The Harrow Rifles were formed in 1860 as part of the volunteer movement spreading across the country in response to French aggression on the continent. The Harrow Rifles were soon joined by a School Corps at the famous public school of the same name. The original Harrow Rifles would become part of the 5th Battallion, Middlesex Regiment in 1880, the name persisted however in the Harrow Rifles OTC which continues to this day as a Combined Cadet Force. The school’s website describes it as:

The School’s tri-service CCF contingent, the Harrow Rifle Corps, provides leadership development and an insight into military life for boys from the Remove year onwards. Instructed by senior cadets, activities include drill, basic military skills, climbing, swimming, canoeing, shooting, survival training, first aid, signals, fieldcraft, assault course, equestrianism and paintballing. An annual residential camp in Ministry Of Defence training areas also takes place.

The unit has its own cap badge which has remained largely unchanged since the nineteenth century and consists of a wreath with a pair of crossed arrows and a ribbon in the centre. At the top are the words ‘Harrow Rifles’ and the date of December 30th 1856 at the bottom:

The cap badge can be found in both bronze and white metal like this one. It is impossible to say when this badge dates from as the design does not seem to have ever been updated to staybrite anodised aluminium so this badge could date form anywhere in the last hundred years. The reverse of the badge has a pair of lugs to allow it to be worn on a cap or beret:

Again this does not really help with dating as they do not appear to have produced the badge with a slider.

Harrow Rifles provided many men to the armed forces during both World Wars and here we see a cadet wearing this cap badge from 1916: