List of Battalions and Locations of The Ulster Defence Regiment - County Connections

County Connections

The raising of citizen militias has a history in Ireland stretching back to the creation of the Irish Militia in 1793. The Militia itself was officially disbanded in 1908 and replaced with the Territorial Force (in Ireland, it was called the Special Reserve and, after the Great War, the Supplementary Reserve), which later became the Territorial Army.

Some battalions of the Irish Militia remained on the Army list (in name only) until 1953 as part of the Territorial Army; The 5th Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers: 6th Royal Ulster Rifles and 5th Royal Irish Fusiliers.

The raising of the Ulster Defence Regiment followed the practice of raising citizen militias in Ireland for two reasons:

• it was raised as a home defence force with its battalions based in the counties;
• it existed under separate legislation to that which empowered the Army.

The raising of battalions on a county basis followed the pattern of raising militias. There were, however, several exceptions with the UDR. Belfast was not a county borough in 1793 and previous militia units in County Londonderry did not use a county or city suffix and were simply known as "Derry" or "Londonderry".

The county connections are:

• County Antrim (1 UDR) – The Antrim Regiment of Militia, later known as the Antrim (Queen's Royal Rifles) Militia and (in 1881) 4th Royal Irish Rifles.
• County Armagh (2 UDR) – The Armagh Regiment of Militia, later known as the Armagh Light Infantry and (in 1881) 3rd Princess Victoria's Regiment (Royal Irish Fusiliers).
• County Down (3 UDR) – The Down Regiment of Militia, later known as the Royal North Down Rifles (here there is a tenuous connection with 7 UDR) and (in 1881) split into two separate units, 3 Royal Irish Rifles (the North Down Militia) and the Royal South Down Light Infantry, later known as 5 Royal Irish Rifles (the South Down Militia).
• County Fermanagh (4 UDR) – The Fermanagh Regiment which became the Fermanagh Light Infantry and (in 1881) the 3rd Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers.
• County Londonderry (5 UDR) – The Londonderry Regiment later known as the Londonderry Light Infantry and (in 1881) briefly as the 4th Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers before being transferred to the Royal Artillery as 9th Brigade, North Irish Division RA.
• County Tyrone (6 UDR) – The Tyrone Regiment, later the Royal Tyrone Regiment and the Royal Tyrone Fusliers Militia before being renamed the 5th Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers and finally the 4th Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers.