Quote Originally Posted by Moosehead
Quite right, Todd. But he may be credited with this particular hue. Seems he toured Ireland and came upon a school in the Aran Islands, where boys wore "kilts", although pleated all the way around. The colour was quite similar to what he used, but was apparently uglier, so he changed it somewhat to make it a little more palatable.
That presents a very interesting question, then: was the British Army aware of the originator of their particular shade of saffron was the leader of the Easter Rebellion?

The Irish Regiments had adopted some Irish Nationalist symbols, such as a the Shamrock and Harp, with a crown added, of course, to make it "politically correct", for lack of a better term -- although Lord Kitchner refused to allow the 16th (Irish) Division a Green "Harp Flag" during their service in WWI because of its Nationalist associations. Ironically, John Redmond's moderate Volunteer forces used the Green Harp flag, and it was the association with the Redmondites that caused it to fall out of favour with the more radical Irish Republicans, who later adopted the Tricolour.

Interesting to think about, though...

T.