Description
Physical description
The crest and motto of the Duke of Wellington (a lion holding a standard emerging from a Ducal coronet above a scroll bearing the motto 'VIRTUTIS FORTUNA COMES' (Fortune favours the brave)). At base an ornate scroll inscribed 'THE WEST RIDING'. The scroll is in gilding metal, the remainder in white metal. A pair of lugs on the reverse.
History note
Cap badge of the Duke of Wellington's (West Riding) Regiment of the type in use from 1898, with the exception of the period 1958-1969 when the Yorkshire Brigade badge was worn.
The predecessor Regiment was raised in 1702 as the Earl of Huntingdon's Regiment of Foot. In 1747 it was ranked as 33rd of Foot and was formally known by that number from 1751. In 1782 it was re-designated the 33rd (The 1st Yorkshire West Riding) Regiment of Foot. In 1853, following the Duke of Wellington's death the previous year, Queen Victoria granted the Regiment the secondary title, "The Duke of Wellington's", to commemorate the Duke's association with the Regiment, his having been a major of the 33rd in 1793 and Colonel of the Regiment 1806-1816. The name now became the 33rd (The Duke of Wellington's) Regiment of Foot. It was almost certainly at this time that the crest associated with the Wellesley family was adopted, out of a ducal coronet, a demi-lion rampant holding a "forked pennon, flowing to the sinister" (to the right as one looks at the badge).
As part of the Cardwell/Childers reforms, in 1881 the Regiment merged with the 76th of Foot, a Regiment also associated with Wellington, he having served as a subaltern in 1787. The 76th was also known as the Hindoostan Regiment, after the battle honour and elephant badge granted for its action at the storming of Bangalore in 1791. It was formally named the 76th (Hindoostan) Regiment of Foot in 1803 but that title was dropped in 1812.
The merged Regiment became for a short period the Halifax Regiment (Duke of Wellington's) before, in the same year, becoming The Duke of Wellington's (West Riding Regiment). The badge of the merged unit carried forward the Wellesley crest from the 33rd and the elephant device of the 76th eventually became the collar badge.
With the change of headdress in 1898 a new badge was designed, retaining the crest but with the addition of a scroll bearing the Duke's motto, VIRTUTIS FORTUNA COMES ("Fortune favours the brave", or alternatively, "Fortune is the companion of bravery"), plus a second scroll bearing the Regimental title THE WEST RIDING.
In 1920 the name was changed to the Duke of Wellington's Regiment (West Riding), with no change to the basic badge design.
In 1958 the Regiment became part of the Yorkshire Brigade. When the Brigade was broken up in 1968-9, the Regiment regained its independence and its cap badge.
In 2006 the Yorkshire Regiment was formed, the Regiment becoming its 3rd Battalion as 3rd Battalion (Duke of Wellington's). The Yorkshire Regiment has as a principal element of its badge the demi-lion and pennant crest from the Wellesley crest.