Philip James Woods

Colonel Philip James Woods CMG DSO (23 September 1880 – 12 September 1961) was an independent unionist politician in Northern Ireland, member of the Northern Ireland House of Commons. He was a colonel in the Royal Irish Rifles and also worked as a textile designer.

A staunch Imperialist, P.J. Woods had an eventful career before entering politics. Originally serving in the South African War under Baden-Powell, he became involved in the Ulster Volunteers and joined the Army on the outbreak of war. He served with the Royal Irish Rifles (RIR) as part of the 36th (Ulster) Division and, during the 1916 Battle of the Somme, was active in the Thiepval Wood section when it suffered heavy losses achieving its objectives. In 1917 Woods led the 9th (West Belfast) Battalion of the RIR until it was amalgamated with 8th Bn to form 8/9th Bn. on 9 August 1917. This leadership included action in the Battle of Messines.

In June 1918, he went as part of the Murmansk force involved in the Allied intervention to Russia. Its task was to obstruct the Viena expedition by German-officered White Finn forces threatening East Karelia and the Murmansk-Petrograd railway. Operating out of Kem on the White Sea, he established a Karelian Regiment, supplied and officered by the British. The "Irish Karelians", as they were known, adopted a regimental badge, designed by Woods and consisting of a green shamrock on an orange field. With this force he was able to push the Germans and Finns established in Uhtua out of White Karelia (Vienan Karjala) in 1918. His success with the Karelians fostered unrealistic hopes of national self-determination which were ultimately unfulfilled, caught as they were between the Finns and Russians. The formation melted away as a transfer to White Russian command was attempted and Woods was evacuated in October 1919 with the rest of the British forces.

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