Loughborough Carillon Museum

The museum has a collection of cap badges from a wide variety of British regiments, including the local Leicestershire Yeomanry and the Leicestershire Regiment.

Many of the units represented in the collection have passed into history, but their names can still evoke romantic images of men in the brightly coloured uniforms of a former age.

It is thought that not all the examples are original, however, as some may be what are known as 're-strikes'- that is, copies made at later date.

Leicestershire Yeomanry (Prince Albert's Own) cap badge

Leicestershire Yeomanry (Prince Albert's Own)
(LOUWM:2012.89)

The Yeomanry was first raised in 1794 and the words "Prince Albert's Own" were added in 1844, in honour of the then Prince Consort, husband to Queen Victoria. .

Leicestershire Regiment
superscribed "Hindoostan"
(LOUWM:2018.192)

The Leicestershire Regiment's origins date back to Colonel Solomon Richards and the regiment he raised in 1688. In 1825, "Hindoostan" (meaning "India") was added to the badge in recognition of the exemplary conduct of the Regiment in India earlier in the nineteenth century.

In 1946, the Regiment became the Royal Leicestershire Regiment.

Regimental Cap Badges

The emblems displayed on British Army cap badges are thought to be the direct descendants of the emblems and devices common in medieval heraldry, probably originating in the link with feudal aristocracy and the duty to raise troops in support of the King.

The British Army cap badges are usually representative of the regiment or corps, while the badges of the other services tend to indicate rank.