Formation Badge and Cap Badge

[Rockford]

Hi,

I have a picture of my father-in-law's great (great) uncle, from which I am trying to identify his regiment and the formation badge on his arm. I know nothing of him, other than his name - John Bennet. I have been told on another site that he is wearing a 1915 Economy Pattern tunic and is likely to be from a Kitchener Battalion, due to the belt. Any other information greatly appreciated.

This is the formation badge:

I understand the stripes would have been red and signified an infantry soldier - is this correct?

This is the cap badge - apologies for the 'fuzziness', as it's the best I can do:

I think likely candidate could be HLI, as the family lived in Glasgow and some of my own family from Glasgow served with the HLI. Other suggestions could be Royal Scots or a Black Watch Battalion.

This the full photo:

[deleted]

Best wishes

Brian

[trenchtrotter]

32nd Div, 15 or 17 HLI?

TT

[Grovetown]

32nd Div, 15 or 17 HLI?

TT

16th or 17th. According to Waring, 15th was a red diamond.

Best wishes,

GT.

[MBrockway]

If this division is following the same system as the 20th (Light) Division that we've been talking about recently, then the three horizontal bars would suggest he belongs to the battalion ranked third in Army List seniority amongst the battalions within the Brigade signified by the Circle ... at the time of wearing.

I have no expertise to be able to confirm which division used the pale coloured brigade shape worn here, but I understand all the brigade shape symbols in 32nd Division were coloured red, which supports TT's suggestion

15 and 17 HLI were both in 97th Brigade in 32nd Division, but because other battalions in the brigade came and went, they changed their position in the seniority sequence, so probably also changed the number of horizontal bars they wore.

From a bit of head scratching with the orbat for 97th Bde, it looks like the third ranked battalion was successively as follows:

Dec 1915 - Jan 1916: 15/HLI

Jan 1916 - Feb 1918: 16/HLI

May 1918 - Armistice: 10/A&SH

Since flashes in general seem to only date back as far as mid 1916, perhaps 16/HLI are the best bet.

Pure speculation from me really though Pals! What do you think?

[Edit: this theorising crossed "in the post" with GT's more definitive answer - LOL!]

Cheers,

Mark

[Rockford]

Hi,

After TT's suggestion that it was HLI - I've just taken out a PAYG sub with A*****y and after an hour's searching there and on ScotlandsPeople.....

I now believe he is John B. Bennet, Private 14915, Highland Light Infantry [16th battalion - thanks guys! - which a website seems to indicate was formed from members and former members of the Boy's Brigade as the 16th (Service) (2nd Glasgow) Battalion.] He enlisted on 10th October 1914 when he would have been 22, and was discharged on 3rd January 1919 under Para 392 XVI KR, which I understand means he was considered as no longer physically fit for active service - he survived the war and died in 1973.

I have also confirmed that he is my father-in-law's great-great uncle - i.e. his grandmother's uncle, not his mother's uncle as we had first thought from the description on the back of the photo.

His medal card states 'Action Taken: List D/A/678' - would this be an SWB list?

The photo below seems to have been taken a training camp, presumably sometime in late 1914/early 1915, which I thought you may find of interest.

Thank you for setting me on the right path!

Best wishes

Brian

[trenchtrotter]

Just got my copy of "History of 16th HLI" by Chalmers out. Front cover shows a circle above three horizontal bars...therefore I think def 16th!

TT

[tocemma]

Brian,

Great picture. Thanks for posting. The use of a backing cloth with pre-applied patches is not too common, so nice to see another example.

Kind regards

Tocemma

[Guest alistairstark]

I have been researching family history when I came across this discussion.

I am 99% certain that this is my grandfather, as the details already unearthed ring true. A copy of the first photograph posted by Rockford is in my mother's possession.

All I can add is that he was taken prisoner at some point. He escaped, but was quickly recaptured - he talked of people shouting "gefangen" - and I believe that he remained incarcerated for the remainder of WW1.

[FROGSMILE]

Hi,

After TT's suggestion that it was HLI - I've just taken out a PAYG sub with A*****y and after an hour's searching there and on ScotlandsPeople.....

I now believe he is John B. Bennet, Private 14915, Highland Light Infantry [16th battalion - thanks guys! - which a website seems to indicate was formed from members and former members of the Boy's Brigade as the 16th (Service) (2nd Glasgow) Battalion.] He enlisted on 10th October 1914 when he would have been 22, and was discharged on 3rd January 1919 under Para 392 XVI KR, which I understand means he was considered as no longer physically fit for active service - he survived the war and died in 1973.

I have also confirmed that he is my father-in-law's great-great uncle - i.e. his grandmother's uncle, not his mother's uncle as we had first thought from the description on the back of the photo.

His medal card states 'Action Taken: List D/A/678' - would this be an SWB list?

The photo below seems to have been taken a training camp, presumably sometime in late 1914/early 1915, which I thought you may find of interest.

Thank you for setting me on the right path!

Best wishes

Brian

Definitely late 1914/early 1915 I think, and interesting that the only clothing of Kitchener Blue that they have been issued is a Field Service Cap!

[Rockford]

...I am 99% certain that this is my grandfather, as the details already unearthed ring true.

Hi Whiteliner,

Please accept my apologies for the delay in replying to your post. I haven't really been working on my family history for a long time and only came across your post by chance today. It is good to hear from you.

My wife's family descends from John's elder brother James Campbell Bennet (1885 - 1971). I don't have any photos of James and the two photos posted above are the only two photographs I have of John, which came from my wife's grandmother. I do have a copy of another photo of S/Lt R T Bennet RNVR, who I think is John's son, which I think was taken during WW2. If you would like a copy, please let me know.

Best wishes

Rockford

[Guest alistairstark]

Hello Rockford,

This is still looking good, EXCEPT that the person shown in your original post (8 Feb 2010) does not really look like my grandfather! All the biographical details are correct.

I have quite a lot of information on the Bennet family ancestry and some more photos - unfortunately none of James (I have a mental picture of him, but that's not quite the same). If you care to contact me at mail@agstark.co.uk quoting the maiden name of James' wife for positive identification, I'd be happy to carry on this exchange privately.

Whiteliner

[Rockford]

Hi,

Thanks for getting back in touch! Will email you tomorrow with more information.

Best wishes

Brian