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General => Armed Forces => Topic started by: rdwags79 on Tuesday 21 June 16 03:07 BST (UK)

Title: Trying to identify uniform
Post by: rdwags79 on Tuesday 21 June 16 03:07 BST (UK)
I am wondering if anyone can help me identify this uniform..at least I think it is a uniform.  I am posting the front and back of the photo to show where it was taken.
Thanks in advance for any help dating and identifying this painting.
rdwags
Title: Re: Trying to identify uniform
Post by: gortonboy on Tuesday 21 June 16 03:31 BST (UK)
if this is a photo of a photo,,it would be better if you could scan the photo at a high resolution,,,,the only way to identify this regiment is by the collar badge,,,it is too indistinct at the moment.
Title: Re: Trying to identify uniform
Post by: rdwags79 on Tuesday 21 June 16 03:34 BST (UK)
Ok, will try to get it scanned and will upload again.
Title: Re: Trying to identify uniform
Post by: gortonboy on Tuesday 21 June 16 03:40 BST (UK)
best guess at the moment is Royal Army Medical Corps
Title: Re: Trying to identify uniform
Post by: rdwags79 on Tuesday 21 June 16 04:04 BST (UK)
Here it is again...high resolution scan. Hope it helps.
Title: Re: Trying to identify uniform
Post by: mmm45 on Tuesday 21 June 16 07:22 BST (UK)
I'm going for one of Irish Regiments I think it's a harp collar badge Victorian.

Ady
Title: Re: Trying to identify uniform
Post by: jim1 on Tuesday 21 June 16 12:09 BST (UK)
The back indicates this is 1870's & probably early-mid decade.
Title: Re: Trying to identify uniform
Post by: John915 on Tuesday 21 June 16 23:57 BST (UK)
Good evening,

Ady is right, it's an Irish harp collar badge. Not all the Irish regt's used that as a collar badge which cuts the search down a little. I'm not sure what the London Irish or Liverpool Irish used.

John915

PS. post 1874 which is when collar badges were introduced to replace regt'l buttons which had been taken away a couple of years before.
Title: Re: Trying to identify uniform
Post by: alan o on Tuesday 28 June 16 12:06 BST (UK)
It's the Royal Irish Regt.  Both Bns transited through Malta in the 1880s.

London and Liverpool Irish were much later volunteer/territorial battalions and their antecedents would not have left UK during the period that type of uniform was worn.
Title: Re: Trying to identify uniform
Post by: genechaser on Tuesday 28 June 16 14:29 BST (UK)
Hi

It looks like the "Royal Irish Rifles".

The Badge attached is the Post 1953 version.
Title: Re: Trying to identify uniform
Post by: alan o on Tuesday 28 June 16 14:35 BST (UK)
They were 2 very different regiments with different badges. 

The one you show is a 1950s cap badge for the Royal Ulster Rifles.  As their name suggests they recruited from the Ulster area and pre-partition were the RIR.  They did not wear collar badges until after 1958 when they adopted them as a result of the 1958 mergers.  There is no way what so ever that the Victorian soldier is a member of that battalion.

The collar badge shown is a pre 1901 collar badge for the Royal Irish Regt who recruited from the south of Ireland.
Title: Re: Trying to identify uniform
Post by: alan o on Tuesday 28 June 16 14:47 BST (UK)
The 1st Bn of the 18th Regt was in Malta in the 1870s and the 2nd Bn in the 1880s.

In 1884 the Cardwell reforms retitled the numbered regtl title to the Royal Irish Regt.

http://maltaramc.com/regmltgar/18th.html
Title: Re: Trying to identify uniform
Post by: MaxD on Tuesday 28 June 16 15:56 BST (UK)
A history of the regiment 1694-1902  is readable on line at https://archive.org/details/campaignshistory00gret

maxD