Liverpool Irish Centre

The Liverpool Irish is a unit of the British Army's Territorial Army, raised in 1860 as a volunteer corps of infantry. Conversion to an anti-aircraft regiment occurred in 1947, but the regimental status of the Liverpool Irish ceased in 1955 upon reduction to a battery. Since 1967, the lineage of the Liverpool Irish has been perpetuated by A Troop, in 208 Battery, 103rd Regiment. The 103rd has provided individual reinforcements to regular artillery regiments equipped with the AS-90 and L118.Liverpool's large Irish community formed the 64th Lancashire Rifle Volunteer Corps on 25 April 1860, one of many volunteer corps raised in Lancashire in response to heightened tension with France. The Liverpool Irish became a volunteer battalion of the King's in July 1881. As such, it fought in the Second Boer War and First World War, sustaining thousands of casualties in numerous battles that prominently included Givenchy, Guillemont, Third Ypres, and the Hundred Days Offensive. Disbanded after the Great War in 1922, the Liverpool Irish reformed in 1939 before the Second World War and constituted the nucleus of the 7th Beach Group that landed at Juno Beach on 6 June 1944, D-Day. Irish heritage was asserted in the traditions and uniform of the Liverpool Irish. Once adopting a uniform similar in appearance to the Royal Irish Rifles, the Liverpool Irish eventually wore the caubeen headdress with red and blue hackle; the attire of pipers the battalion maintained on its strength included the saffron kilt and shawl. While the battalion derived pride from its Irish identity, some, including the 17th Earl of Derby, associated Irish status with indiscipline and disobedience, which the Liverpool Irish gained a reputation for.
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