"120mm Dublin Volunteer" Topic

I've been working on a 120mm scale Dublin Volunteers drummer for a while. He was a figure specially commissioned by the Irish Model Soldier society to celebrate their 50th anniversary.

He took me long enough and I've been posting work in progress shots here, but you can finally see the finished product below.

link

Very impressive – would this unit have served in 1798, or is it from another time period?

I'm not sure to be honest. He would have served around that time certainly, but I couldn't say if they saw any action.

I've done some quick scouting about, there not also known as the Irish Volunteers are they? If not they seem quite elusive on the net. The only Dublin Volunteers I've found are a ww1 unit.

Mark Davies has a lot of info on British militia/ volunteer units. He might know something.

Thanks for the vote of confidence, but I wouldn't be too sure about that… ;o)

There are countless Volunteer units that appeared and disappeared throughout the period, many of them leaving almost no evidence of their existence beyond a brief entry in the Army List. A great many were disbanded with the Peace of Amiens and were not re-raised (or were re-raised with a different title, or new unit was raised with the same title as a previous unit… etc, etc… it's all deeply confusing).

I don't have much on Irish regiments, but I'll see what I can find when I get home. I'll also be able to have a look at your model then (blogs are blocked here)! :o)

From a quick Google, they certainly did exist:

They were raised during the AWI and rather unusually, remained in existence after the peace of 1783. The Rt. Hon. John Exshaw was Captain-Commandant from 1779 to 1798, when he resigned his commission to become Mayor of Dublin. One webpage gives the uniform of the 'Royal Dublin Volunteer Infantry' in 1803 as being a red coat, faced blue, with blue breeches and black gaiters. Be aware though that they possibly picked up the blue facings after being granted the 'Royal' prefix (this happened to a great many Volunteer corps in or around 1801) and the facings may therefore have been a different colour in 1798.