THE SHAMROCK POLKA

The 1st Battalion Royal Irish Fusiliers had sailed from their station at Alexandria, Egypt on 24 September 1899 for South Africa. They arrived at Durban on 12 October and were moved at once, up country towards Ladysmith. The 2nd Battalion was soon to join the 1st, sailing on the Hawarden Castle from England on 23 October and arriving at the Cape about 12 November. Both battalions were to see much action throughout the Second Boer War, and this was recalled as part of the design used by publisher Walter Whittingham for one of its sheet music covers, the Shamrock Polka written by G Jervis Rubini. See the troops advancing up a steep slope under shellfire as the wounded are brought down by stretcher-bearers.

Featured in the artwork are three members of the Royal Irish Fusiliers, all of which wear sprigs of shamrock in their caps. Following news of the severe losses suffered by the regiment during the fighting to relieve Ladysmith, Queen

Victoria ordered that in future on St Patrick’s Day all ranks shall wear as a distinction a sprig of shamrock to commemorate the gallantry of her Irish soldiers during the war in South Africa. The image carries the initials ‘MH’ for Michael Hanhart.