Royal Irish Brigade Button

[Patriot Relics]

Hey guys,

Having found a few pewter buttons along a river in Charleston, SC I decided to go back and hit the spot again. This evening I found a button marked "Royal Irish Brigade" on the front and Dublin around the shank. Anyone know anything about these buttons- rev war??

 

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[tamrock]

Boy! I do hope someone can tell the story of your button. I'd like to know more on it also. What an interesting find you've got there.

 

[fyrffytr1]

What else does it say besides Dublin on the back?

 

[Patriot Relics]

The shank has "BYRNE" + R + BRENAN+ "DUBLIN". Not 100% on R BRENAN part

 

[Patriot Relics]

A bit more research has turned up a few references to an Irish brigade during the civil war, but absolutely nothing on the Royal Irish Brigade. Royal seems to imply connections with England? Hopefully someone can shed some light on this button.

 

[fyrffytr1]

I found a "Byrne and Brenan/ Dublin" on one site. I will see what I can find out about them.

http://www.buttoncrs.com/backmarks.html

 

[Patriot Relics]

Finally a lead! Thanks for all the help, hopefully you can shed some light on the origins of this unique button.

 

[Iron Patch]

It's actually not uncommon to have a very hard time to track down some of the smaller British units that never served in North America. I've looked for some where it was tough just finding a single reference, anything.... and many others where there was very little, maybe just a site or two that mentioned them but didn't really say much. I do think if you keep looking you will eventually find someone who will be able to tell you a bit about them. You should contat an Irish military museum online and check in with them. If they don't know, they might be able to send you in the right direction.

http://www.militaryheritage.ie/research/milmuseums/milmus-index.htm

 

[fyrffytr1]

Good luck with your search. I couldn't find anything more.

 

[Patriot Relics]

Thanks for all the effort fyrffytr1, I took Iron's advice and emailed the MHIT with a request for information. I'll post as soon as I hear something.

 

[Patriot Relics]

Here's the information I received from the National Museum of Ireland-

"This looks like a very interesting item, my colleague Alex Ward has found that Byrne and Brenan, button manufacturers, were in business from 1795 to 1807 in Dublin. I cannot find mention of a Irish Brigade in the War of Independence. However this button might belong to a solider of the Irish Brigade (1794-98) which was created by the British Army and consisted of Irish Catholic soldiers from the French Army Irish Brigade (1698-1791), who had fled the French Revolution. They still supported the French King and served in 6 regiments of the Irish Brigade until 1798. But the way this was described as the Irish Brigade and not Royal Irish Brigade. The Irish protestant community opposed these regiments and they all served abroad mainly in the West Indies. For example the 3rd Regiment served in Jamaica and San Domingo."

So I was able to pin down the manufacture date between 1795 and 1807, but the mystery of who was the "Royal" Irish Brigade remains.