Lieutenant-Colonel George Brenton Laurie, Commanding Officer of the
1st Battalion Royal Irish Rifles, who has died a soldier's death at
the head of the gallant 83rd, will long be remembered by the old
corps, in which he spent thirty years. He was the author of the
splendid "History of the Royal Irish Rifles" which was issued last
year, and dedicated by him to the regiment on the 125th anniversary of
the raising of the 83rd and 86th Foot, now the 1st and 2nd Battalions
of the Rifles. He considered the writing of that history, which runs
into 540 pages, a fitting close to his career in the regiment, but he
remained on in the Service, and the unexpected European War has made
it otherwise, and now he has ended his career on the field of battle.
The closing words of his preface were:--
"May the officers and men of the Royal Irish Rifles win yet more
laurels for their regiment by their staunchness whenever their
Sovereign calls for their services in war!"
When Colonel Laurie penned those words last spring, he little dreamt
that within a few short months the officers and men of both the 83rd
and 86th would be shedding their life's blood freely in France, and
now he himself has made the supreme sacrifice, and with Captains
Master, Reynolds, Davis, Kennedy, Stevens, Allgood, Whelan, Miles,
Biscoe, Lieutenants Rea, Whitfield, Burges, and Tyndall,
Second-Lieutenants Magenis, Davy, Gilmore, Swaine, and Eldred--many of
them his old comrades--sleeps his last long sleep in a foreign grave.
The son of a soldier (the late General Laurie), Colonel Laurie
received his first commission in the Rifles in September, 1885, and
joined the 2nd Battalion, then quartered at Halifax, the last station
occupied by British infantry in Canada, and it is interesting to
recall that he was the last officer to join the battalion with the
rank of Lieutenant, as an Army Order issued some time later directed
subalterns to begin service as Second-Lieutenants. Halifax, Colonel
Laurie tells us in his history of the regiment, was a delightful
station, and all were sorry to leave it, the men especially so, and
over 300 of them gave in their names as married without leave.
Lieutenant Laurie moved with the battalion to Gibraltar in November,
1886, and to Egypt in January, 1888. In 1889 Lieutenant Laurie went up
the Nile with the battalion, which was detained at Assouan so long
that it missed the fight at Toski. He afterwards served at Malta and
in various home stations, and did not again see active service until
1901, when he was sent from England as a special service officer for
mounted infantry work, and took command of No. 2 Mounted Infantry
Company of the 2nd Battalion of the Rifles.
In the action at Hartbeestefontein he had a narrow escape, riding some
300 yards in front of his company in a charge, with one corporal. They
were surprised from a house at 25 yards range, and the corporal saved
his life by shooting a man in the act of aiming at his officer.
He distinguished himself in the action at Klerksdorp and in the
pursuit of Niewhoudt's commando, and on February 26th, 1902, was
ordered to Pretoria to take command of the 28th Battalion Mounted
Infantry, handing over his company to Lieutenant Low, who was killed a
fortnight later. Captain Laurie was highly commended by Colonel
Rochfort for his services with the Rifles Mounted Infantry in these
words:--
"During the whole of my time in South Africa I did not command better
or more mobile troops than the two mounted infantry companies of the
Royal Irish Rifles under Captain Laurie and Captain Baker."
For his services in the war Captain Laurie was mentioned in
despatches, and received the Queen's medal with clasps. A step in rank
came in 1904, and in 1911 Major Laurie had the honour of commanding
the detachment of the 2nd Royal Irish Rifles which was sent from Dover
to London to attend the Coronation of King George. On October 28th,
1912, Major Laurie was promoted to the command of the 1st Battalion,
then at Kamptee, Lieutenant-Colonel O'Leary's term having expired. He
brought the regiment from India to Aden, and last October it was moved
to England prior to going to France in the following month.
("_Belfast Newsletter_," _March 20th, 1915._)