Belfast Men who joined the Free State Army- St Peters Brass and reed Band, below are photos and mmes of men from Belfast who joined the free State army,if any members or others have more information/photos please e mail it to us at info@irishvolunteers.org
Belfast Free State Troops
[…] was kept under wraps. For the record I left him in no doubt of my feelings on his reaction. St Pater's Brass Band Sign in or Register Now to […]
The brass band weren’t the only interesting recruits from the north to join the Free State army. The RUC monitored northerners coming down to the Curragh for training, about 1700 travelled that they were aware of but many were simply sent home afterwards – the northern authorities were convinced this was a scheme to plant a “fifth column” in the north for future use. Their paranoia turned to complete consternation one day when thirty protestants from the Shankhill and Crumlin Roads turned up at the station to go and enlist.
In the Michael Collins papers in NLI, there’s a memoir written in the 1930s by a former member of B Company, 1st Battalion, Belfast Brigade, Tom Gunn. He gives a list of men he remembers being in B Company and it’s striking how many of them, not alone joined the Free State army, but ended up as officers in it.
About 400 former members of 2nd and 3rd Northern Division went to the Curragh for training; they were known variously as “3rd Northern Reserve” and even as “6th Northern Division.” Eventually, they were re-constituted as the 17th Battalion of the Free State army, commanded by former Belfast Brigade man Joe Murray, and sent to fight against the Republicans in Kerry.