Named Colonels battledress blouse for £10

[The Boy In Battle Dress]

Ok, I finally got it in the post, and I'm feeling pretty good about this one. After taking some pictures and zooming in on the label which is weirdly placed in a sort of extra pocket seen into the pocket lining itself. I can definitely make out a hand written date of ??/10/39 and also the promised colonels initials. I can make out 'Col.C.M.B???' And also what looks like a service number. And there are also a few traces of printed black text on the top of the label which I cannot make out. It definitely feels like the right quality also. It has been lined with a sort of soft silky material on parts inside the pockets and Button holes. And looks to show its age as it has been repaired. I do not know wether the buttons are war Time, but all of them apart from the ones holding the epaulets are made from a hard rubber material, and have a design printed on them, there is also possibly a makers name printed on the back of them, which psd only suggest this is made bespoke. The epaulet fasteners are made of bakerlight I think with metal pin like things holding them in place. The epaulets themselves have a few holes where insignia has unfortunately been removed. Those ate all the signs i can see to suggest this could possibly be an early war example. Could anybody help me out with this one as I'm a bit stuck. Also does anybody know the pattern name of this type of BattleDress blouse as I can't seem to find much information on them

Thanks Stan

[Jerry B]

Looks good, a private purchase version from the details and the label says 39 as you mention and the shoulder strap buttons are the early revolving shank type. A great pick up for the price, well done. A shame you can't read the name and as it is missing its insignia that you can't tell who he was colonel of, still very cool IMHO.

[The Boy In Battle Dress]

Yeah, I'm extremely happy with it as this is my first WW2 dated BD. as its dated not long after the start of the Second World War, I thought with a bit of research I might be able to find a bit out busing the initials. But even so I'm over the moon with this one

[Adrian Stevenson]

Try and do a bit of photoshop work on the label pic. Try it in negative, adjust the tones, etc. Sometimes it can make things readable.

Great buy!

Cheers, Ade.

[The Boy In Battle Dress]

Good idea, I played around with zooming right in and trying to make out the Letters individually But I didn't get very far, but I think if I play around with some diffrent techniques I might be able to make it out, which hopefully can give me an indication of what he was colonel of. Ill give your technique a try and post my findings

[The Boy In Battle Dress]

I played around for a bit on photoshop as you said and it helped dramatically i tried playing around with some of the tones contrasts etc, but not a lot happened. but then i tried inverting the colours and its worked a treat, im pretty rubbish at reading peoples hand writing let alone when its 70 odd years old. but for the name i came up with these two possibilities (Col.C.M.Bullivant) or (O.M Bullivant) but the rest is showing up pretty clearly. the date is showing through nicely and i can see 31.10.39 and something written above it and then on the left side above the name there is what looks like Some Army numbers ?, and abouve that a (W.). as i say im pretty rubbish at reading old handwriting like this. so if anybody can read it let me know what you think. im also not sure what the numbers are there for and the writing above the date are a mystery to me. But its coming along nicely
Thanks Stan

[thorne83]

Hi Stan,

looks like it'll be:

Otho Munton Bullivant, born 1905, commissioned into the 3rd Hussars on 6th July 1925. He reached Major by Aug 1943, at which time he was still serving with the 3rd Hussars. Died December 1983.


Hope that is of interest.

Cheers, Tom

[The Boy In Battle Dress]

That's really helpful, thanks for the Great information. So if its him, if I'm correct weren't the 3rd Hussars garrisoned in Egypt before the war ?.

Thanks Stan

[Jerry B]

Though odd if he was a Colonel in 39?

[The Boy In Battle Dress]

Ok I spoke to the person I bought the jacket from, and asked them iftheynew anything. Turns out they bought the jacket as one of two in an auction, the other jacket having the same name in it. He then told me it was his Standard BD blouse, do I asked if it had any insignia Medals etc that might help me with my research. He replied "The insignia on the remaining uniform has an OBE medal ribbon and, like you said, the North Africa star ribbon. There is also an Italy star ribbon (most of the 3rd Hussars served in Italy 44-45, think the rest went to East) and the usual 39-45 star/war medal/defence medal etc. Nothing to suggest Unit insignia except some stray stitches.". Obviously when he said this I asked if they would consider selling it at any point. But unfortunately they run a Museum in Bulford and it's part of the permanent collection. Soi thanked him for the information and he said he will try to do some digging on his side. A few days later I get an email from him saying some more info just came in about otto, from Queens own hussars regt museum. Although Sadly this Museum does not have individual service records. But the museum told him the following " From our own records I can tell you that Otto held a regular army commission in the 3rd Hussars and is first mentioned in the Regimental journal as a 2nd lieutenant in 1930 at a time when the Hussars were still a cavalry regiment with horses. He became the adjutant ( or executive officer) of the 3rd just before ww11 when they converted to the light MK V1b tank but without the service record I am not able to track his service during the war – I think he may have been based as a training officer at Bovington for at least some of the time – but I cannot be sure. In any event I know that he was one of the few original 3rd Hussar officers to have survived the war as he features frequently in the Regimental Journal as attending Old Comrades events. He was an expert horseman and competed in several major events including appearances at Olympia.". Which is absolutely great and we where bothed pretty chuffed with all that information. So that's as far as we've gotten