Irish Divisions
Of the Irish men who enlisted in the first year of the War, half were from what is now the Republic of Ireland; the other half were from what is now Northern Ireland. They joined new battalions of the eight regiments existing in Ireland.
These battalions were assigned to brigades of the 10th (Irish) Division, the 16th (Irish) Division and the 36th (Ulster) Division of Kitchener’s New Service Army, as well as to brigades of other United Kingdom Divisions during the course of the war.
A proportion of the National Volunteers (INV) enlisted with regiments of the 10th and 16th Divisions, members of the Ulster Volunteers (UVF), joined regiments of the 36th Division. Military historian Timothy Bowman states that 'While Kitchener saw the UVF as an efficient military force and was prepared to offer concessions to secure the services of UVF personnel in the British army his view of the INV was very different. The INV were, even in comparison to the UVF, an inefficient military force in 1914, lacked trained officers, finances and equipment. Kitchener was certainly not inclined to, as he saw it, waste valuable officers and equipment on such a force.’
Read more about this topic: Ireland And World War I
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