Recruits
being measured for service uniform and Divisional symbol below
From
its newly acquired Head quarters at 29 Wellington Place in Belfasts City
Centre, the Ulster Division began the task of forming
into an army.
Three Infantry brigades, twelve Battalions in all were to be formed. Three
field company’s of the Royal Engineers, a Signal Company, and Royal
Army Medical Corps personnel were to be recruited. Royal Army Service
Corps, Cavalry and Cyclist sections were to be established in the Division.
Whereas all the bodies were to be formed primarily of Ulstermen, the Divisional
artillery was to be recruited in England : the UVF had no artillery and
it was thought that considerable delay would be caused by raising and
training an artillery in Ulster, so the 153rd and the
145th Brigades, Royal Field Artillery
were to be recruited from Croydon, Norbury and Sydenham
and the 172nd and 173rd Brigade were
to be from East and West Ham. These four Brigades of
Londoners were not to join the rest of the 36th (Ulster) Division until
the following year.
The Commander of the 36th was Maj. General C.H.Powell,
a former indian officer with Captain Wilfred Spender
becoming a General Staff Officer and the now Lt. Colonel James
Craig the Assistant Adjutant and Quarter Master General.
Three Infantry Regiments and their Territorial base in Ulster - the Royal
Irish Rifles in the East of the Province, the Royal Irish
Fusiliers in the South and the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers
in the West, so the 36th Divisions Infantry would be compromised of Battalions
from all three, so the structure of the Ulster Division turned out as
follows :
107th
Infantry Brigade
8th Battalion Royal Irish Rifles (East Belfast Volunteers)
9th Battalion Royal Irish Rifles (West Belfast Volunteers)
10th Battalion Royal Irish Rifles (South Belfast Volunteers)
15th Battalion Royal Irish Rifles (North Belfast Volunteers)
108th Infantry Brigade
11th Battalion Royal Irish Rifles (South Antrim Volunteers)
12th Battalion Royal Irish Rifles (Mid Antrim Volunteers)
13th Battalion Royal Irish Rifles (1st Co. Down Volunteers)
9th Battalion Royal Irish Fusiliers (Armagh, Monaghan and Cavan Volunteers)
109th Infantry Brigade
9th Battalion Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers (Tyrone Volunteers)
10th Battalion Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers (Derry Volunteers)
11th Battalion Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers (Donegal and Fermanagh Volunteers)
14th Battalion Royal Irish Rifles (Young Citizen Volunteers of Belfast)
Pioneer Battalion
16th Battalion Royal Irish Rifles (2nd Co. Down Volunteers)
Divsional Artillery
153rd Royal Field Artillery
154th Royal Field Artillery
172nd Royal Field Artillery
173rd Royal Field Artillery
Disional Ammunition Column. Royal Field Artillery
Royal Engineers
121st Field Company Royal Engineers
122nd Field Company Royal Engineers
150th Field Company Royal Engineers
Divisional Troops
Service Squadron, Royal Inniskilling Dragoons
36th Divisional Signal Company Royal Engineers
Divisional Cyclist Company
Royal Army Medical Corps: 108th Field Ambulance
109th
Field Ambulance
110th
Field Ambulance
76th Sanitary Section RAMC
Divisional Train, Royal Army Service Corps
48th Mobile Veterinary Section
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