Franco-Irish Ambulance Brigade

The Franco-Irish Ambulance Brigade (known in French as the ''Ambulance Irlandais'') was a volunteer medical corps sent from Ireland to assist the French Army in the 1870–71 Franco-Prussian War. At the time Ireland was part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and parliament had passed the Foreign Enlistment Act 1870 which, in most circumstances, prohibited British citizens from enlisting in foreign armies. As a non-combatant force the ambulance brigade was not covered by the act. Around 280 men joined the brigade which arrived in France in early October 1870. They served with the French armies of the North and of the Loire until the signing of the armistice in January 1871. The unit was controversial as only a minority of the men who enlisted were retained for ambulance service, with many choosing instead to fight in the French Foreign Legion. The British government investigated the unit for breaches of the 1870 act but no prosecutions were brought.

Formation

After a period of increasing tension between the two great powers France declared war on Prussia on 19 July 1870. The nation of Ireland had a long history of service in the French Army. The Wild Geese fought for France in the 17th and 18th centuries and Irishmen joined the Papal Brigade to garrison the Vatican in 1860 to deter annexation by Italy following the Second Italian War of Independence. Ireland in 1870 was a part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and as such was officially neutral during the Franco-Prussian War. The British government, concerned about becoming entangled in the war on the continent passed the Foreign Enlistment Act 1870 which forbade British citizens from enlisting in the army of a nation which was at war with any nation with which the UK was at peace. Despite this a popular subscription was started in Ireland on 13 August to raise money for the treatment of wounded French soldiers. On 7 September the Committee for the Relief of the Sick and Wounded of the French Army and Navy was founded in Dublin, under the leadership of Father Tom Burke. The committee decided to raise a medical corps to serve alongside the French armed forces which, as a non-combatant unit, would not contravene the Foreign Enlistment Act.

Recruitment of volunteers proved relatively easy and soon 31 surgeons and 250 men had joined the brigade which was commanded by Dr Charles P Baxter, a former assistant surgeon with the 93rd Sutherland Highlanders. The unit comprised five companies commanded by a surgeon (a trained doctor) each of which had four sections led by an assistant surgeon (a medical student). Five ambulance wagons, tentage and bedding were also supplied. The men of the unit had little experience or much in the way of military discipline. The unit paraded at Dublin's Rotunda Gardens on 8 October before marching to the docks to embark on the French vessel ''La Fontaine''. The Dublin Metropolitan Police had ordered that no bands were to play on this occasion but this was ignored and numerous trades bands played from small boats in the harbour to the crowd of thousands who came to watch the embarkation.

By the time the unit had left Ireland the war was effectively already lost for the French. The French Army of Châlons was destroyed at the Battle of Sedan where Emperor Napoleon III was captured on 2 September; the Second French Empire fell two days later. The Franco-Irish Ambulance Brigade arrived at Le Havre on 11 October where it joined the army of the French Third Republic which continued the war with Prussia. The disembarkation was marked by a parade of the French garrison, during which the bands played and full military honours were rendered to the Irish volunteers.

War service

Shortly after arrival Baxter determined that he had too many men for the number of ambulance wagons available and released all bar 100 of the volunteers. The majority of the men released stayed in France to form La Compagnie Irlandaise (The Irish Company) of the 2nd Foreign Infantry Regiment, a combatant unit led by Irishman Martin Waters Kirwan, formerly of the Glamorganshire Light Infantry Militia. A second Irish ambulance unit was raised in London but was turned away upon arrival at Caen

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