South Wales Borderers Anodised Collar Badge (1957-1969 Pattern)

South Wales Borderers anodised aluminium collar badges in a facing pair, produced in the post-1957 pattern worn from 1957 to 1969 by other ranks of the South Wales Borderers of the British Army. This British Army line infantry collar badge displays a device entirely distinct from the earlier Sphinx and immortelles wreath collar badge worn from 1898 to 1957, incorporating the Roman numeral “XXIV” within a laurel wreath as the sole device, produced in anodised aluminium in the silver staybrite finish introduced across the British Army from 1957 as the standard other ranks’ headdress and collar badge construction material. The reverse carries the standard anodised aluminium lug fitting consistent with other ranks’ collar badge production of the period. The reversion to the regimental number “XXIV” as the primary badge device in 1957 represented a deliberate return to the regiment’s pre-1881 numeric identity as the 24th Regiment of Foot.

The regiment traces its origins to 1689 when it was raised as Sir Edward Dering’s Regiment of Foot for service in Ireland, ranked as the 24th Regiment of Foot in 1751 and redesignated the South Wales Borderers under the Childers Reforms of 1881 as the county regiment for Breconshire, Monmouthshire, and the mid-Wales counties. The regiment earned its most celebrated distinction on 22 and 23 January 1879 at the Battles of Isandlwana and Rorke’s Drift during the Anglo-Zulu War, when eleven Victoria Crosses were awarded to members of the 24th Regiment of Foot — seven at Rorke’s Drift alone, the largest number of Victoria Crosses awarded to a single regiment in a single action in the history of the British Army. The wreath of immortelles surrounding the Sphinx device on the earlier cap and collar badge had derived directly from this action, when Queen Victoria placed a wreath of immortelles on the staff of the Colour that Lieutenants Coghill and Melville had died attempting to save at Isandlwana. The 1957 collar badge pattern replaced the Sphinx and wreath device with the Roman numeral XXIV, reflecting a broader movement within the British Army of the period to restore historic regimental number identities as the infantry underwent successive reorganisations. The regiment was amalgamated with the Welch Regiment on 11 June 1969 to form the Royal Regiment of Wales (24th/41st Foot), at which point the XXIV in wreath anodised collar badge was superseded.

Manufactured in anodised aluminium consistent with the British Army other ranks’ collar badge production of the 1957 to 1969 period, this facing pair provides a well-defined representation of the South Wales Borderers’ final collar badge pattern as worn in the regiment’s last decade of independent existence. South Wales Borderers anodised XXIV in wreath collar badges are collected as examples of late British Army line infantry insignia, anodised period regimental collar hardware of the South Wales Borderers, and uniform accessories of one of the most historically distinguished regiments of the Victorian British Army.

Dimensions

Diameter: approx. 26mm

Condition
As new