Who were the real Young Citizen Volunteers of Ireland!

A Soldier of the 14th R.I.R

Contrary to popular belief the "Young Citizens" or Young Chocolate soldiers as they were to be later, rather unfairly, christened are not a youth wing of todays paramilitary organisation. They were in fact a local militia formed up to act as a sort of peace-maker or to assist the authorities in times of trouble or outbreaks of violence. 
 Their objectives were considered to be : "... to develop the spirit of responsible citizenship and municipal patriotism by means of lectures and discussions on civic matters.... to cultivate, by means of modified military and police drill, a manly physique, with habits of self control, self-respect and chivalry....to assist as an organisation, when called upon, the civil power in the maintenance of peace".

The organisation were generally non-political and some Catholics did in fact join, however in the shadow of the Home-rule crisis which was threatening to engulf Ireland at that time it is perhaps more than a coincidence that their first meeting took place only two days before the signing of the covenant which took place on 12th Sept. 1912.

Membership was open to anyone aged between eighteen and thirty-five who was over five feet in height and could present "credentials of good character", however the fact that members were expected to pay for their own uniform and meet monthly levy's, meant that only the middle to upper-classes were members.

After offering their assistance to the British government and request of a supply of rifles, the members of the Young citizens became increasingly dissillusioned at what they saw as the Governments refusal to both acknowledge the militia and address its head strong push for Home-Rule in Ireland.

It was in 1914 that the Y.C.V then offered their services to the Ulster Volunteer Force as civil war loomed over the nine counties of Ulster, but the outbreak of World War 1 was not only to change the course of politics in Europe, but it was also going to cost Britain the very best Ulster could muster, and to this fate the Young Citizens marched to their doom on the fields of France.