Six Irish Vintage Volunteers Army Cuff Buttons 1920/30s

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Six Irish Vintage Volunteers Army Cuff Buttons 1920/30s Album Six small convex brass Irish army (IV) uniform buttons. Lots of variations in manufacture and style. Note the different amount of strings to the harps and some are three part construction & so on.Enlarge images. Irish Volunteers Army Brass Buttons, Harp c1940 The button design common to all Corps and services and to all orders of dress (except Naval Service and Chaplains) is derived from, and is a replica of, the buttons used on the uniforms of the Irish Volunteers. The letters "I.V." incorporated in the design stand for "Irish Volunteers" and the Harp is a long-established national emblem. Volunteer Officers of the 1915/1916 era wore compressed leather buttons and the dress regulations of 1915 ordered that Volunteers with the brass "I.V." buttons should have been oxidised dark green. T are at least seven known variations to this design. Early ones (see Michael Collins uniform on the left for reference only) have a "squat" type harp with less strings c1922 - 1930. Later ones were made of stay-bright brass and finally composition material. A lot of different makers names over the years have appeared on the reverse of these very decorative buttons - for example Dowler, Buttons Limited. Birmingham, Firmin & Sons, London, Stephen Simpson, Preston and so on. But the majority were made in Ireland with the letters P.7 T. The number 7 is the Irish for AND. So it is was the Post and Telegraphs government body that made and redistributed them to the different branches, for example, Railways, Army, Police and any Government body that used this Irish National Symbol. Some buttons are blank on the reverse. The Irish army was formed in January 1922. The soldiers went straight from being I.R.A. fighters dressed mainly in civilian clothes, to regular soldiers with uniforms. The Irish Army The army was established in January 1922 and by 1923 its strength stood at over 50,000 men. In March 1924, as a result of the army mutiny and the officers demobilization crisis, it had less than 20,000. By 1932, it had less than 6,000 and virtually no fighting equipment other than rifles. T was also no worthwhile system of reserves. The army at this time had no say in defence policy. In 1934, a 'volunteer force' was set up and its main objective was to siphon off potential recruits from the IRA. In 1939/1940 this proved to be the mainstay of the army's extension as the army found itself in a desperate position and had to reorganise into two mobile divisions to defend Irish neutrality. The army was entirely reliant on Britain for equipment and supplies. Its operational capacity gradually grew while military intelligence performed vital counter-espionage and security tasks. After the war, the army cut to under 10,000 men as a result of its dispiriting pre-war condition and by Irelands refusal to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. In 1958, Ireland made its first military contribution to United Nations operations. These became a mainstay of army life and up to 10% of strength may be serving abroad on peacekeeping, observer, and humanitarian duties. After 1969, the Northern Ireland conflict caused a revitalization of the army. Numbers doubled to about 14,000 and modern infantry equipment and patrol vehicles were provided for border security. Other signs of modernization include the enlistment of women, and the recognition of representative associations for officers and men. Despite the commitment and professionalism of its members, the army remains what it always has been, an under equipped infantry force just large enough to meet any likely internal security threat. HARP The National symbol of Ireland is the Harp, it is on Government stationary, police caps, army buttons and coin currency. Ireland is the only country in the world to use such a symbol. The ... read more

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