’s Dragoons. Later, another regiment was added, Lally’s. After the Treaty of Limerick a further 10,000 soldiers, usually referred to as The Wild Geese, sailed for France. These troops were initially known as King James’ army in exile but within a few years, this was disbanded and the men transferred into the existing regiments of the Irish Brigade.

They became one of the elite units in the French army and went on to serve loyally and, sometimes, at great cost for 100 years. 
They took part in all the major battles fought by the French all through the 1700s, some of those involved facing armies with Irish regiments of their own. Over the years the Irish regiments included many soldiers from different countries, including England and Scotland. However French Army regulations stated all the officers had to be Irish, half of whom had to be born in Ireland and the other half born in France to Irish parents.

It was relatively easy to maintain the number of Irish soldiers. Catholic landowners were allowed recruit soldiers for France. The authorities saw this as a way of preventing trouble breaking out in Ireland. This all changed after the 1745 Jacobite Rising in Scotland. The soldiers of the Irish Brigade, while in the French Army, remained fiercely loyal to the Jacobite cause. Because of this, a battalion drawn from the different regiments of the Irish Brigade was sent to Scotland with Bonnie Prince Charlie. Known as Irish Picquets they saw action at the battles of Falkirk and Culloden. Because they were soldiers of the King of France they were allowed surrender formally after Culloden and were treated honourably. Their involvement in Scotland showed the British government the potential danger to the state and they banned recruitment for foreign armies in Ireland.

Soldiers of the Irish Brigade had always sworn loyalty to the King of France and not to the state. With the advent of the French Revolution this was no longer acceptable. All foreign regiments were then fully integrated into the French Army and thus ended a long chapter in the history of Irish involvement in the armies of France.
The Irish Brigade, the men who fought on far flung fields from Dunkirk to Belgrade, was officially disbanded on July 21, 1791 – 222 years ago this week.
Michael Torpey