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British Artillery General’s Service Dress

Article about: I have done some research into the life and service of Charles St Maur Ingham. Much of this research was done using the vast resources of the internet, although some has come from my own sou

  1. #1

    Default British Artillery General’s Service Dress

    I thought I would show my latest find, and new project. I got this on eBay UK, reasonably cheaply, which does show that interesting items do turn up there, if you know what you are looking for.

    British Artillery General’s Service Dress

    It’s a British officer’s Service Dress Jacket, dated 1915, with Royal Artillery buttons and general officer’s collar tabs. This has turned out to have belonged to Brigadier-General Charles George St Maur Ingham CMG DSO, a long-serving and distinguished gunner, Old Etonian and Old Contemptible.

    British Artillery General’s Service DressBritish Artillery General’s Service Dress

    Physically, it is a fairly typical WWI jacket, in a heavy ribbed wool fabric with brown lining, long skirts and big lower pockets. Jackets of finer fabric and lighter weight jackets were certainly made, but this is a nice example of the hard-wearing type commonly worn in the field. It doesn’t feature the external waistband often seen on jackets of the period.

    British Artillery General’s Service Dress

    The label inside the pocket gives the original owner as Major C St Maur Ingham and a date of 14th October 1915. It was made by a very well known and reputable tailor, H Huntsman & Sons (now on Savile Row), who were recently featured in Lez's thread about a senior ATS officer: The Jewel in the Crown

    British Artillery General’s Service Dress

    The cuffs are plain, lacking the pointed decoration normally associated with SD jackets. Whether or not this was originally a cuff-rank style jacket, modified to shoulder rank, is hard to tell, particularly as he was only a Major for a very short time after the jacket was made. I suspect it probably was.

    I have done some basic research on General Ingham, using Ancestry, the London Gazette online, the Army List and the internet in general. So far I have discovered that he was born in London in 1873, attended Eton College (where he was a noted football goalkeeper), went on to the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, and was commissioned into the Royal Artillery in 1895. He served in the Second Boer War, initially with T Bty, Royal Horse Artillery, seeing action at Kimberley, Paardeberg, Dreifontein, Johannesburg, the battle of Diamond Hill and the Battle of Bergendal. He later transferred to a new 1-Pdr Maxim ‘Pom-Pom’ Gun unit of the Royal Field Artillery. He served throughout the war until its conclusion in 1902.

    He also served throughout the Great War, being mentioned in despatches no less than four times. He first saw action in 1914 as a Major in the XL Brigade RFA (3rd Division), and later, as a Lieutenant-Colonel, commanded LXXI Brigade RFA (15th (Scottish) Division). By 1918, he was appointed CRA (Commander Royal Artillery) of 15th Division, and held the rank of temporary Brigadier-General (the jacket being badged for this role). The Army Lists that I have confirm his promotion to Lt-Col in April 1916, and his appointment as temp Brig-Gen in 1918. After the war he commanded V Reserve Brigade, RFA before retiring in 1922. He died in 1936.

    British Artillery General’s Service DressBritish Artillery General’s Service Dress

    The jacket is definitely in need of some gentle restoration. It is missing it’s correct rank insignia (crossed baton/sword), and one of the buttons on the General Officer’s gorget patches is missing. The shoulder straps have holes for the rank insignia for Lieutenant-Colonel and Brigadier-General.

    British Artillery General’s Service Dress

    The complete gorget patch is a lovely example of the type, with worn gold embroidery and a gilt mounted button.

    It is also devoid of the medal ribbons that it must have had, which, to get correct period ribbons will take some time, but will be worth the effort. I have confirmed that he was entitled to the CMG, DSO, QSA, KSA, 1914 Star, BWM, Victory, MID leaf and, at the end of his ‘rack’, the French Legion of Honour, which he was gazetted with in 1919. I have to choose, of course, whether to put on all his ribbons, or just those he would have had at a certain time. I am very tempted to restore it to the period while he was CRA 15th Div, i.e. 1918. Finally, to complete it, I will also need to find a Divisional RA armband, which was a red band with a gun on it.

    British Artillery General’s Service DressBritish Artillery General’s Service Dress

    To see what the final result would look like I have temporarily added an original WWI armband for the CRE (Commander Royal Engineers) of 22nd Division (obviously, it has the RE grenade attached as opposed to a gun), a set of ribbons and a Sam Browne belt.

    Hope you all enjoy this item as much I do. I will post some of my research results for this piece next.

    Rob
    Last edited by Battery Command Post; 04-21-2012 at 05:46 AM.

  2. #2

    Default Re: British Artillery General’s Service Dress

    Extremely nice jacket, Rob.

    What a great find. Indeed, a 'gentle restoration' is all it needs.........!
    Regards,


    Steve.

  3. #3

    Default Re: British Artillery General’s Service Dress

    Very nice Rob and I look forward to seeing it restored. It just shows it's not all cack on ebay.
    Regards,

    Jerry

    Whatever its just an opinion.

  4. #4

    Default Re: British Artillery General’s Service Dress

    Thanks Steve and Jerry.

    I was very pleased with this little find indeed Ebay certainly does have some nice stuff on it, but like everywhere else, you have to sift through the 'cack'. This one was listed in the surplus militaria section, with a very poor photo and not very detailed description. I just spotted it by eye.

    Just on a mildly relevant side note, the term 'cack' or more usually 'khak', is actually the stem of the word 'khaki'. It's a Hindi word meaning dirt/muck, and khaki meaning the cloth has a dirty/shitty colour

    Rob

  5. #5

    Default Re: British Artillery General’s Service Dress

    Very nice indeed! Well scored!

    Cheers, Ade.
    Had good advice? Saved money? Why not become a Gold Club Member, just hit the green "Join WRF Club" tab at the top of the page and help support the forum!

  6. #6
    ?

    Default Re: British Artillery General’s Service Dress

    Excellent Rob , with it being a researchable piece it brings it to life !!
    The gates of hell were opened and we accepted the invitation to enter" 26/880 Lance Sgt, Edward Dyke. 26th Bn Northumberland Fusiliers , ( 3rd Tyneside Irish )

    1st July 1916

    Thought shall be the harder , heart the keener,
    Courage the greater as our strength faileth.
    Here lies our leader ,in the dust of his greatness.
    Who leaves him now , be damned forever.
    We who are old now shall not leave this Battle,
    But lie at his feet , in the dust with our leader

    House Carles at the Battle of Hastings

  7. #7

    Default Re: British Artillery General’s Service Dress

    Quote by Adrian Stevenson View Post
    Very nice indeed! Well scored!

    Cheers, Ade.
    Glad you liked it. Did you notice that he was in the 3rd Division artillery (40 Brigade) until around April 1916? It is possible that Ingham was your Grandad's battery commander.

    Rob

  8. #8

    Default Re: British Artillery General’s Service Dress

    Quote by Paul E View Post
    Excellent Rob , with it being a researchable piece it brings it to life !!
    It certainly does! I was planning to continue the thread with some of my researches on the man. It has all the qualities I like most in this hobby: it's a nice piece, it's very researchable and forms a project. Doesn't get any better than that

    Rob

  9. #9

    Default Re: British Artillery General’s Service Dress

    Hi Rob, ticks all the boxes for me too.

    I noticed the 3rd Div connection.

    Cheers, Ade.
    Had good advice? Saved money? Why not become a Gold Club Member, just hit the green "Join WRF Club" tab at the top of the page and help support the forum!

  10. #10

    Default Re: British Artillery General’s Service Dress

    Great items, waiting for the story!
    |<
    Always looking for Belgian Congo stuff!
    http://out-of-congo.eklablog.com/

    cheers
    |<ris

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