Description
Physical description
brass badge in the form a fused (or 'flaming') grenade. On the ball is the Garter with the inscription 'HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE' with a Victorian crown superimposed displacing some of the lettering. Within the Garter is a Tudor rose. Pair of lugs to reverse.
History note
Pre-1914 type cap badge.
The ultimate predecessor Regiment was raised in 1685 by George Legge, Lord Dartmouth, from Tower of London Guards. They were originally intended to be escorts to artillery and so were armed with flintlocks ("fusils") rather than matchlocks, which latter would have been a danger around the gunpowder associated with artillery. The unit was initially known as the Ordnance Regiment, shortly re-named the Royal Regiment of Fuziliers. The unit served as Marines for three periods, in 1703, 1718-19 and 1756-57.
In 1747 the Regiment was ranked as the 7th Regiment of Foot and was known as the Royal English Fuziliers. In 1751 it was re-designated as 7th Regiment of Foot (Royal Fusiliers), by which time its badge was a fuzed (flaming) grenade with the figure "7" in the centre of the ball, surrounded by a Garter.
In July 1881 the Regiment was re-designated City of London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers), later the same year becoming the Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment). At this time the centre of the grenade ball became a Tudor rose with a Victorian crown between the Garter and an elongated array of flames. In 1901thedesign of the flames reverted to a more triangular shape and the crown became a King's crown. The badge remained largely unchanged until 1952 when the crown changed to a Queen's crown.
In 1958 the Regiment became part of the Fusilier Brigade, wearing a white hackle in addition to a cap badge. On 23 April 1968, St. George's Day, the Fusilier Brigade became the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers and its four constituent battalions (Northumberland, Warwickshire, Royal and Lancashire Fusiliers) were amalgamated into this new Regiment.
Inscription
Honi soit qui mal y pense (Evil to him who evil thinks) - the motto of the Order of the Garter