Description
Physical description
A unbroken wreath of Immortelles on the base of which are the letters SWB. In the centre is the Sphinx on a tablet inscribed 'Egypt'. All in bronze.
History note
Badge of the pattern worn 1898 to 1958.
The predecessor Regiment was raised in 1689 as Sir Edward Dering's Regiment of Foot for service in Ireland against supporters of James II against William III. In 1747 it was ranked as 24th of Foot and officially known by that number from 1751. In 1782 the Regiment was re-designated 24th (The 2nd Warwickshire) Regiment of Foot.
The Regiment was saved from the need to amalgamate with another unit in the 1881 Cardwell/Childers reforms by virtue of its having raised a second permanent battalion in 1858. However, despite the Warwickshire association created in 1782, its depot moved to Brecon in 1873 and the changes under Cardwell/Childersof resulted in the Regiment being re-designated The South Wales Borderers, the county regiment for Monmouthshire, Breconshire and the three counties of mid-Wales.
From at least 1874 the Regiment's badge had shown a Sphinx on a tablet inscribed EGYPT, a symbol awarded for the service of the 24th against the French in Egypt in 1801. The 1881 change of name resulted in the Welsh dragon within a laurel wreath displacing the Sphinx. In 1898 the Army's change of headdress required a re-design of the badge and the Sphinx and tablet was re-adopted, surrounded now by a complete and unbroken garland of immortelles, the letters SWB being superimposed at the bottom. The wreath derived from the actions of the 24th on 22 and 23 January 1879 at the Battles of Isandhlwana and Rorke's Drift when the Regiment won nine VCs, two to Lieutenants Coghill and Melville for their attempt to save the Colour at Isandhlwana (the first ever posthumous awards of this medal) and seven at Rorke's Drift. On the return of 1st Battalion to the UK in 1800, Queen Victoria asked to see the Colour defended by Coghill and Melville, placing a wreath of immortelles on the staff. It was directed that henceforth a silver wreath was to be borne on the staff of the Queen's Colour of each Battalion, an honour reflected by the wreath depicted on the 1898 cap badge. The wreath was reproduced on the collar badges of other ranks' and of officers' No. 1 dress.
In 1958 the Regiment became part of the Welsh Brigade, regular battalions expected to wear the Brigade badge. In 1969 the Brigade was broken up and the Regiment was merged with the Welch Regiment to form the Royal Regiment of Wales, with a new badge that owed nothing to the SWB.
In 2006 the Royal Regiment of Wales became a battalion of the newly created The Royal Welsh.
Inscription
Egypt
SWB