[IRISH BRIGADE] Victorious Charge of the Irish Brigade 11th May, 1745. French Commander: Marshall Morris - English Commander: Duke of Cumberland. Coloured lithograph. Framed. 70.0 x 35.0cm....

[IRISH BRIGADE] Victorious Charge of the Irish Brigade 11th May, 1745. French Commander: Marshall Morris - English Commander: Duke of Cumberland. Coloured lithograph. Framed. 70.0 x 35.0cm. Chicago: Kurz & Allison Art Publishers. No date (c.1840s). The Battle of Fontenoy, 11 May 1745, was a major engagement of the War of the Austrian Succession, fought between the forces of the Pragmatic Allies - comprising mainly Dutch, British, and Hanoverian troops under the command of the Duke of Cumberland - and a French army under Maurice de Saxe, commander of King Louis XV's forces in the Low Countries. The battle is notable for several reasons. It was one of the most important in the war, and for the French a famous victory and the masterpiece of Marshal Saxe; the French Monarch Louis XV and his son the Dauphin were present on the field. Napoleon I later declared that the victory at Fontenoy prolonged the Ancien Régime monarchy in France by 30 years. Irish regiments served in the War of the Austrian Succession, Seven Years' War, both in Europe and India, and during the American War of Independence, though by the 1740s the number of Irishmen serving in the regiments had begun to markedly decline. The five regiments were increased to six during the War of the Austrian Succession, the sixth being Lally's, initially created by the Comte de Lally -Tollendal through drafts from the original five. Each regiment had a strength of one battalion of 685 men and Fitz James' cavalry regiment counted 240 men. The Brigade played a crucial role at Fontenoy attacking the right flank of the British column suffering some 500 casualties while capturing the two colours from the Coldstream Guards and fifteen cannon. Some officers of the Irish Brigade are believed to have cried out Cuimhnígí ar Luimneach agus ar fheall na Sasanach! (''Remember Limerick and Saxon Faith'' or ''Remember Limerick and Saxon perfidy'') at the battle of Fontenoy in 1745. Over the course of one hundred years new recruits were brought into the brigade mostly from the Irish speaking regions of West Munster, the homeland of, among other the O'Connell family. Daniel O'Connell's uncle was the last Colonel of the French Irish Brigade. According to official French Army regulations, officers of the Irish Brigade regiments had to be Irish, half of which had to be born in Ireland and the other half born of Irish parents in France.

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