PRIVATE RICHARD FOWLER
ROYAL INNISKILLING FUSILIERS
1ST JULY 1916 AGE 19
BURIED: CONNAUGHT CEMETERY THIEPVAL, FRANCE
This is a proud and a political inscription. Nineteen-year-old Richard Fowler served with the 9th Battalion the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, raised in Omagh, Co. Tyrone in September 1914 from the Tyrone Volunteers. This was a branch of the Ulster Volunteer Force formed in 1913 and prepared to offer armed resistance to the British Government should it attempt to force through Home Rule for Ireland. Deeply loyal to the British Crown, the Ulster Volunteers raised three battalions for the three Irish regiments drawn from the Six Counties of Ulster: the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, the Royal Irish Rifles and the Royal Irish Fusiliers.
The combination of Richard Fowler's inscription, his regiment and his home town, Omagh, indicate that he, or at least his parents, were Ulster Unionists if not actually members of the Ulster Volunteers.
The 9th Battalion formed part of the 36th Ulster Division, which performed with great dash, success - and huge casualties - on 1 July. The Battalion War Diary gives the details of the day recalling that:
Every Officer and Man was eager for the fray & determined to do their utmost that day. All ranks realised that the great test had arrived & that the Honour of Ulster & the reputation of their Regiment was at stake.
The honour of Ulster was upheld that day, the day the 9th Battalion lost 475 officers and soldiers killed, wounded and missing and that Ulster gave "our best".