cross belt plate / Lisburn Volunteers, 1796

Belt plate, bronze, Lisburn Volunteers; harp crowned in centre, with above IN PECTORE PATRIA, and below LISBURN VOLUNTEERS all engraved. Irish, circa 1780. These cross belt plates, sometimes called breast plates. These were worn on the sword or bayonet belt in the position shown in the drawing. They were the first type of unit designation badge to be worn. They were worn by all units, regular as well as volunteer, and their use was continued to the middle of the last century. Most of the plates exhibited above refer to the corps of the 1780 period. That of the Antrim Volunteers is typical of the later Yeomanry Volunteers of 1796.;