Background
The 1st Battalion The Royal Ulster Rifles, initially known as the 83rd Regiment of Foot, was formed in Dublin in 1793. The 1st Battalion of this Regiment was initially employed on colonial postings in Jamaica and South Africa, but with the Napoleonic threat of that era, a 2nd Battalion was raised and saw extensive service during the Peninsular War, against the French in Portugal and Spain, from 1809 to 1814. Thereafter, the 83rd Regiment of Foot was employed in a series of home and colonial postings, their next great test coming with the Indian Mutiny in 1857. In 1881, the Regiment was renamed the 1st Battalion The Royal Irish Rifles, becoming the Royal Ulster Rifles in 1921 after the division of the country.