Oscar-winning actress Judi Dench has described being moved beyond words to take on a new role in memory of her war hero father.
Dench has become the honorary patron of The Prince of Wales’s Leinster Regiment (Royal Canadians) Association, in memory of her father’s distinguished service during the First World War.
Her father, Captain Reginald Arthur Dench, was commissioned into the Leinsters in 1916 and went on to win a Military Cross.
While the regiment was disbanded in 1922, the association is described as keeping their memory alive and the “Leinster family” together.
It was formed in 1881 through British Army’s merger of two antecedent regiments that had been raised in the 1850s, one in India and the other in Canada, and also recognised as the successor to a previous 100th Regiment of Foot that had been raised in Ireland in 1804.
The regiment was allocated a recruiting area covering the former King’s County (now Offaly), Longford, Meath, Queen’s County (now Laois) and Westmeath in the Irish province of Leinster, and a depot at Crinkill Barracks.
All British Army infantry regiments in the southern 26 counties of Ireland were disbanded in 1922 upon the birth of the Irish Free State, which later became the Republic of Ireland.
Originally from Dublin, Captain Dench joined the 7th (Service) Leinster Battalion in September 1916, and went on to distinguish himself on the First World War battlefields, and was awarded a Military Cross.
Following the war, he returned to Dublin to study medicine, where he met Olave Jones and married in 1924, before moving to York in England where he worked as a GP and took part in amateur dramatics.
The Leinster Regiment Association has been described as seeking to remember and honour those who served in the regiment by connecting descendants.
The announcement of the appointment of Dench as honorary patron was made to the members of the association at their Commemorative Lunch this month.
It was met by spontaneous and rapturous applause, and then everyone stood and drank a toast to Dame Judi.
Upon accepting the role as honorary patron, Dame Judi said: “I don’t know how to put into words my feelings on being asked to be honorary patron of the Leinsters.
“To have a link in this way is better than anything I could ever imagine. I would be so honoured and so delighted.”
Chairman of the Irish Committee of the Leinster Regiment Association Paddy Kelly spoke of his delight at a “great honour”.
“We are thrilled as this is a great honour for us,” he said.
“It shows that the Leinsters are still a very strong family even though the regiment ceased to exist as a military unit in 1922.”
