Fr Joseph Irish, Chaplain
Some background on Joseph Irish submitted by John Curtis, member of St Werburgh’s Chester history group
Joseph Irish Born 19 Jan 1906, Latchford ( Warrington ). Son of Joseph and Mary Jane Irish (Gartland). His wartime experiences must have served him well as on his return he was promoted to Parish Priest at Alderley Edge, Congleton and Hyde.
So far I have discovered during his service with the Duke of Lancaster’s Own Yeomanry he was rewarded with decorations for gallantry when he received the Belgian Croix de Guerre with Palm & Belgium Chevalier of Honour of Leopold II with Palm. His Belgian Medals were reported in the English press. Chaplain to the Forces 4th Class. Service No: 189706. Regiment: Headquarters 8 Army Group Royal Artillery. Theatre of Combat or Operation: Foreign to British: Belgium. Award: Chevalier of the Order of Leopold II with Palm and Croix de Guerre 1940 with Palm. Date of announcement in London Gazette: 08 December 1945.
None of our research to date has identified the reason why Fr. Irish received the above awards. We were hoping this might be an area where his service with the regiment might provide further information, were his awards for a specific act of gallantry etc.
Research to date has shown the following:
//www.theogilbymuster.com/ This has provided data on his initial training service in Scotland before his embarkation for Europe. A friend far more capable of researching army data indicated that during the liberation of Europe, he served as chaplain to the Duke of Lancaster’s Own Yeomanry. He also provided me with the links to find the 3 part history of his regiment from June 44 to May 45 across NW Europe [posted by Lieutenant Colonel John Tustin TD]
In reading this I don't see any mention of him, but it gives a good idea of what he experienced:
I noted at the end of the document there was a list of regimental honours, but this did not include the names to whom they were Croix de Guerre and 1 Order of Leopold.
Staffordshire Sentinel 31 Oct 1952 Page 7 Col 9
Manchester Evening News 25 March 1946 Page 3 Col 4
Note from the webmaster to John Curtis
1. This is an interesting query, in particular for its lack of formal record.
2. The Belgian Government awarded decorations for gallantry to foreign troops which were handed to the various military powers who then made the allocations, often without citations. In some cases these were made to whole units. These awards were made both for WW1 and WW2.
3. I attach a link which takes you to a request form for submission to the Belgian Military Museum which you may like to use; but it does seem that very few citations are available….
4. There may be notes in the War Diaries for 77 DLOY but as there is no record of gallantry awards made to Fr Joseph Irish in any of the published histories, the chances must be slim.
5. The name ‘Irish’ seems not to be a common surname but I am in contact with a former pupil of mine via FaceBook whose married name is ‘Irish.’ I will ask her if her husband, Phil has any known familial connection Fr Joseph Irish.