5th Royal Irish Lancers

[Robindad]

William

Why do you ask?

I've followed his career in the 5th including the events at which the band performed - and looked in detail at the First Battle of Ypres to identify where he was wounded

[Sharon.43]

Hi Yvonne,  I also had a great uncle in the 5th in 1911 and this is a photo of him c. 1919.  I am not sure if the uniforms are similar.   I cannot locate his service records as it appears they were destroyed during the blitz in WW2.  Have you had any luck researching any information?  Does anyone know where the soldiers would have gone when they were injured?  I know Patrick had suffered temporary blindness from mustard gas, and I am trying to see if there are any hospital records.  Would they have been returned to England or to their home country? 

[km1971]

Hi Sharon and welcome

As a Regular he may have served after 1920 - in which case his service record would still be with the MOD. Even if you believe he has a civilian job after WW1 he may have been in Army Reserve, and was only discharged after his time in the AR. If you know his number it should be straight forward to discover when he enlisted. This link will tell you where the 5th Lancers were serving during WW1 - http://www.1914-1918.net/lancers.htm Also, http://www.1914-1918.net/2cavdiv.htm And their war diary is here - http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7351482

The regimental museum may also have something. They were disbanded in July 1921 following partition, but were reformed in April 1922 and merged with 16th Lancers as 16th/5th Lancers. They lost their precedence after being disbanded 1799 to 1858. Otherwise the new regiment would have been 5th/16th Lancers.

GB and Ireland were one country in WW1 so there was only one army and one system of treating the wounded - http://www.1914-1918.net/wounded.htm I do not know if hospital records exist. Someone on the Great War Forum will know. If you do not know when he was wounded you will have to wade through the archives of his local newspapers. Lists of the wounded were usually published.

Ken

[margaretd777]

Spurs on his shoes and holding a riding crop, bit of a give away.

Of course, some were always attached to cavalry regiments just to throw you off the scent!