St. Mary's Cathedral

In answer to Lord Kitchener's call for volunteers in August 1914 a group of Irish businessmen resident in Newcastle and on Tyneside put forward a proposal to raise a battalion (1100 all ranks) from the Irish community of the Northumberland and Durham coalfield. Throughout the autumn and winter of 1914, recruits came forward, until there were enough to form not one, but four battalions, a complete brigade. They became the 24th, 25th, 26th and 27th (Service) Battalions of the Northumberland Fusiliers (1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Tyneside Irish). Initially they were quartered locally: the 24th Battalion in Newcastle, the 25th in Birtley and the 26th in Gateshead. No accommodation could be found for the 27th and the men remained at home until the 24th Battalion moved to Alnwick; then the 27th were called up and occupied the 24th's vacated accommodation.

In May 1915 the Tyneside Irish Brigade were brought together under canvas at Woolsington Park outside Newcastle, remaining there until August, when they moved South to Salisbury Plain to join the 34th Division. At the beginning of 1916 the Division was mobilised and crossed to France.

By June 1916 they were on the Somme front preparing for the "Big Push". At 0730 on 1 July 1916 the Tyneside Irish Brigade began their advance against the enemy-held villages of La Boiselle and Contalmaison. They advanced further under fire than any other British formation that day, but at a terrible cost. Of the 3000 men who began to advance, over 500 were killed and over 1500 wounded. But some did reach Contalmaison, where their bodies were found, over two miles from where they started out.

On 9 April 1917 the Brigade made a successful assault on the German lines at Arras, where Lance Corporal Thomas Bryan and Private Ernest Sykes both won the Victoria Cross. Further action in 1917 took place at Hagricourt and in Flanders at Poelcappelle. In August 1917, because of the heavy casualties, the 24th and 27th Battalions were amalgamated. Then in February 1918, along with the 26th Battalion, they were disbanded and the men sent to other battalions of the Northumberland Fusiliers. The 25th Battalion fought on and in March 1918 made a fighting retreat when the German army launched its spring offensive. After this battle the 25th Battalion was put to training the American Expeditionary Force that was arriving in France; this they continued until the armistice on 11 November.

In June 1919 the King's Colour of the 25th Battalion was laid up here in St. Mary's Cathedral. During the laying up of the Colour the Brigade Roman Catholic Padre, Father George McBrearty CF, said 'Their memory shall never fade on Tyneside'.

In 1920 the King's Colours of the 24th, 26th and 27th Battalions were presented on the Town Moor. They too were laid up: the 24th in St. Nicholas' Cathedral, the 26th in Gateshead and the 27th in Newcastle Guildhall, the place where the Tyneside Irish Brigade had been born.

Some years later, the Colour of the 25th Battalion was removed from the Cathedral and, along with the Colour of the 26th Battalion, has vanished completely. The Colour of the 27th Tyneside Irish was passed to Newcastle City Council. When the old Town Hall in the Bigg Market was demolished in the late 1960s, the Colour ended up in a skip. It was saved when someone recognised its value and arranged to have it transferred to the Beamish Museum where it was kept but not displayed.

Following the publication of John Sheen's book on the history of the Tyneside Irish, Councillor Barney Rice of Newcastle City Council led the efforts to have the Colour of the 27th Battalion rescued from obscurity. The Colour has been restored thanks to funding from the Tyneside Irish Centre and the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers.

In a service on 7th April 2001, The King's Colour of the 27th (Service) Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers (4th Tyneside Irish) was returned to the spiritual home of the Tyneside Irish Brigade.

In the immediate aftermath of the Battle of the Somme (where some 20,000 British troops were killed on the first day), the 27th Battalion reported a total of 596 killed and 1,575 wounded. The Tyneside Irish fought throughout the war and members of the regiment were there when the Kaiser's army was defeated.