Introduction: The Irish Soldier in the British Army, c. 1680-1922

Abstract

The papers in this volume are a selection of those delivered at a conference at the National Army Museum in London in July 2022, held to mark the centenary of the disbandment of the ‘southern’ Irish regiments on the creation of the Irish Free State.  This introduction summarizes each paper, situating them in analysis of past historiography on the Irish soldier in the British Army.  It argues that while the First World War still looms large in that historiography, researchers are now more often moving beyond it, while also analysing matters such as class, gender and global contexts.