107th (Ulster) Brigade - World War I

World War I

The Brigade traces its historic title back to the First World War when the original 107th Infantry Brigade fought with distinction, alongside its sister formations of 108th Infantry Brigade and 109th Infantry Brigade, as the senior component of 36th (Ulster) Division. In September 1914 it was raised the 1st Brigade of that Division, but on 2 November 1914 it was renumbered 107. The 36th Division itself had been formed in September 1914 as part of the New Armies raised by Kitchener. It consisted of the old Ulster Volunteer Force, which had originally been raised to resist the imposition of Home Rule. Due to the political situation in Ireland, it took several weeks after war was declared that permission to form an Ulster Division was granted and many volunteers from the Ulster Volunteer Force eager to join the war refused to wait and either crossed to England or Scotland to enlist, or joined the 10th (Irish) Division or 16th (Irish) Division already being formed by the War Office in Ireland. The UVF was not only organised, but trained to some extent as a military force, and had been armed. It was therefore considerably more advanced as a formed body of men than the similar formations of Kitchener’s New Armies now being created elsewhere.

107 Brigade was formed from the East, West, South and North Belfast Volunteers, which became, respectively, the 8th, 9th, 10th and 15th Battalions of The Royal Irish Rifles.

Casualties throughout the War meant that many of the original battalions were to be amalgamated or disbanded as hostilities continued. In early 1918, on re-organisation, 107 Brigade consisted of the 1st and 2nd (Regular) and the 15th (Service) Battalions of The Royal Irish Rifles. In March 1918 the 36th Division, in the St Quentin Sector, was part of the Fifth Army and it was upon this Army that the main weight of the German offensive fell. The retreat which followed ended on March 29 and the Ulster Division moved north to the Ypres Salient. It thereafter took part in the successful offensive operations, which culminated in the cessation of hostilities in November 1918.

The Division was demobilised between January and June 1919, having suffered 32,000 casualties during the war.