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THE LEINSTER REGIMENT ASSOCIATION

Full title: The Prince of Wales’s Leinster Regiment (Royal Canadians)

The regiment was formed in 1881 by merging the 100th (Prince of Wales's Royal Canadian) and 109th (Bombay Infantry) Regiments of Foot.The new regiment thus inherited the 100th Foot's association with Canada and the association of the antecedent of the 109th with India as part of the forces of the Honourable East India Company. At its creation the regiment also gained a new territorial association, being allocated a recruiting area covering Meath, Westmeath, Longford, King's County (now Offaly) and Queen's County (now Laois), five counties in the Leinster province of central and east Ireland.

Bimetal cap badge used from 1881 to 1922. The Prince of Wales coronet and feathers above the motto. Below is the regiment’s abbreviated title The Leinster. In this version the motto scroll has dropped edges, that differ with other regiments incorporating the POW feathers. During WW1 a version with a rolled edge motto scroll was issued

The helmet plate incorporates an eight pointed gilt star surmounted by a crown. Superimposed on the star is a laurel wreath and within this the regimental badge and motto. Prior to 1902 the crown was that of Queen Victoria. In 1902 the Victorian crown was replaced by the Imperial crown with its down-swept arms. (Source Badges of the British Army; F Wilkinson; ninth edition 1997)

The 109th Regiment of Foot