Royal Dublin Fusiliers

The Royal Dublin Fusiliers
Royal Dublin Fusiliers Cap Badge
Active1 July 1881 – 31 July 1922
Country United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
Branch British Army
TypeLine Infantry
Garrison/HQRHQ: Naas Barracks, Naas, County Kildare
Nickname(s)The Blue Caps, The Dubs, The Lambs, The Old Toughs
MarchQuick: The British Grenadiers
Unofficial: The Dublin Fusiliers
Commanders
Ceremonial chiefPrince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn (1908)
Colonel of
the Regiment
Major-General Charles Duncan Cooper (1910)
Insignia
HackleBlue over Green

The Royal Dublin Fusiliers was an infantry regiment of the British Army created in 1881 and disbanded in 1922. It was one of eight 'Irish' regiments of the army which were raised and garrisoned in Ireland, with the regiment's home depot being located in Naas. The regiment was created via the amalgamation of the Royal Bombay Fusiliers and Royal Madras Fusiliers, two army regiments stationed in India, with militia units from Dublin and Kildare as part of the Childers Reforms. Both battalions of the regiment served in the Second Boer War.

During World War I, a further six battalions were raised and the regiment saw action on the Western Front, the Mediterranean and the Middle East, during which its members won three Victoria Cross medals.[1] Following the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922, five army regiments whose traditional recruiting grounds were located in the new state, including the Royal Dublin Fusiliers, were disbanded.[2]

  1. ^ "VCs won in the Great War". North-East Medals. Retrieved 17 July 2016.
  2. ^ Murphy, p.30 quote: "Following the treaty that established the independent Irish Free State in 1922, it was decided to disband the regiments that had their traditional recruiting grounds in southern Ireland: The Royal Irish Regiment; The Connaught Rangers; The Prince of Wales' Leinster Regiment; The Royal Munster Fusiliers; The Royal Dublin Fusiliers; The South Irish Horse"