British Cap Badges WWII?

[Jerry B]

The crown at top left is an officers rank insignia, the Leicestershire is an officers collar badge worn between 1902 and 1951, the RAMC is probably an officers cap badge as they are small in size.

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi R, the crown is a rank badge worn on the sleeve of Staff Sgt's etc. But as Jerry says could be a Majors rank crown.
The Leicesters is a collar dog as it is different to the cap badge.

The RAMC looks like a tarnished cap badge, as I don't think it is an Officers bronze collar dog or officers bronze cap badge? Can you show the back of this one please?

Cheers, Ade.

[jimpy]

Hi Hal
..... And the 7 mile snipers (Artillery) are the only ones in the British Army to wear a white lanyard on the left arm............... Why?......................... because they ran away from their guns, in the crimea........ not a lot of people know that

Hi John

Please get the facts right mate, the white lanyard story about running away from the guns in the Crimea is a load of rubbish and total myth! Ask my son, or any other gunner, past or present, and see what response you get, (I can guarantee it will not be very polite) BTW, he is a L/Bdr in the RHA

Regards etc
Ian D

AKA: Jimpy



ADDITION:

Having just spoken to my son, a L/Bdr in 1RHA, (thats Lance Corporal to non artillery types! LOL) he has just given me a brief run-down on a couple of things reference the above.

1: The white lanyard is a spare lanyard that is carried to enable the guns to be fired. It is white for the simple reason of being able to see it!

2: RHA traditionally wear "ball buttons" on their blues uniform so that if they were to run out of ammunition, the buttons could be removed and effectively used as shrapnel rounds.

[Jerry B]

The RAMC appears to be on lugs, so unlikely to be an OR's cap badge, possibly with a 2nd look it is an officers collar, as most osd cap badges would be on blades I think, certainly the one I have is, though the design is that used on the Cap badge as the collars are a bit different without the voiding between the wreath and the scroll on some versions. More likely to be an OSD collar badge, perhaps an early example as the pre 1914 version of the collars was a large size similar to the cap badge.

[John Brandon]

Actually I do know the real story, having done my time, it was after all a bit of banter between jock and I
Lanyards associated with dress came into use in the late 19th Century, when field guns, such as the 12 and 15 pounders, used ammunition which had fuzes set with a fuze key. The key was a simple device, and every man had one, attached to a lanyard worn around the neck. The key itself was kept in the breast pocket until needed. The lanyard would hanging loose and soon become dirty and for the day-to-day barrack routine it looked out of place on an otherwise smart uniform, so for peace time purposes, the lanyard was plaited, and blancoed white, to match the white bandolier and the white waist belt worn by the Gunners of the day.

Prior to the South African War, Gunners were issued with a steel folding hoof pick, carried on the saddle or in the knife. In about 1903 these were withdrawn and replaced with jack knives, which were carried in the left breast pocket of the Service Dress attached to a lanyard over the left shoulder. In the war years that followed, the lanyard could be used as an emergency firing lanyard for those guns which had a trigger firing mechanism, allowing the gunner to stand clear of the gun’s recoil.

About the time of the Great War, the lanyard was moved to the right shoulder, simply because of the difficult problem of trying to remove the knife from the pocket underneath the bandolier. By now the bandolier and belt, worn with the battle dress, had long ceased to be white, whilst the lanyard remained so.

The knife was removed in 1933 and then became a straight cord, worn purely as an ornamental item of dress. In 1955 it was, for a short time, re–introduced in the plaited style currently worn today.

[jimpy]

Actually I do know the real story, etc etc

.

Hi John.

Wasnt having a dig at you mate and it's good of you to put down on here what you have done.

Regards etc
Ian D

AKA: Jimpy

[Reibert]

Thx. a lot, mates !

I do only have this image, the badges belong to a collectors mate in Germany.

R.