My beret was issued around 2005... so I will take some more snaps when I get home & there should be some difference's.. Cheers Terry.
I'm offering up this cap here in the hope that someone can identify its origins. I bought this with an other ranks' RA dress uniform - the owner was probably just using it for display. It arrived with a Norfolk Yeomanry badge on the front and a single gilt button attached, containing just a sphinx over Egypt.
My knowledge of dress uniform buttons is very limited so can anyone name the original unit from just this button? It seems originally sewn, very tightly embedded in the hat material. The Norfolk badge had a slider and was wedged into the front seam, but there are also two holes in the cap front from what I assume was from the original badge.
The inner lining is loose at the front and, when I peeked underneath, I noticed there was an old newspaper placed between it and the top of the cap. A few pieces of the paper were torn and loose - on them was printed a county cricket score. From the names of the batsmen (Woodhead, Heane, Nichols, Smith), and cross referencing their careers, I managed to make an educated guess that the hat was made in 1933! I felt quite pleased with myself after that.
Any further help about the unit would be appreciated. I'd really like to be able to replace the original front badge, missing gilt button and chin strap.
Matthew
Cap is for a major or lt. colonel of a line, non-royal infantry regiment. Construction seems to indicate it was made in the 30's or 40's.
Now, the list of possible regiments would include those that likely have the Sphinx in their badge.
They would include the Lincolns, Lancashire Fusiliers, South Wales Borderers, Glosters ( must have back badge also ), East Lancashire, Dorsets, South Lancs.,Essex, Northamptons, Manchester, York & Lancs, and, almost forgot, South Staffordshire.
None of my many uniform reference sources goes into any detail on visor cap side buttons, sadly.
Good luck with your search. It's a nice looking cap.
BobS
The books I have do not list officer buttons, only or's, though from those caps I have, it is not Glosters, nor SW Borderers or Dorsets or South Staffs
Regards,
Jerry
Whatever its just an opinion.
Thank you both for the quick and helpful replies. My own reference materials have next to nothing on officers' cap buttons, so I'm comforted a little knowing that I'm not the only one! I had found online a single example of a SWB dress button, with just the sphinx. But, from Jerry's expert Welsh view, it's not the Borderers.
So that leaves the Lincolns, Lancashire Fusiliers, East Lancashire, South Lancs., Essex, Northamptons, Manchester, York & Lancs. by the looks of it. I'll keep digging and if anyone else has opinions please do let me know.
If I can't find a definitive answer I might just try and fix it up to one of those possible regiments. I have relatives who served in the East Lancs., so maybe that would make a fitting choice. Now how on earth do I find a matching button? I wonder if it's possible to 3D print a second one and paint it gilt?
Matthew
It is a difficult subject, officer buttons, the brit badge forum has a button section and I am sure the answer would be found there.
Regards,
Jerry
Whatever its just an opinion.
I would be confident to say the Lancastrian Brigade. For two reasons.
First look at the scroll detail of the cap badge, compared to the later QLR badge, and second the cap construction style/materials look more 1960s than 1970s. Similarly the Worcestershire Regiment wore the Mercian Brigade badge on caps from 1958 to 1969. See the Worcestershire Militaria Museum website for some near identical caps (scroll down to the bottom of the page).
WORCESTERSHIRE MILITARIA MUSEUM - The Worcestershire Regiment.
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