Belt Plates
There are some 180 Volunteer and Yeomanry belt plates associated with individual corps established over a wide geographical area in Ulster c.1780-1830s. The collection has 153 Yeomanry and nearly 100 Militia items.
A recently-acquired belt plate exemplifies the nature of the rest of the collection.
The Magheragall Volunteer Belt Plate relates to a unit formed in Magheragall near Lisburn. Many Irish Volunteer units were originally founded at the time of the American War of Independence to guard against possible French invasion. The Volunteers became key in expressing pressure for greater administrative freedom from England and this growing radicalisation lead to official disbandment in 1793.
Magheragall Volunteers are recorded between 1780 and 1784. As well as the unit name, the text on the belt plate reads For Our Country. The design shows a crowned harp - the standard symbol of British power in Ireland, but this time with a crucial difference. Instead of the usual Hanoverian royal crown, this example is the spiky, 'milesian' version which came to be associated with independence - cultural and political.
Image: Yeomanry beltplate, 1803
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