VINTAGE SILVER ROYAL INTELLIGENCE CORPS CAP BADGE
Christine Alexander Fine Jewellery
Very nice original cap badge issued to Royal Intelligence Corps officers. Silver and enamel with the original pin on the back. I'm not certain of the age as I can't quite make out the maker's mark.
The Intelligence Corps (Int Corps) is a corps of the British Army. It is responsible for gathering, analysing and disseminating military intelligence and also for counter-intelligence and security. In the 19th century, British intelligence work was undertaken by the Intelligence Department of the War Office. Although the first proposals to create an intelligence corps came in 1905, the first Intelligence Corps was formed in August 1914 and originally included only officers and their servants.
During the Irish War of Independence, Intelligence Corps operatives were used in an unsuccessful battle to defeat the Irish Republican Army. The Cairo Gang were overwhelmingly Intelligence Corps operatives. On Bloody Sunday, 1920, twelve of these agents were assassinated at their lodgings by Michael Collins' Squad. Due to this and similar failures, the Intelligence Corps was disbanded in 1929.
On 19 July 1940, a new Intelligence Corps was created by Army Order 112 and has existed since that time. Many members of the Intelligence Corps served in Northern Ireland during "the Troubles".
Intelligence Corps personnel wear a distinctive cypress green beret with a cap badge consisting of a union rose (a red rose with a white centre) between two laurel branches and surmounted by a crown. (According to the late Gavin Lyall, the Intelligence Corps cap badge is referred to jokingly as "a rampant pansy resting on its laurels".) Their motto is Manui Dat Cognitio Vires ("Knowledge gives Strength to the Arm"). Due to the colour of the beret, Intelligence Corps personnel are often referred to as 'Green Slime' by fellow soldiers.