The 5th Royal Irish Lancers

Memorabilia

Towards the end of the 19th Century the British Empire was celebrated in a number of different ways. The armed forces of the British empire and more specifically the regiments of the British Army were promoted in different ways in the form of toys, memorial postcards, silks and cigarette cards to name but a few. Almost all the regiments were represented in one form or another and the 5th Royal Irish Lancers were no exception.
The publishing company Rafael Tuck & Sons (who proudly stated that they were publishers to the King and Queen) printed some of the highest quality cards from the early 1900's until 1920. Among their many different subjects were oilette postcards representing the 5th Royal Irish Lancers. A set of comemorative postcards were printed depicting lancers in various scenes. Other companies also produced postcards depticting the 5th Royal Irish Lancers and a selection are shown below.

Commemorative cigarette cards were also issued by many of the tobacco companies in both Britian and America at the turn of the century. Originally cigarette packets were soft and need card inserts to stiffen the pack. It was decided to put commemorative designs on these cards which would serve two purposes - their intended purposes of stiffen cigarette packets and also giving smokers an incentive to collect these cards.
Cards commemorating the regiments of the British army were just one of the many series printed by cigarette companies and the 5th RIL had their own particular cards. Players Cigarettes, manufactured by the Imperial Tobacco Company produced a number of cards depicting the regiemtns uniform items such as the card displaying the 5th (Royal Irish) Lancers; Officer's Forage Cap c.1870 and various regimental badges. Uniforms were also a popular subject and companies such as Imperial Tobacco Comany (which was an amalgemation of small British tobacco companies set up to stave off American competition for the British tobacco market) who produced serveral attractive examples.

Toys were also produced depicting the 5th RIL in an attempt to capture the young child’s imagination and set of lancers was produced by the famous North East London company “Britains”. This company went to great lengths to recreate the correct colourings and insignia on their figures and a rather attractive set was produced depicting a set of lancers.

There were also several other forms of memorabilia depicting the 5th RIL and these came in the form of greetings cards, books, pamphlets and silks which were representations of the regiment’s emblem printed onto a square of silk.