Fort George – The New Home of the 1st Battalion, The Royal Irish Regiment.

On 16 April 1746, on a windswept moor a little to the east of Inverness, the Jacobite army of Prince Charles Edward Stuart, the ‘Bonny’ prince, was defeated by the army of King George II. Fighting on the side of the King was the 27th Regiment of Infantry, ‘Blakeney’s Foot’, a predecessor of The Royal Irish Regiment. The battle of Culloden proved the death-knell for Jacobinism and the rebellion to overthrow King George II.

As a deterrent to any further armed threats to the Hanoverian Dynasty from the House of Stuart, the decision was taken by the British Government soon after the 1745-6 Jacobite Rising, to construct the fortress. When the structure was completed in 1769 the Highlands were peaceful, but the fort has been in continued use ever since as an army barracks.

From 1799 till 1802 twenty Irish political prisoners were held at the fort as a consequence of their actions in connection with their membership of the society of United Irishmen. In 1815 the fort was again considered as a prison, this time for Napoleon following his capture and the French defeat at the Battle of Waterloo. The Emperor was sent instead to the island of St Helena. When a new threat arose to Britain’s shores from an enlarged French navy, the creation of Emperor Napoleon III, the Fort’s seaward defences were enhanced to defend the Moray Firth from a French invasion. Fort George, which was built in sight of Culloden, is considered to be one of the outstanding artillery fortifications in Europe. The Fort covers an area of 42 acres, has a rampart over 1 km round and was built to accommodate 1,600 soldiers. It took twenty-one years to build and cost an estimated 17 billion pounds at today’s prices. Fort George remains ‘a perfectly preserved time-capsule of eighteenth-century military engineering at its best.’

The Battalion has now completed the move North to Fort George. A flag changing ceremony took place on Monday 15th September, under the watchful eye of RSM Beattie. The 1st Battalion has a new home and looks forward to the future with enthusiasm.