A Brief History of
The Prince of Wales’s Leinster Regiment
(Royal Canadians)

Despite the contradictory and rather absurd title the regiment still clings to the reminders of its Canadian origin, displays the Maple Leaf on all public occasions, and its band plays “The Maple Leaf” before God Save the Queen.

(Mrs. Thomas Ahern, “Historical sketch of the 100th Prince of Wales Royal Canadian Regiment,” 11 May 1900, 14)

If the Canadian Expeditionary Force could raise battalions nicknamed the “Irish Rangers,” the “Irish Fusiliers,” and the “Irish Guards” during the First World War, then why shouldn’t Ireland have had a British Army regiment known as the “Royal Canadians”?

The Childers Reforms—the reorganization of the British Army in 1881—created The Prince of Wales’s Leinster Regiment (Royal Canadians) through the amalgamation of the 100th (Prince of Wales’s Royal Canadian) Regiment of Foot and the 109th (Bombay Infantry) Regiment of Foot. Of the new regiment’s two regular battalions, the 1st Leinsters perpetuated the former and the 2nd Leinsters perpetuated the latter. The regimental depot would now be based at Birr Barracks in County Offaly, Ireland.

At that time, the direct heritage of the 100th Regiment in Canada went back nearly a quarter of a century.

In the context of the Indian Mutiny crisis, in March 1858, Governor General Edmund Walker Head announced the creation of the 100th Regiment of Foot from the Province of Canada, funded by the British government. George Baron de Rottenburg (1807—1894) became the first Canadian-born colonel of an Imperial army regiment. When the 100th Royal Canadians arrived in the United Kingdom for the presentation of colours, de Rottenburg vowed to the Prince of Wales, “I can assure you, that at the call of our Sovereign Canada would send ten such regiments as this one in defence of the Empire, should such an emergency ever arise requiring their services.” Following postings overseas to Gibraltar and Malta, the regiment was present for the celebration of the Confederation of the Dominion of Canada on 1 July 1867.

In 1875, the War Office declared the regiment successor to the 100th Regiment of Foot (Prince Regent’s County of Dublin Regiment), which had fought during the War of 1812. As a result, the 100th Royal Canadians now adopted the battle honour of “Niagara.” Six years later, the new amalgamated Leinster Regiment retained this heritage through its nickname and customs, although it was largely recruited from the province of Leinster in southern Ireland. From the local Leinster militia battalions, the King’s County Militia, the Queen’s County Militia, and the Royal Meath Militia became the 3rd, 4th, and 5th (Reserve) Battalions respectively.

As officers had refused to give up their royal designation, the regiment was given “the clumsy, double-barrelled and contradictory title,” in the words of regimental historian Lieutenant Colonel F.E. Whitton. The desire to keep the name “Royal Canadians” did however revive interest in the Leinster Regiment’s Canadian heritage which had somewhat faded over the previous decade. The mix of traditions and identities resulted in the Regimental Colours including the Maple Leaf and the Shamrock alongside battle honours for Niagara and Central India.

Following various postings to India, Ireland, the Caribbean, and Malta, the two regular battalions separately found themselves stationed in Halifax in 1898. “We are the 100th Canadians,” one officer told the press on docking in Nova Scotia, “and we are very proud of it.” At this time, there was a niche movement among Canadian imperialists to somehow repatriate the 1st Battalion back to Canada permanently, but such proposals to the War Office amounted to nothing. As Whitton later stated:

The whole truth is that times had changed. Canada of 1898 was no longer the Canada of 1858. She had grown into a great self-governing Dominion with military forces and a military system of her own. The real connexion between Canada and the 100th Regiment was, and for long had been, a thing of the past.

By 1900, both regular battalions had left Halifax and soon deployed for service in South Africa during the Boer War. By the outbreak of the Great War fourteen years later, the first “Royal Canadians” to go into battle on the Western Front belonged to the Leinster Regiment.

The “Royal Canadians” in the First World War