Description
Physical description
In white metal, the Arms, Supporters and Motto of the City of Manchester, except that the lower portion of the shield is blank. Below is a scroll embossed MANCHESTER in gilding metal. Slider to reverse.
Label
Cap badge of the Manchester Regiment. The regiment had eight City Pals battalions during the First World War. On 3 September 1914 alone, over 2,000 men enlisted in Manchester.
History note
The Manchester Regiment was created in 1881 as a result of the Cardwell/Childers reforms with the amalgamation of the 63rd (West Suffolk) and the 94th Regiments of Foot. Neither Regiment had any previous connection with Manchester.
The headdress badge adopted on amalgamation was the Arms of the City of Manchester, presumably to accentuate what was otherwise an administratively convenient but arbitrary linking of Regiment and City. From 1898 the armorial was in white metal with a gilding metal scroll below bearing MANCHESTER.
This badge was not popular with the troops and was known disparagingly as "the tram conductor's badge". There were, therefore, few regrets when in 1923, the Regiment adopted a strikingly simple badge in the form of a large brass fleur-de-lys. The Regiment may first have worn this sign in some form around 1815 and the 7th (Territorial) Battalion certainly wore a small brass "floriated" (ornate) version between 1908 and 1921. The choice of the fleur-de-lys is thought to originate from the first battle honour awarded to the 63rd, for actions against the French at the capture of Guadeloupe in 1759. The badge changed to white metal after the Second World.
In 1958 the Regiment merged with the King's (Liverpool) Regiment to form The King's Regiment (Manchester and Liverpool), a regiment in the Lancastrian Brigade and wearing the Brigade's badge.