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The history of the Irish Guards as an infantry regiment of Foot Guards in the British Army dates from 1900. The current Irish Guards are the second unit to bear this name. The first Irish Guards fought on the Jacobite side at the Battle of the Boyne and went to France as a Stuart regiment in 1692, and the French Army's ''92e Régiment d'Infanterie'' traces its ancestry to this unit. ==Creation== The current regiment was formed on 1 April 1900 by order of Queen Victoria to commemorate the Irish people who fought in the Second Boer War for the British Empire.〔(Irish Guards Regimental website ) "''103 Years of the Irish Guards''"〕 This followed an initial suggestion from the Irish-born British Army officer Field Marshal Viscount Wolseley to allow soldiers in Irish Regiments to wear the shamrock in their headdress on St. Patrick's Day. This developed into a suggestion that an Irish Guards regiment be created. The Irish Guards' first honorary Colonel-of-the-Regiment was Field Marshal Lord Roberts, known to many troops as "Bobs". Because of this, the regiment gained the nickname "Bob's Own" but are now known affectionately as "The Micks" (this term is not seen as offensive or derogatory by the regiment.) Roberts, as the new Commander-in-Chief in the Second Boer War, was too busy at the time to take over a new regiment, but he was appointed a Colonel of the regiment on 17 October 1900. Major Richard Joshua Cooper, of the 1st Battalion, Grenadier Guards, was appointed the first Commanding Officer on 2 May 1900 and 200 Irishmen from the same regiment were transferred as the nucleus of the new regiment. Selected members of the line infantry regiments were chosen to fill out the ranks of the new regiment.〔R. G. Harris: The Irish Regiments, Spellmount, 1999 edition, "Irish Guards" p. 89〕 The regiment's first Colours were presented by King Edward VII to the 1st Battalion on 30 May 1902 at Horse Guards Parade. A few Irish Guardsmen saw action as mounted infantry in the final stages of the Boer War. Otherwise, the Irish Guards were stationed in the United Kingdom for the first fourteen years of its existence, performing ceremonial duties in London during that time until the beginning of World War I. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「History of the Irish Guards」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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