Collection: St Patrick's Collection

St. Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland, and Nigeria. He is credited with bringing Christianity to the island of Ireland and was probably responsible in part for the Christianisation of the Picts and Anglo-Saxons.

Patrick was born in Britain. When he was 16 years old, Irish raiders tore him from the villa of his father, Calpurnius, a deacon and minor local official, and carried Patrick into slavery in Ireland. He spent six bleak years there as a herdsman, during which time he turned with fervour to his faith. Upon dreaming that the ship in which he was to escape was ready, he fled his enslaver and found passage back to Britain.

Although across the island of Ireland, indeed the world, they have observed St. Patrick’s Day for centuries it wasn’t formally celebrated by the British Army until 1900, when HM Queen Victoria decreed the wearing of the shamrock as formal recognition of the bravery of her Irish soldiers during the Boer War.

On the 14th March 1900, Natal Army Orders issued an instruction: ‘Her Majesty the Queen is pleased to order that in future on Saint Patrick’s Day all ranks in Her Majesty’s Irish Regiments shall wear as a distinction a sprig of shamrock in their headdress to commemorate the gallantry of Her Irish soldiers during the recent battles in South Africa’.

The 17th March 1900 became the first occasion for Irish soldiers to wear their shamrock with pride.