Connacht Rangers

[Galway hooker11]

watercolour of "listed for the Connacht Rangers" by Lady Elizabeth Butler Thompson, painted in 1878, this painting shows two peasants being recruitedd from a Kerry glen. it has a very interesting history and just did a copy out of admiration, Lady Butler nee Thompson married a Col Butler from Tipperary?? she also painted another famous painting "Eviction" depicting hardships during the great famine, she is recognised as one of the greatest battle artists of europe.

[Groundhog]

I'd have thought if they were Connaught Rangers recruits it would be a Mayo glen.

General Sir William Butler

Born in Ballyslateen, Golden, Co. Tipperary on 31 October 1838 a few miles from Bansha. He had a remarkable and often controversial military career spanning over 50 years.
William Butler joined the British Army in 1858 at Fermoy and served in India and Burma. His first years were spent with the 69th Regiment. In 1868 he transferred to Canada where he served under Col. Wolseley during the Red River and Saskatchewan expeditions, which involved a 2,700 mile winter march into the Rocky mountains. He recommended setting up the North West Mounted Police Force - ‘The Mounties.'

After a successful expedition against the powerful Ashanti tribe in 1873 in South Africa he was called for special duty at Natal and appointed Protector of Indian Immigrants.

During the Land War he became a great personal friend of Charles Stewart Parnell and campaigned for tenants' rights and Home Rule. In 1890 he was appointed Commander of the garrison of Alexandria in Egypt, and in 1898 Commander of the troops in South Africa and High Commissioner of Natal. At that time South Africa was the central storm spot of unrest, Butler's sympathies lay with people who came into collision with British policies. The War Office reproved hirn on this and he resigned in protest. It is now recognised that implementation of his recommendations might have helped to avert the Boer War.
Late in 1900 Sir William was promoted to Lieutenant General, a rank he held until his retirement in 1905. The last five years of his life were spent at Bansha Castle among his own people.

Sir William married Elizabeth Thomson in 1877. The couple returned to live in Bansha Castle in 1905. Sir William Butler died in Bansha Castle on June 7 1910 and his funeral to Killaldriffe was one of the largest seen in these parts. He loved his native place and wrote many poems about it while far away.

OC/OD

Written by William Butler: A Narrative of the Historical Events connected with the Sixty-Ninth Regiment (1870); The Great Lone Land (1 872); Red Cloud: The Solitary Sioux (1872); The Wild North Land (1873) Akim-Foo: The History of a Failure (1875); Far Out: Roving Retold (1880); The Campaign of Cataracts - being a personal narrative of the Great Nile Expedition of 1884-85 (1887); Charles George Gordon: A Biography (1889); Sir Charles Napier: A Biography (1890); Sir George Pomeroy Colley (1899); From Naboth's Vineyard: Being Impressions Formed During a Fourth Visit to South Africa (1907); The Channel Tunnel & National Defence (1907); Napoleon & St Helena (Clonmel Chronicle 1909); The Light of the West (1909); Autobiography (1909).

Elizabeth Thompson was born in Lausanne, Switzerland in 1846. She achieved some fame at twenty-seven years-of-age when Queen Victoria bought her painting, ‘Calling the roll after an engagement, Crimea', more commonly referred to as ‘The Roll Call', Such crowds came to see The Roll Call at the 1874 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition that a special policeman was engaged to protect the picture and keep public order. Lady Butler spent much time talking to soldiers and studying military uniforms in order to achieve accuracy in even the smallest details. She painted at Bansha Castle, in ‘the wilds of Tipperary', from 1905 to 1922. Lady Butler lived at Gormanston Castle, County Meath, with her daughter Eileen, Viscountess Gormanston, from 1922 until she died in 1933. See also Elizabeth Thompson

Paintings by Elizabeth Butler: Calling the Roll After An Engagement, Crimea (or The Roll Call) (H.M. The Queen); Evicted (The Irish Folklore Commission University College Dublin); The Defence of Rorke's Drift (H.M The Queen); Steady the Drums and Fifes (H.M. The Queen); Scotland for Ever (Leeds City Art Gallery); Listed for the Connaught Rangers (Bury Art Gallery); A Lament in the Desert (Private Collection); The 28th Regiment at Quatre Bras (National Gallery of Victoria); The Return from Inkerman (Ferens Art Gallery); Balaclava (Manchester City Art Gallery); Within Sound of Guns (painted at Bansha Castle) (British Army Staff College); Floreat Etona (Private Collection); Dawn at Waterloo (Private Collection); The Remnants of an Army (Tait Gallery)

[Galway hooker11]

yes thats what i presumed too, however when i saw the original painting it was a kerry glen mentioned on the script. the connacht rangers recruited in the west and as far north west as Sligo and Leitrim. not an expert by any means!! but I was blown away by the detail of the painting, Lady Butler had apparently recruited the services of her husbands two cousins to pose as models in peasant dress, the painting represents the "divide" felt among the people then, one of the men is almost hesitant in his composure where as the other is more up for the challenge.

[greyfox]

think a copy of this picture is part of the soldiers and chiefs exhibition in national museum collins barracks
Listed for connacht rangers is title large very its a very nice picture .

[Galway hooker11]

Connacht rangers

think a copy of this picture is part of the soldiers and chiefs exhibition in national museum collins barracks
Listed for connacht rangers is title large very its a very nice picture .

The painting is the property of the Bury art museum in the UK, it is on display in the national museum of Ireland in Collins Bks Dublin, I am led to believe it is on long term loan to Dublin and the period of loan has been extended for another 3 years, whether an art fan or not it is worth a look, the detail of the painting is amazing.

[Test Pilot]

The painting is the property of the Bury art museum in the UK, it is on display in the national museum of Ireland in Collins Bks Dublin, I am led to believe it is on long term loan to Dublin and the period of loan has been extended for another 3 years, whether an art fan or not it is worth a look, the detail of the painting is amazing.

GH, that's a fair hand at doing that in water colour. Well done!

[Connaught Stranger]

A cropped part of the painting

"Listed for the Connaught Rangers", by Elizabeth Thompson has been used for the book cover of:-

A MILITARY HISTORY OF IRELAND.

Edited by Thomas Bartlett and Keith Jeffery.

The full picture in Black & White can be seen on page 338

with the caption:-

15.2 Listed for the Connaught Rangers, by Lady Butler, Elizabeth Butler (1846 - 1933) was the English wife of General Sir William Butler, an Irish catholic soldier with strong nationalist sympathies. The painting was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1879.

Also Page 182 of the book:-

THE IRISH REGIMENTS1683 - 1999. by R. G. Harris

" In 1879 the celebrated artist Lady Elizabeth Butler, wife of the distinguished soldier General William Butler, painted that delightful picture, "Listed for the Connaught Rangers".

In her autobiography she tells how she made studies for this painting in Glencar; "I had splendid models for the two Irish recruits who are being marched out of the glen by a recruiting sergeant, followed by the "decoy" private and the two drummer boys of the regiment, the old 88th, with yellow facings of the time. The men were cousins, Foley by name, and wore their national dress, the jacket with the long, white homespun sleeves and picturesque black hat which I fear is little worn now.

The deep richness of those typical Irish days of cloud and sunshine had so enchanted me that I was determined to try and represent the effect in this picture, which was a departure from my former ones, the landscape occupying an equal share with the figures, and the civilian peasant dress forming the centre of interest. Its black, white and brown colouring, the four red coats and bright brass of the drum, gave me an enjoyable combination with the blue and red purple of the mountains in the back-ground, and the sunlight on the middle distance of the stony Kerry bog-land.

The Connaught Rangers main recruiting area, covered the areas of Clare, Galway, Mayo and Roscommon in the early days, when it was known as the 88th Regiment of Foot, but, in times of necessity recruiting was done locally (where ever the Regiment was based) or top ups of recruits destined for other Regiments were transferred to Regiments as required.


Connaught Stranger.

[Galway hooker11]

A cropped part of the painting

"Listed for the Connaught Rangers", by Elizabeth Thompson has been used for the book cover of:-

A MILITARY HISTORY OF IRELAND.

Edited by Thomas Bartlett and Keith Jeffery.

The full picture in Black & White can be seen on page 338

with the caption:-



Also Page 182 of the book:-

THE IRISH REGIMENTS1683 - 1999. by R. G. Harris



The Connaught Rangers main recruiting area, covered the areas of Clare, Galway, Mayo and Roscommon in the early days, when it was known as the 88th Regiment of Foot, but, in times of necessity recruiting was done locally (where ever the Regiment was based) or top ups of recruits destined for other Regiments were transferred to Regiments as required.


Connaught Stranger.

Thanks for that, I will definitley read that book over christmas, I think they were the last regiment to lay up their colours, hope to visit the museum in Galway soon.

[Traumagod]

If you are interested, The Battle Colours of the Connaught Rangers are hanging in St. Nicholas's C of I Cathedral in Galway City. Well worth a look. Some of them are in a 'second hand' condition but I suppose that's to be expected!

[Connaught Stranger]

The Irish Regimental colours of various Irish Regiments, including the Connaught Rangers hang in the Chapel of Windsor Castle, where they were placed in 1922 when some of the Regiments were disbanded.

What is in Galway, I suspect are the colours of the local Connaught Ranger Militia Battalion based in Renmore, or a previous set of Regimental colours.

Connaught Stranger.

[Traumagod]

The Irish Regimental colours of various Irish Regiments, including the Connaught Rangers hang in the Chapel of Windsor Castle, where they were placed in 1922 when some of the Regiments were disbanded.

What is in Galway, I suspect are the colours of the local Connaught Ranger Militia Battalion based in Renmore, or a previous set of Regimental colours.

Connaught Stranger.

I would say you are right there CS. Unfortunately I'm not an expert on the matter and it's been quite a while since I was in there (although I live only ten minutes from the place!) And I always presumed they were the Colours of the regiment. It would make sense to have the local Bns colours hanging locally though!:redface:

[Galway hooker11]

Original jpeg of painting of Connacht Rangers

On view at National Gallery of Ireland Collins Bks Dublin.

[DeV]

Collins Bks is the National Museum of Ireland.

[Connaught Stranger]

The one posted is very dark, so I highlighted it.

Connaught Stranger

[Traumagod]

Passed by St. Nicholas' today, meant to go in and get some pics. If I think of it, I'll do it tomorrow.