Are they all Royal Irish Regiemnt
 

Hey :)

I've been trying to figure out what these are and I think they are royal Irish Regiment? And the first 2 are for caubeens ? But why does the last one have a Slider as I cant see any online?

T X

Not mines

The 1st one LH is the current issue R.Irish caubeen badge
The centre is Royal Irish Rangers caubeen badge ,predecessor of the R.Irish
The 3rd RH is the R.Irish beret badge. I'm sure that when they came into existence they wore a beret not a caubeen. Col Tim Collins badgered for this to be changed. Which it was,badge was as 3 but with lugs rather than a slider.

:) it really confused me

Thank you for all the info

T X

Upon creation they wore the beret in working dress and the Caubeen in No2 dress. The beret was seen as a UDR item and unpopular with the Regualrs. Tim Collins had the caubeen adopted in working dress by the 1st bn.

So this is it in the beret?

Yes. Green beret if the UDR.

Since you are talking about the caubeen I have questions about mine. My Caubeen its black. So you are saying the badge does not belong on this and belongs on a regular beret? Or is my badge a larger variation of the one on the right that does belong on a Caubeen?

Is it black? Should be a dark rifle green. Is there a label inside?

Tim

Its black I have read black is for the irish defense forces. At least it looks black to me. I see no labels inside it does have a flap in the hat with snaps you could snap inside it though. It came to me unsnapped though


https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Royal-Iri...-/362392816854 that looks to be black

Possibly dark blue, rather than black?

The Royal Irish Rangers looks like Desperate Dan's sister. Concerning patina too.
Mark

152 (Ulster) Regiment, Royal Corps of Transport (Volunteers) pipers wore a dark blue caubeen with a dark green hackle. I suspect that's what you have there but clearly with the wrong badge.

Or a dark blue caubeen as also worn by 40th (Ulster) Signal Regiment (Volunteers) but with R Sigs badge and light blue/ blue/ green hackle.

A picture of the inside flap.
I see several places online make black Caubeen such as http://www.scotlandproductsonline.co...ubeen-hat.html Did non military people wear them in black or is there a reason people would want black or brown on these?

It looks black to me but some fading or what not could possibly be another color like dark green or blue but looks black to me. Could be a non military one someone had made and them attached a badge to. But seems unlikely.

Dk blue caubeen
 

Dark blue caubeens were worn by RInF & RIrF up to '68.

I have previously written at length on the RIRang/UDR CGC and the various badges worn post July '92.

Remember silver badge for caubeen, at first lugged, both officers silver (Edinburgh HM) & anodised OR's.

Working dress for RIRegt was beret & GOLD anodised badge.

The beret was only removed from dress regs about 2010, I was in RHQ at the time and had worn them all, both Regt's pre/post amalgamation.

Col Collins adopted the caubeen in all forms of dress some time earlier. The scarcest RIRegt head dress badge is the officers silver bullion beret badge transitional between the beret being dumped and the caubeen taking over. Slidered silver anodised badges also date from about that time. A gold anodised pattern exists with a bulbous crown which was manufactured when existing stocks of 'UDR' badges were exhausted long after the Regt had passed into history much misunderstood & unfairly maligned by the great unwashed.

On a point of order HS soldiers did the same training as GS soldiers and after battlecamp when the GS recruits went back to the depot for several weeks prior to being sent to Bn the HS troops did more advanced training so in fact were more highly trained than the so called 'regulars'.

I discounted Royal Irish Fusiliers and Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers as suggestions as the caubeen shown doesnt have a green or red badge backing.

Thread drift - I have a dark blue caubeen, 1950s or 60's dated (1957 I think...) that has a Royal Irish Rangers anod badge and green hackle, very firmly attached - is there any possibility that on Formation of the Royal Irish Rangers there may have been a temporary wearing of the new regiment's insignia with the blue caubeen by personnel from the old blue caubeen regiments?

Leigh,
Yes there was. I remember being on a bus in Catterick Garrison in 1969 and wondering why the Rangers were wearing both dark blue and dark green caubeens. This was when the three constituent regiments of the Royal Irish Rangers were shaking down into two battalions.

The 1st Battalion The Royal Irish Rangers (1 R IRISH) moved to Catterick to relieve 3 R IRISH and assumed its Mechanised role in 6 Infantry Brigade. The 3rd Battalion disbanded on 3 December 1968 and the remaining personnel merged with 1 R IRISH.

Tim

Thank you for that info.

Triangles
 

It's probably my bad eyes but the badge on the caubeen looked gold which would be wrong, so I assumed the caubeen was made up...TA RIrF didn't wear the green triangle on their dk blue caubeen...and of course there is the confusion of the Bde badge in distance photos if collars not evident.

What fun badge collecting is!

We won't go down the road of UDR CGC pipers caubeens tonight but then they used the larger badge which a well known London badge firm still makes for the regiment to sell to collectors...

Well it would appear that Firmin were still making the Gold UDR cap badge long after its demise, presumably for the use of the RIR.

As mentioned above, the 'bulbous' crown version of the anodised UDR cap badge is the example by TKS. It is effectively the same die as the RIR but manufactured gold - which would fall into the category of still being manufactured after the UDR ended (along with Firmin it would appear).

Incidentally- does anyone elsw have a MADE black UDR cap badge in anodised alluminium? There is no makers mark on the slider or badge rear. It appears to be the same die as the Dowler version in gold.

Regards all

Bess

From someone who served in the Royal Irish Regiment , the beret kept the OR’s gold coloured anodised cap badge and officers bullion cap badge of the UDR. The beret was the official head dress for working dress and combat dress. The caubeen, which was worn in ceremonial uniforms had the silver badge.
The beret was not popular with the Ranger battalions, and the caubeen wasn’t worn much with the home service battalions. I was never actually issued with one as we didn’t do any ceremonial stuff where I was based.
Col Collins made the caubeen the everyday head dress for the 1st battalion, and the beret pretty much disappeared after the home service battalions were disbanded. I think, it may still be in the dress regs, but that has probably been updated.
So for clarification - caubeen = silver. Beret = gold.

Hope that helps

Re black cap badges. I never saw an issued one. We were detailed to have one with a blackened badge for patrol, and a tin of black paint was provided at CQMS stores, and a gold one for wearing in barracks.

I did mine at home with Hammerite spray paint and it looked a lot better than the brush painted ones.