The 1st Battalion, which had been in India, moved to Ireland in 1894. A detachment took part in the Fourth Anglo-Ashanti War in 1895, but the rest of the battalion remained in Ireland until moving to Halifax, Canada, in 1898.[9] The 2nd Battalion moved to Ireland in 1882 and to England in 1888. It transferred to Malta in 1894, and joined the Bermuda Garrison the following year. In 1897, it moved to Halifax, and in 1898 to the West Indies.[9]
Second Boer War
Both regular battalions were deployed to South Africa for the Second Boer War. The 1st Battalion saw action around Bethlehem in April 1902 when 14 men were wounded while the 2nd Battalion held the Heilbron branch line in February 1902 when they had 10 casualties.[10] The 1st battalion stayed until the end of the war, following which 370 officers and men left Cape Town on the SS Englishman in late September 1902, and arrived at Southampton in late October, when they were posted to Fermoy.[11] The 3rd (King's County Militia) Battalion, formed from the former King's County Royal Rifle Militia, was embodied in early 1900 for service in South Africa. 520 officers and men embarked from Southampton on the SS Kildonan Castle in early March 1900,[12] returning to Ireland after more than two years in late May 1902.[13]
In 1908, the Volunteers and Militia were reorganised nationally, with the former becoming the Territorial Force and the latter the Special Reserve;[14] the regiment now had three Special Reserve but no Territorial battalions.[15][16]
Due to substantial defence cuts and the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922, it was agreed that the six former Southern Ireland regiments would be disbanded,[18][5] including the Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment (Royal Canadians). On 12 June, five regimental colours were laid up in a ceremony at St George's Hall, Windsor Castle in the presence of HM King George V.[19] The six regiments were then all disbanded on 31 July 1922.[16] With the simultaneous outbreak of the Irish Civil War conflict some thousands of their ex-servicemen and officers contributed to expanding the Free State government's newly formed National Army. They brought considerable combat experience with them and by May 1923 comprised 50 per cent of its 53,000 soldiers and 20 per cent of its officers.[20] Serving personnel of the Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment were given the option of transferring to other units if they wished to continue to serve in the British Army.[21]
In recognition of their Canadian roots, the officers of the 1st Battalion decided to give their officers' mess silver 'in trust' to the Government of Canada "as a token of the regard for the Great Dominion which gave birth to the Battalion to be held in trust until such time as the Battalion is again raised". The silver, known as "The Leinster Plate", was deposited for safe keeping at the Royal Military College of Canada in 1923 at the suggestion of Edward Mortimer Macdonald and James MacBrien, Canada's Minister of National Defence and Chief of Staff respectively. The silver is on display at Royal Military College of Canada in the Senior Staff Mess and Museum (Fort Frederic).[22]
In 2013 the Regimental Association erected a memorial to commemorate the regiment's strong linkages with the Birr area, particularly to Birr Barracks.[23]
^Harris 1999, pp. 192–203 In March 1858 authority was granted to raise in Canada, a regiment for imperial service to be known as the 100th Royal Canadian Regiment. The “New 100th” considered itself a reactivation of the “Old 100th”.
^The 100th Regiment served in the War of 1812–14 against the United States. The Regiment was in Quebec from 1866 to 1868 as part of the Montreal garrison. The regiment paraded with its headdress decorated with maple leaves on the first “Dominion Day”, 1 July 1867. The Regiment participated in the Indian Mutiny.
^ abMurphy 2007, pp. 30 quote: "Following the treaty that established the independent Irish Free State in 1922, it was decided to disband the regiments that had their traditional recruiting grounds in southern Ireland: The Royal Irish Regiment; The Connaught Rangers; The Prince of Wales' Leinster Regiment; The Royal Munster Fusiliers; The Royal Dublin Fusiliers; The South Irish Horse"
Cottrell, Peter (2008). The Irish Civil War 1922-23, Saorstát Éireann Forces. Osprey Publishing Ltd. ISBN978-1-84603-270-7.
Harris, Henry E.D. (1968). The Irish Regiments in the First World War. Cork: Mercier Press. ISBN978-0853420729.
Harris, R.G. (1999) [1989]. "Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment (Royal Canadians)". The Irish Regiments 1689-1999. New York: Sarpedon. ISBN1-885119-62-3.
Hitchcock, F.C. (2009). Stand To, a Diary of the Trenches 1915–1918. Naval & Military Press. ISBN978-1843421603.
Murphy, David (2007). Irish Regiments in the World Wars. Osprey Publishing. ISBN978-1-84603-015-4.
Whitton, F.C. (2004). Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment (Royal Canadians): the History of the Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment (Royal Canadians), late the 100th Prince of Wales Royal Canadian Regiment. Vol. 2 volumes. Naval & Military Press. ISBN978-1843427988.