Description
Physical description
The Castle and Key of Gibraltar, the castle with just two towers. Above is the Sphinx superscribed 'Marabout'. Below the castle is a scroll inscribed 'Primus in Indis'. A laurel-wreath encloses the lower half of the design, with a scroll across the op to complete the circle, inscribed 'DORSETSHIRE'. Wreath and title-scroll in gilding metal, the reminder in white metal. Two lugs to reverse.
History note
The third pattern of badge, in use to 1900.
The precursor Regiment was raised in 1702 in Ireland as Colonel Richard Coote's Regiment of Foot and was known by various colonels' names until 1751. In 1747 it was ranked 39th Regiment of Foot and in 1751 was formally so-named. In 1782 the Regiment was re-designated 39th (East Middlesex) Regiment of Foot.
In 1793 the Regiment went to the West Indies where, in 1794 at Berville Camp on Guadaloupe, they took heavy casualties and were forced to surrender. The survivors were sent to Ireland in 1795 where the Regiment re-formed, without change of number or name, by absorbing the 104th Foot (Royal Manchester Volunteers). In 1807 the Regiment was re-designated the 39th (The Dorsetshire) Regiment of Foot.
In the Cardwell Reforms of 1881 the Regiment became the Dorsetshire Regiment on amalgamation with 54th (West Norfolk) Regiment of Foot, both Regiments then being stationed in India. The 54th had originally been raised in 1755 as 2nd Battalion 39th but were swiftly designated a Regiment in their own right, the 56th, re-designated in 1757 the 54th.
At the time of the amalgamation the badge showed two honours due to the 39th, the Castle and key of Gibraltar to mark their service in the Great Siege of 1779-83, and a scroll inscribed PRIMUS IN INDIS in recognition of the fact that, in 1754, they were the first British Regiment to serve in India. At some time before 1900 (1898?) the badge was re-designed to include a Sphinx on a tablet inscribed MARABOUT, a battle honour unique to the 54th in recognition of its actions on 21 August 1802 during the Egypt Campaign. At some point after 1900 the badge was re-designed, but simply re-arranging the existing elements. (This last may have been in response to the authorities trying to regularise the design of the Gibraltar castle as worn by the various regiments incorporating this element in their design.) In 1951 the Regiment was re-named the Dorset Regiment, with the associated change to the badge.
In 1958 the Regiment amalgamated with the Devonshire Regiment to form the Devon and Dorset Regiment, part of the Wessex Brigade, at which time the Brigade badge was supposed to be worn. In 1969 the Wessex Brigade was broken up and the Devonshire and Dorset Regiment regained its independence, and its own cap badge, based on the pre-1958 design. In 2005 the Regiment was designated as Light Infantry.
In 2007 the Devon and Dorset Regiment amalgamated with the Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire, also converted to Light Infantry in 2005, to become 1st Battalion The Rifles, itself a newly created Regiment formed from the Light Infantry, Green Jacket and Wessex Brigade successors.
Inscription
Dorsetshire
Marabout
Primus in Indis - First in India