7.7cm (3in) x 6cm (2.3in)
Silver and silvergilt. George III officer’s shoulder belt plate of the 23rd Foot, gilt oval plate with burnished gilt beaded border and cast with silver Prince of Wales’s feathers and motto ‘Ich Dein’ (I serve). Hallmarked London 1805. Reverse with single hook and two fastening studs.
In 1804, The Royal Welch Fusiliers raised a 2nd Battalion at Chester which was to take part in Sir John Moore’s Retreat to Corunna in 1809 and to become was the last British unit to be evacuated. It afterwards served in the Walcheren Expedition of that year, and later sent reinforcements to the 1st Battalion. Meanwhile, 1st Battalion, 23rd Foot served in the Hanover campaign (1805) and the attack on Copenhagen (1807), before deploying to the Peninsula in 1810. There, it fought at Albuera (1811), Badajoz (1811), Salamanca (1812), the Pyrenees (1813), Nivelle (1813) and Toulouse (1814). The following year, it took part in the Waterloo campaign (1815).