Royal Welsh Fusiliers cap badge produced in the economy brass pattern introduced in 1916 and worn until the end of the First World War in 1918 by the Royal Welsh Fusiliers of the British Army. This British Army fusilier regiment cap badge displays the recognised regimental insignia in clear relief, incorporating a fused grenade with a fan of multi-tiered flames as the principal device, the ball of the grenade bearing a circlet inscribed “Royal Welsh Fusiliers” enclosing the Prince of Wales’s plumes, coronet, and motto scroll “Ich Dien” (German: “I Serve”) at the centre. The economy pattern is struck entirely in brass as a single-metal construction, in contrast to the standard bi-metal service dress badge, in which the grenade ball devices are rendered in white metal against a gilding metal grenade body. The composition reflects the regiment’s heraldic traditions and the emergency production conditions of the latter stages of the First World War.
The regiment traces its origins to 1689 when it was raised as Lord Herbert’s Regiment of Foot, and by 1702 had become the Welsh Regiment of Fuzileers, one of the earliest British regiments to receive the fusilier designation. The “Royal” prefix was granted in 1713 in recognition of service during the War of the Spanish Succession, and the regiment was ranked as the 23rd Regiment of Foot in 1747. The fused grenade badge, common to all fusilier regiments, had been in use by the regiment from at least 1874; the current pattern, incorporating the Prince of Wales’s plumes within a titled circlet, was adopted around 1898 following the change of headdress that year. The economy brass pattern was introduced in 1916 in response to wartime material shortages and the enormous demand for badges generated by the rapid expansion of the British Army through Kitchener’s New Armies and the subsequent introduction of conscription, with the single-metal all-brass construction replacing the more labour-intensive bi-metal process for the duration of the war. During the First World War, the regiment was officially designated the Royal Welsh Fusiliers rather than the archaic “Welch” form; the traditional spelling was formally restored under Army Order No. 56 of 1920. The regiment was amalgamated with the Royal Regiment of Wales on 1 March 2006 to form the 1st Battalion, The Royal Welsh.
Manufactured in brass as a single-metal economy construction consistent with wartime British Army headdress badge production of 1916 to 1918, this original example provides a sharply defined representation of the economy issue pattern. Royal Welsh Fusiliers economy brass cap badges are collected as examples of First World War British Army fusilier regiment militaria, wartime economy issue headdress insignia, and historic uniform hardware of the Western Front era British Army.
Dimensions Approx. 41mm high, 24mm wide
Condition Good
