Royal Ulster Rifles

Recruiting poster printed by Gale and Polden Limited, 1922 (c).

This regiment was formed in 1881 as the Royal Irish Rifles by merging two Irish line infantry regiments, the 83rd and 86th Regiments of Foot, but Irish independence in 1922 led to two changes. 'Irish' was changed into 'Ulster' and it lost one of its recruiting counties, Louth, which became part of the Free State. Its other two counties, Antrim and Down, were in Northern Ireland and so the regiment survived Irish independence.