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The Boyne, 1690King James's Irish army was made up of some old soldiers and many new ones. It had been organised by the Catholic Earl of Tyrconnell, whom James had sent to Ireland in 1685 'to advance Popery'-or so the Protestants said-'and to begin to destroy the Protestant religion'. Tyrconnell had soon become Lieut.-General of the Irish forces, and he was made Lord Deputy in 1687. His formal instructions on assuming the Deputyship went no further than to direct that he should treat Catholics and Protestants alike, for James was genuinely in favour of religious toleration, but Tyrconnell had already begun to purge the army of Protestants, and more particularly of such Cromwellians as remained in it. He had brought in 2,000 Catholic recruits, representing a quarter of the total force, by the summer of 1686, and as his power increased the number of Irish soldiers of the religion of the majority of his countrymen increased with it.The reorganisation of the Irish forces had, in fact, begun in Charles II's time, when the English standing army also had its real beginnings. There were in Ireland prior to 1684 a troop of Horse Guards, the Regiment of Guards in the Kingdom ofIreland (an infantry regiment which was raised in 1662), 24 troops of cavalry and 75 companies of infantry, all of which units made up an establishment strength of some 1,400 horse and 6,400 foot. The Caroline reorganisation consisted in the grouping of the independent troops and companies of this force into three regiments of cavalry and eight regiments of infantry, the addition of a troop of mounted grenadiers to the Horse Guards and of a grenadier company to the Foot Guards, and an increase in the monetary provision for artillery and dragoons. Tyrconnell's replacements of Protestants by Catholics amounted to some 300 officers and more than 4,000 men. The force which resulted, and which was largely made up of men who had received little training, provided the nucleus of the Jacobite army which opposed King William. All these Irish regiments save one-Forbes's regiment, a unit that was about a third Protestant, that had earlier been brought over to England, and that was in due course to become the famous 18th Royal Irish Regiment-were disbanded by William on his accession. But their existence continued; most of them remained loyal to James; others split and-allegiance in Ireland being very much a matter of religion-the Protestants and Catholics in their ranks took opposite sides. When James came to Ireland he found three regiments of horse of the old establishment (Tyrconnell's, Russell's and Galmoy's), one regiment of dragoons and five regiments of infantry (the Guards, MacCarthy's, Clancarty's, Newcomen's and Mountjoy's) ready to serve him. To these Tyrconnell had already added many newly raised units, and he was soon to add more. The official strength of the Irish army in May 1689, shortly after the arrival of James, was seven regiments of horse, together with the troop of horse grenadiers, seven regiments of dragoons, thirty-five regiments of infantry and the Foot Guards, which last regiment had been increased to two battalions. By November the numbers-again they were paper ones-had risen to eight regiments each of horse and dragoons and forty-four regiments of infantry. There was no lack of men, 'the finest men one could see', said D'Avaux, strong, tall and capable of enduring fatigue; but they were poorly armedsome whom D' A vaux saw carried only staves; their opponents noticed that 'some had scythes instead of pikes'-and they were inadequately trained and most inadequately equipped. The history of the Battle of the Boyne, 1690 continues here Taken from Irish Battles by G.A. Hayes-McCoy, published by Appletree Press. Further reading: A Little History of Ireland by Martin Wallace with illustrations by Ian McCullough. Click here for more information on the book. Previous instalments of 'the Battle of the Boyne': Part 1 | Further instalments of 'the Battle of the Boyne': Part 3 | |
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