badge, headdress, British, Durham Light Infantry

A white metal headdress badge of a strung bugle surmounted by an Imperial (King's) crown, the letters "DLI" between the strings. Slider to reverse.

Badge of pattern worn 1901 to 1958. Size suggests this is a beret badge. The senior predecessor Regiment was raised in 1756 as “2nd Battalion 23rd of Foot (Royal Welch Fusiliers)”. In 1758 the unit became a Regiment in its own right as 68th Regiment of Foot (Colonel John Lambton). In 1782 it was re-designated the 68th (Durham) Regiment of Foot and in 1808 became Light Infantry. In 1812 it was re-named 68th Foot (Durham Light Infantry, by this time having adopted the strung bugle common to all Light Infantry regiments. The junior predecessor was raised in 1826 by the Honourable East India Company as 2nd Bombay European Regiment. In 1840 it was re-designated Light Infantry. In 1859 the Regiment came under Crown control and in 1861 became part of the British Army as 106th Foot (Bombay Light Infantry), with a badge of a bugle within a wreath below a curved Victoria crown. In the 1881 Cardwell/Childers reforms the 68th and 106th were amalgamated to form the Durham Light Infantry. The badge adopted after 1898 was an ornamented strung bugle with the letters DLI between the strings, a flat-topped Victoria crown above. Thereafter the badge remained unchanged, save for the change to an Imperial (King’s) crown in 1901 and a Queen’s crown in 1952. In 1958 the Regiment became part of the Light Infantry Brigade and adopted the Brigade badge. In 1968 the Brigade became The Light Infantry, a large Regiment, and the DLI became its 4th Battalion. The 4th Battalion was disbanded in 1969, thus extinguishing the DLI.