5th Leinsters

Lt-Cols. Jameson & McDonnell

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Lieutenant-Colonel E.J. Jameson†
Jameson
&
Lieutenant-Colonel John McDonnell†
McDonnell
5th Bn., Leinster Regiment (Royal Canadians)

He was not the showy or popularity-seeking kind, but always pursued the even tenor of his path to duty. Reserved, rather taciturn, a somewhat lonely figure, he yet inspired confidence and esteem. Outwardly he appeared a man of care and silent sorrow, which rather belied his age and vigour. He knew his work, had confidence in himself and inspired it in others. Fearless and impartial, he never spared a subordinate, from a private upwards. But he never spared himself.

(Tribute to Lt-Col. Jameson in Whitton, The History of the Prince of Wales’s Leinster Regiment, vol. 2, 393)

Both majors who succeeded Lieutenant-Colonel E.F. Farrell in command of the 5th Battalion, Leinster Regiment would each later lead a battalion in the field before being killed in action. Born on 11 June 1875 in Dublin, Edmond James Jameson died of wounds on 27 March 1917 while in command 1/4th Essex Regiment during the First Battle of Gaza. Born on 2 November 1878 in Dublin, John McDonnell died with the 1st Inniskilling Fusiliers at Ypres on 29 September 1918.

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Lt-Col. Farrell

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Lieutenant-Colonel E.F. Farrell
5th Bn., Leinster Regiment (Royal Canadians)
Farrell

PATRICK WHITE asked the Secretary of State for War whether he will state the name of the commanding officer of the 5th Battalion Leinster Regiment, formerly the Meath Militia; whether he is aware that on the annual training of the men instructions were issued on their separating that they were not to join the Irish Volunteers, and that anyone so doing would be dealt with by the military authorities; whether such threats were issued with the sanction of the military authorities; and what instructions, if any, have been issued to officers with regard to their attitude towards men who wish to join the Irish Volunteers?

 (Hansard, Vol. 65, 20 July 1914)

Born in Dublin on 1 January 1863, Edward Francis Jenico Joseph Farrell and his family had deep connections with the Leinster Regiment. In 1886, he had been commissioned in the 5th Battalion, also known as the Royal Meaths from its pre-1881 militia identity. Four of his nephews also served with the regiment during the Great War. On the eve of the war, with tensions over Home Rule in Ulster threatening civil war in Ireland, Nationalist MP Patrick White, alleged that Farrell had threatened his reservists to not join the Irish Volunteers. Prime Minister Asquith replied, “the statement is wholly incorrect and that he has issued no such instructions.”

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