Victorian 18th Royal Irish Cross Belt Plate #1

The regiment was stationed on Minorca from 1718 to 1745, and briefly in Flanders, before returning to Britain after the Second Jacobite Rebellion (1745-46). In 1751, it was given a regimental numeral of 18, even though it was the seventh oldest British infantry regiment at that time. Although it was formed in 1684, it had only entered the English establishment in 1689. The regiment remained in Britain and Ireland until 1767, when it was deployed to North America. It was still there at the outbreak of the American War of Independence (1775-83), during which it suffered heavy casualties in the early part of the campaign. The few survivors had to be drafted to other regiments, while the officers returned to Britain to re-recruit. It spent the early 1780s garrisoning the Channel Islands and Gibraltar against America’s French and Spanish allies. It saw action from the start of the French Revolutionary Wars (1793-1802), serving at the siege of Toulon in 1793, garrisoning Corsica in 1794, and serving as marines in the Mediterranean in 1797. The regiment also fought in Egypt in 1801 before returning to Ireland. It was then posted to the West Indies from 1805 until the end of the war in 1814. For three of those years, it was joined there by a 2nd Battalion.”