Medal Society of Ireland

by Tom O'Neill

Illustrated is the set of four flying suit patches worn by crew members of the Air Corps CASA 235 maritime patrol aircraft, two of which are operated by the Squadron. The CASA is depicted on the patch and on the top left corner is the Irish tri-colour. The patches are 105mm x 60mm.

The Royal Irish Regiment was brought on to the English establishment on April 1st 1684, under the command of Col. Arthur Forbes, the first Earl of Granard.

Badges:  Maid of Erin Harp, surmounted by a crown, with a scroll beneath, bearing the title ''the Royal Irish Regiment”. This varied according to the type of headdress worn at particular periods, with the mitre cap, it was a huge Maid Of Erin, crown and scroll about ten inches high. With the coming of the Shako an eight-pointed star was used, surmounted by a crown with a Maid of Erin in the centre with the Roman numerals XVIII. On the pill box cap just the numerals XVIII were used. A different badge was used for the Glengarry which consisted of a circular band inscribed with the words Royal Irish, surmounted by a rampant lion from the arms of Nassau, in the middle of a circle a Sphinx inscribed with the word ''Egypt'' with a dragon inscribed with China underneath and at the bottom the figure 18. Another version of this had the figure 18 beneath the Sphinx.

by Michael A. Kavanagh

The meritorious service medal was instituted in 1845 and carried with it an annuity. The medal was issued to reward long serving senior non-commissioned officers of the regular army.

In 1844 the warrant was extended to all soldiers above the rank of Corporal. In 1916 the warrant was further extended to include non-commissioned officers below the rank of sergeant and to men for valuable and meritorious service.*

by Michael Kavanagh

The large war cemeteries scattered around the world are well known to most collectors, but now and again we hear of smaller and much less well known ones. I recently came across some such in a booklet entitled THE MARCOING GROUP OF CEMETERIES IN FRANCE, published by the Imperial War Graves Commission (now the Commonwealth War Graves Commission) in London in 1929. 

by Michael Kavanagh

"The Blueshirt made its first appearance in Irish politics in April 1933 when it was adopted as the official uniform of the already existing Army Comrades Association. The impact of this movement was immediate and dramatic. Within a matter of months, it had members and branches in all parts of the State. Nothing like it had ever been seen before. It was new and vigorous and colourful. It was also unpredictable. Its coming coincided with a point in time when shirted movements were fighting for power in virtually every country in Europe, and had attained it in some - movements as varied as the Blackshirts in Italy, the Brownshirts of Germany, Mosley's British Union of Fascists, the Spanish Falange, and indeed many more.