Green Linnets (Ireland)
The Green Linnets, also the Green Boys of Dublin was a regiment raised in Ireland which embarked in March 1781 from Poolbeg, Dublin to Jamaica to serve in the American Revolutionary War. The nicknames came from the colour of their coats. In popular memory those enlisted were betrayed after being promised their service would be confined to Ireland. The regiment was remembered in 1793 when the Irish Militia was reformed, leading to civil disturbance from potential conscripts who feared a similar breach of promise not to serve overseas in the Napoleonic Wars. John Doyle said in the Irish House of Commons that year:
In 1796 in Paris, Wolfe Tone called the Légion Noire about to try an invasion of Great Britain "sad blackguards" who reminded him of the "Green Boys of Dublin". The green linnet was a symbol in several later Irish nationalist ballads, in turn providing the name for Green Linnet Records.
