Cap Badge - Tyneside Irish. 24th, 25th, 26th and 27th (Service) Battalions (Tyneside Irish) Northumberland Fusiliers. This badge was sold by Jim Purdy for $20.00 on e-Bay in the Spring/Summer of 2017. This badge was deemed irrelevant to the museum. The money was used to purchase relevant badges for the collection. The Tyneside Irish Brigade was a British First World War infantry brigade of Kitchener's Army, raised in 1914. Officially numbered the 103rd (Tyneside Irish) Brigade, it contained four Pals battalions from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, largely made up of men of Irish extraction. (Another Newcastle brigade — the 102nd (Tyneside Scottish) — contained Tynesiders with Scottish connections). During the First World War, the Northumberland Fusiliers expanded to 52 battalions[8] and 29 of them served overseas.[9][a] It was the second largest infantry regiment of the British Army during the war, surpassed only by the 88 battalions of the London Regiment. The 1st – 4th Tyneside Irish Battalions were Pals battalions raised in Newcastle by the Lord Mayor and City on 14 November (1st), 9 November (2nd), 23 November 1914 (3rd) and 5 January 1915 (4th). In March 1915 they moved to Woolsington and together they formed 103rd (Tyneside Irish) Brigade, 34th Division in June 1915. They were taken over by the War Office on 27 August 1915, moved to Salisbury Plain at the end of the month and crossed to France in January 1916. Due to extremely heavy casualties suffered during the attack at La Boiselle on 1 July 1916, the Brigade was attached to the 37th Division between 6 July and 22 August 1916 in exchange for 112th Brigade. On 10 August 1917, the 24th and 27th Battalions were amalgamated as the 24th/27th Battalion. British[k] divisions on the Western Front were reduced from a 12-battalion to a 9-battalion basis in February 1918 (brigades from four to three battalions): the 25th Battalion joined the 102nd (Tyneside Scottish) Brigade on 3 February and the 24th/27th and 26th Battalions were disbanded on 26 February.[3] As a result of the losses suffered in the Ludendorf Offensive (First Battle of the Somme and Battle of the Lys), 102nd Brigade had to be extensively reorganized. On 16 May 1918, the 25th Battalion was reduced to cadre and transferred to Lines of Communication duties; it joined 39th Division on 17 June, to 66th Division on 16 August and to 197th Brigade on 20 September where it remained for the rest of the war.[3] 25th Battalion was disbanded in France in June 1919. While part of the 34th Division, the Tyneside Irish took part in the following major actions: Battle of the Somme (1916) – Battle of Albert, Battle of Arras (1917) Third Battle of Ypres First Battle of the Somme (1918) Battle of the Lys (1918)