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The Irish regiments in the Great War
Division, have very different records. Therefore, New Army battalions, while being raised, officered and trained in broadly similar ways, all developed the unique courts martial records seen in regular units in table 2.1. It is, however, noticeable that crime rates were generally lower in New Army than in regular units. In terms of punishments, there are three points worthy of note, with reference to table 3.2. Firstly, Special Reserve battalions, generally, had more men sentenced to hard labour than Service battalions and more courts martial cases overall. Three Special Reserve battalions studied for this period – the 3rd Royal Irish Regiment, 3rd Royal Irish Rifles and 4th Royal Dublin Fusiliers – had 70, 60 and 34 courts martial cases, respectively. This is an indication of the tolerance with which the military authorities treated the ‘temporary soldiers’ of the New Armies. Secondly, four of the nine men tried in the 13th Royal Irish Rifles were found not guilty. This is explained by the fact that four soldiers charged with rape were all acquitted. Finally, the eight quashed or not confirmed cases, out of a total of eighteen in the 10th Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers is abnormally high. This reflects the number of men incorrectly tried by Field General Courts Martial while serving in the United Kingdom.132 Of course, while training in the United Kingdom, soldiers Table 3.2. Sentences passed by courts martial, relating to sample Service battalions while training in the United Kingdom Sentences
8RInnF
10RInnF
9RIRifs
13RIRifs
14RIRifs
6CR
6RDF
8RDF
Death Penal Servitude Hard Labour Imprisonment Detention FP1 FP2 Discharged with ignominy/cashiered Reduced or reprimanded Stoppages, fines, etc. Quashed/not confirmed Suspended sentence Not guilty, acquitted, etc.
0 0 21 0 23 2 0
0 0 1 0 6 0 1
0 0 2 0 32 0 0
0 0 0 0 4 0 1
0 0 2 0 3 0 0
0 0 5 2 30 0 2
0 0 20 2 75 3 8
0 0 1 0 10 0 5
0 1 1 1 0 1
0 0 0 8 0 2
0 10 1 1 0 1
0 0 0 0 0 4
0 0 0 0 0 0
0 2 0 0 0 3
0 5 1 1 0 0
0 0 0 1 0 0
Totals
50
18
47
9
5
44
115
17