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Major-General Sir Sebastian John Lechmere Roberts KCVO OBE.
The funeral mass for Major General Sir Sebastian Roberts – the former colonel of the Irish Guards and Honorary Colonel of the London Irish Rifles who died aged 69 on 9 March — was held at the London Oratory on 13 April. More than 1,000 mourners, including many retired Guardsmen, attended the event. HM King Charles III was represented […]
Photos from the Boer War
Portrait photograph of Captain C G Henty, London Irish Rifles, 1900-1901 (courtesy of the National Army Museum).
The London Regiment in Iraq
We have received a set of very evocative photographs from 2014 during the deployment of members of the London Regiment to Iraq. They show Messines Company carrying out their duties in the southern sector of Iraq near Basra and Kuwait and have been kindly passed over to us by Geraint “Taff” Hughes, who has been […]
Major Desmond Woods, 2 LIR
We were delighted to have been contacted recently by Adrian Woods, the son of Major Desmond Woods, who served with the 2nd Battalion as Officer Commanding of H Company from October 1943 to June 1944 until he was wounded in the fighting near Lake Trasimene in central Italy. As well as his note to us, […]
The London Irish Rifles in Piedimonte
During the recent Association visit to Sicily, we were delighted to receive a copy of a new book outlining the story of Piedimonte Etneo during the Second World War written by our friend Dr Felice Vitale. The book, which has been privately published, relates the background to the events of August and September 1943 when […]
The Unvarnished Truth
Within our extensive archives, we have recently re-discovered a document that sheds a fuller light on the recent history of the London Irish Rifles during periods of both war and peace. Historians of a certain vintage, especially those who occasionally like to embellish the truth, are likely to be view these valuable insights in the […]
Frederick Curnow
We’ve recently received a note from Kieran Saunders about his great uncle, Rifleman Frederick Curnow, who was killed in France during May 1916: “My Great Uncle Frederick James Curnow was with the London Irish Rifles in the First World War and was killed in action on 11th May 1916, aged 21. I have attached a photo of […]
Lance Corporal John Gregory DCM
We have been contacted by Glenn Russell, the son-in-law of L/Cpl John Gregory, who served with the 2nd Battalion London Irish Rifles in Tunisia and Italy and where he was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal. John Gregory, known as Jack to his family, was born on 18th May 1922 and lived and died in Bromley, Kent […]
Memorial Plaque Unveiling in Piedimonte Etneo.
The Regimental Association was honoured to attend a Commemorative event in the town of Piedimonte Etneo on the north eastern slopes of Mt Etna that took place on the exact 75th anniversary of the date when men of the 1st Battalion, London Irish Rifles entered the town in early September 1943. The Chairman, Major Peter […]
The 38th (Irish) Brigade in the Second World War
To mark the 75th anniversaries of the London Irish Rifles’ remarkable fighting role during the Second World War, Association members, Richard and Edmund O’Sullivan, have commenced a project to film the route that their father, CQMS Edmund (“Rosie”) O’Sullivan followed with the 2nd Battalion London Irish Rifles all the way from Algiers to Austria. The […]