Munster Fusiliers

THE SOUTH MALL IN CORK CITY

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I photographed this War Memorial in August 2021 but upon processing the images I discovered that the inscriptions were unreadable. I now have a different workflow and the text should be readable but that may depend on your device.

At the South Mall is a memorial to those Irishmen who died in the First World War. It was erected in 1925, and is one of the few example Irish examples of its type. Carved in relief on a modest limestone obelisk, sitting on a plinth, is the profile of a Munster Fusiliers soldier in full military uniform, head down, gun at rest. Each November wreaths are laid here to mark the anniversary of the armistice of 1918 at the end of the War.

LEAST WE FORGET

erected
by public subscription
under the auspices of
the cork independent
ex-servicemens club,
in memory of their comrades
who fell in the great war
fighting for the freedom
of small nations

1914 – 1918

“Greater Deed Hath No Man Done

“They Shall Grow Not Old,
As We That Are Left Grow Old.
Age Shall Not Weary Them,
Nor The Years Condemn.
At The Going Down Of The Sun,
And In The Morning
We Will Remember Them.”

1939 – 1945

“When you go home,
Tell them of us and say
For your tomorrow we gave our today

This memorial commemorates the residents of Cork who were killed or missing in World War I and World War II. Many such memorials were erected after the First World War. After the Second World War, the names of those who died in that war were also added to the memorial.

The Royal Munster Fusiliers was a line infantry regiment of the British Army from 1881 to 1922. It traced its origins to the East India Company’s Bengal European Regiment raised in 1652, which later became the 101st Regiment of Foot (Royal Bengal Fusiliers). The Royal Munster Fusiliers were formed in 1881 by the merger of the 101st Regiment of Foot and the 104th Regiment of Foot (Bengal Fusiliers). One of eight Irish regiments raised largely in Ireland, it had its home depot in Tralee and served as the county regiment for Cork, Clare, Limerick and Kerry. At its formation the regiment comprised two regular and two militia battalions.

The Royal Munster Fusiliers served in India before the regiment fought in the Second Boer War. Prior to the First World War, the regiment’s three militia battalions were converted into reserve battalions, and a further six battalions were added to the regiment’s establishment during the war. The regiment fought with distinction throughout the Great War and won three Victoria Crosses by the conflict’s conclusion in 1918. Following establishment of the independent Irish Free State in 1922, the five regiments that had their traditional recruiting grounds in the counties of the new state were disbanded and the Royal Munster Fusiliers ceased to be as a regiment on 31 July 1922.

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