Cap Badge - Royal Munster Fusiliers This badge was sold by Jim Purdy for $30.00 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 Royal Munster Fusiliers was a regular infantry regiment of the British Army. One of eight Irish regiments raised largely in Ireland, it had its home depot in Tralee. It was originally formed in 1881 by the amalgamation of two regiments of the former East India Company. It served in India and in the Great War. Following establishment of the independent Irish Free State in 1922, the five regiments that had their traditional recruiting grounds in the counties of the new state were disbanded. THE GREAT WAR The 1st (Regular) Battalion 1914-18 The 1st Battalion landed at Gallipoli, Turkey, on the 25th of April, 1915, and remained there until the following January. It arrived on the Western Front in April, 1916, where it remained until the end of the war. The Battalion took part in the Battles of the Somme (1916), Messines (1917), Passchendaele (1917), Cambrai (1917), Somme (1918), and the final advances of 1918. The 2nd (Regular) Battalion 1914-18 The 2nd Battalion landed in France on the 13th of August, 1914, and remained on the Western Front until the end of the war. In 1914 it took part in the Retreat From Mons, the 1st Battle of Ypres and the Defense of Givenchy. It also took part in the Battles of Aubers Ridge and Loos (1915), the Somme (1916), Passchendaele (1917), Somme (1918) and also in the final advances of 1918. The 6th and 7th (Service) Battalions 1914-18 These Battalions landed at Suvla Bay, Gallipoli on the 7th of August, 1915. They moved to the Salonika Front in October, 1915, and remained there until September, 1917. In November, 1916, the 7th Battalion was disbanded and absorbed by the 6th. The 6th next saw service in Egypt and Palestine and arrived on the Western Front in June, 1918. On arrival, the Battalion was disbanded and absorbed by the 1st and 2nd Battalions. The 8th and 9th (Service) Battalions 1914-18 The 8th and 9th Battalions arrived in France in December, 1915. The 9th Battalion was disbanded in May, 1916. The 8th took part in the Battle of the Somme in 1916 before it too was disbanded. The 10th Battalion This Battalion was privately recruited in Ireland in 1918 but never received official recognition owing to the eccentricity of the chief recruiter and the lack of interest in Ireland itself. The 3rd, 4th and 5th (Reserve Battalions) These were primarily training units during the Great War and were mostly based in Ireland until November 1917 when they were moved to the U.K. In May, 1918, the 4th and 5th Battalions were absorbed by the 3rd. The 1st and 2nd (Garrison Battalions) These were formed in 1917 and 1918 respectively and saw some service in Italy. POST-WAR At the end of the war, the 1st Battalion remained in France until June, 1919, when it left for Plymouth where it merged with the 3rd Battalion which was stationed there. It remained at Plymouth until it joined the Inter-Allied Force in Upper Silesia in September, 1921, returning to England in April, 1922. The 2nd Battalion also remained in France until June, 1919, before returning to England. It left for Egypt in November, 1919, where it remained until May, 1922. Following Irish Independence, the Royal Munster Fusiliers was disbanded on the 31st of July, 1922.