Unusual Irish Sweetheart

[cybershot]

I recently purchased this sweetheart at auction and I’m hoping someone can help with identifying the regiment.

It is 2.5 cms in diameter with a brooch pin fitting and it looks old. Probably WW1 or 1920’s. No manufacturer mark. It came with a North Irish Horse sweetheart but I’m sure if that’s relevant.

I know several Irish Regiments used an angel harp and crown on their insignia but I’ve not seen this example before.

Any suggestions welcome.

Regards
Bob.

[mike_vee]

Originally Posted by cybershot

I recently purchased this sweetheart at auction and I’m hoping someone can help with identifying the regiment.

It is 2.5 cms in diameter with a brooch pin fitting and it looks old. Probably WW1 or 1920’s. No manufacturer mark. It came with a North Irish Horse sweetheart but I’m sure if that’s relevant.

I know several Irish Regiments used an angel harp and crown on their insignia but I’ve not seen this example before.

Any suggestions welcome.

Regards
Bob.

Found an Artillery version described as WW2 :

Second World War, Sweetheart Brooch, Small Pin, Enameled Brooch, Royal Artillery,

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1272...0%3A1272598565

.

[cybershot]

Hi Mike
Thanks for that information.
Regards
Bob

[Toby Purcell]

Originally Posted by cybershot

I recently purchased this sweetheart at auction and I’m hoping someone can help with identifying the regiment.

It is 2.5 cms in diameter with a brooch pin fitting and it looks old. Probably WW1 or 1920’s. No manufacturer mark. It came with a North Irish Horse sweetheart but I’m sure if that’s relevant.

I know several Irish Regiments used an angel harp and crown on their insignia but I’ve not seen this example before.

Any suggestions welcome.

Regards
Bob.

The Angel harp in that simple configuration (without any scroll) is the heraldic symbol used on British Royal banners and other ancillary regalia and clothing as representing Ireland as a whole, and so isn’t necessarily military at all. It goes back several centuries with just the crown changing according to reign and originally marked the joining of Ireland with the British crown under the overall act of Union.

From a purely military perspective in Britain, it has tended to be used as insignia where a unit is related to Ireland, appearing on regimental colours, pipe banners, and later on metal insignia. For that reason it was chosen as the badge of the multi-battalion North Irish Brigade (and later Royal Irish Rangers) with a simple scroll added, and without a scroll by the Ulster Defence Regiment and more recently by the contemporary Royal Irish Regiment.

As regimental iconography it competed in a seemingly random way with the Harp of Eireann and if the historical insignia of disbanded and antecedent regiments like the Royal Irish Fusiliers, Connaught Rangers, Royal Irish Rifles and the old Royal Irish Regiment** is examined it’s possible to see both versions of the harp used intermittently throughout the centuries. Significantly though, whenever a regiment was listed as being awarded “The Harp and Crown” to appear on its colours, it is commonly the Angel version of the harp that is used.

**formerly 18th Regiment of Foot.

[cybershot]

Hi
Toby many thanks for the interesting information about the Angel Harp & Crown.

I found a photo of a 4th Royal Irish Dragoons button converted into a sweetheart using a similar circlet to the RA sweetheart Mike shows in his post. 4th Dragoons amalgamated with the 7th Dragoons in 1922.

I’m guessing that this enamel circle with a different regimental insignia (either badge or button) would have been produced in large quantities during WW1 or as an Old Comrades Association lapel badge after the war.

The manufacturer probably used the same die with different coloured enamels for a range of regiments.

Although without proper records this will be hard to verify.

Many thanks

Bob.

[Toby Purcell]

Originally Posted by cybershot

Hi
Toby many thanks for the interesting information about the Angel Harp & Crown.

I found a photo of a 4th Royal Irish Dragoons button converted into a sweetheart using a similar circlet to the RA sweetheart Mike shows in his post. 4th Dragoons amalgamated with the 7th Dragoons in 1922.

I’m guessing that this enamel circle with a different regimental insignia (either badge or button) would have been produced in large quantities during WW1 or as an Old Comrades Association lapel badge after the war.

The manufacturer probably used the same die with different coloured enamels for a range of regiments.

Although without proper records this will be hard to verify.

Many thanks

Bob.

Hello Bob, yes I think that you’re absolutely right that it’s a common circlet that could be modified to incorporate the insignia of many different regiments.

[mike_vee]

Originally Posted by Toby Purcell

Hello Bob, yes I think that you’re absolutely right that it’s a common circlet that could be modified to incorporate the insignia of many different regiments.

Just spotted an RMLI one.

.

[dumdum]

Hi,

You will probably find that this circlet design had multiple uses from sweetheart brooches to generic jewellery that might have, say, a Mizpah emblem applied or any other device.

Colours for the enamel were probably about as varied as the Dulux colour chart...

[tarabelle]

Interesting to note that the harp was a symbol of resistance against the English and was banned, harpists were to be hung and the harps to be burned

T

[High Wood]

Originally Posted by tarabelle

Interesting to note that the harp was a symbol of resistance against the English and was banned, harpists were to be hung and the harps to be burned

T

Do you have a reference for you claim? Who, when,where?