They were the younger battalion, born in Warley, officered from the first by special reserve officers, always most intimately bound up with their sister battalion, yet always most strictly themselves. They had been a “happy” battalion throughout, and, on the admission of those whose good opinion they most valued, one that had “done as well as any” in a war that had made mere glory ridiculous. Of all these things nothing but the memory would remain. And, as they moved—little more than a company strong—in the wake of their seniors, one saw, here and there among the wounded in civil kit, young men with eyes which did not match their age, shaken beyond speech or tears by the splendour and the grief of that memory.
COMMANDING OFFICERS
2ND BATTALION
From August 16, 1915
| Rank | Name | From | To |
| Lt.-Col. | Hon. L. J. P. Butler, C.M.G., D.S.O. | 16.8.15 | 5.5.16 |
| ” | P. L. Reid, O.B.E. | 12.5.16 | 12.1.17 |
| ” | E. B. Greer, M.C. | 13.1.17 | 31.7.17 |
| Major | R. H. Ferguson | 1.8.17 | 1.10.17 |
| Lt.-Col. | H. R. Alexander, D.S.O., M.C. | 2.10.17 | 3.11.18 |
| ” | A. F. L. Gordon, D.S.O., M.C. | 6.11.18 | To return to England. |
APPENDIX A
OFFICERS KILLED IN ACTION OR DIED OF WOUNDS
1st BATTALION IRISH GUARDS
| Lieut.-Colonel C. FitzClarence, V.C. (Temp. Brigadier-General), In Command of 1st Guards Brigade, | 12.11.14 |
| Lieut.-Colonel G. C. Nugent, M.V.O. (Temp. Brigadier-General), In Command of 5th London Infantry Brigade, | 31.5.15 |
| Lieut.-Col. The Hon. J. F. Hepburn-Stuart-Forbes-Trefusis, D.S.O. (Temp. Brigadier-General), In Command of the 20th Brigade after Commanding 1st Battalion, | 24.10.15 |
| Lieut.-Colonel The Hon. G. H. Morris, | 1.9.14 |