Helmet badge, Calcutta Volunteer Rifles, pre-1901

White metal badge with monogram, 'CVR', with crossed rifles with bayonets, surmounted by an Imperial Crown, with a bugle horn below and a scroll below bearing the motto, 'Defence Not Defiance'.

The Calcutta Volunteer Rifles Corps was auxiliary infantry unit formed in 1863. It was reconstituted in March 1898 as the 1st Battalion Calcutta Volunteer Rifles and became the 5th Calcutta Battalion in 1917.

From the Field Marshal Sir John Chapple Indian Army Collection.