high wood Posted 14 March , 2011 Share Posted 14 March , 2011 This is A L Pearce of No 1 Bungalow, Sinah Warren, Hayling Island, Hampshire. I am pretty confident that I have worked out who he was and what he did in the Great War but cannot identify this uniform which is from an earlier period. Can anyone please tell me what the uniform is? I thought that it might be RFA or RE due to the grenades on the collar but it might be a fusiliers regiment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piorun Posted 14 March , 2011 Share Posted 14 March , 2011 I would have said it was artillery. Antony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HarryBettsMCDCM Posted 14 March , 2011 Share Posted 14 March , 2011 The Grenades look like RF ones to me...{RA/RE have "UBIQUE" Scroll beneath & are smaller} Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
centurion Posted 14 March , 2011 Share Posted 14 March , 2011 A photo of men of the balloon company RE in 1896 shows grenades exactly as in the OP photo with no scrolls. The Austrian knots on the sleeves look more RE than the RA ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
high wood Posted 14 March , 2011 Author Share Posted 14 March , 2011 Does the stable belt tell us anything? I believe that the soldier, born in 1888, was Archibald Leon Pearce and may have served during the Great War. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FROGSMILE Posted 14 March , 2011 Share Posted 14 March , 2011 This is A L Pearce of No 1 Bungalow, Sinah Warren, Hayling Island, Hampshire. I am pretty confident that I have worked out who he was and what he did in the Great War but cannot identify this uniform which is from an earlier period. Can anyone please tell me what the uniform is? I thought that it might be RFA or RE due to the grenades on the collar but it might be a fusiliers regiment. He is a gunner of the RA wearing the girdle (a web belt horizontally striped in RA colours of red, yellow, and dark blue) that was introduced in 1904. It was secured by a leather 3 brass olivets and cord loops on the outside. The belt was worn in walking out dress and the head dress worn was initially the Brodrick cap and after 1905 the peaked forage cap. This dress was worn up until the withdrawal of full dress in 1914. The collar badge was a plain grenade until 1922 when it changed to the present design with a scroll UBIQUE affixed at the base. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FROGSMILE Posted 15 March , 2011 Share Posted 15 March , 2011 Walking Out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
high wood Posted 15 March , 2011 Author Share Posted 15 March , 2011 Frogsmile, thank you for the information which is pretty conclusive. Was the belt worn in this pattern by the RFA, RGA and territorial artillery? Given that the stable belt was introduced in 1904 the youngest that young Archie could be in the photograph is 16 which looks about right. Simon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FROGSMILE Posted 15 March , 2011 Share Posted 15 March , 2011 Frogsmile, thank you for the information which is pretty conclusive. Was the belt worn in this pattern by the RFA, RGA and territorial artillery? Given that the stable belt was introduced in 1904 the youngest that young Archie could be in the photograph is 16 which looks about right. Simon. It was worn by all branches (RHA, RFA, RGA) of the RA as part of their walking out dress until 1914, although it was optional (at personal expense) for territorials. It became a military fashion for mounted units and similar girdles were also worn by the ASC, Lancers and some yeomanry with a Lancer tradition. In design it was a forebear of the RA stable belt and was readopted as a belt (i.e. with the olivets and loops fastening) by the RA Band (only) in the 1970s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackblue Posted 15 March , 2011 Share Posted 15 March , 2011 Belt looks different colours than the example displayed with the photo appearing to have a central stripe and both outside stripes of the same colour. Wouldn't yellow come out lighter than navy and red in a black and white photo? Did they come in different patterns/colours or one belt for RFA/RGA/RHA? MICs have: Archibald R - Royal Garrison Artillery Archibald A - Royal Field Artillery 2 x Archibald L - Royal Berkshire Regiment/Labour Corps and Royal Welsh Fusiliers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
high wood Posted 15 March , 2011 Author Share Posted 15 March , 2011 Belt looks different colours than the example displayed with the photo appearing to have a central stripe and both outside stripes of the same colour. Wouldn't yellow come out lighter than navy and red in a black and white photo? Did they come in different patterns/colours or one belt for RFA/RGA/RHA? MICs have: Archibald R - Royal Garrison Artillery Archibald A - Royal Field Artillery 2 x Archibald L - Royal Berkshire Regiment/Labour Corps and Royal Welsh Fusiliers Thank you for that. I have ruled out the Royal Welsh Fusiliers soldier as he was Archibald Lewis Pearce, (later KiA). I haven't yet found out the Royal Berkshire WO II's middle name so I have more to do yet. Simon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FROGSMILE Posted 15 March , 2011 Share Posted 15 March , 2011 Thank you for that. I have ruled out the Royal Welsh Fusiliers soldier as he was Archibald Lewis Pearce, (later KiA). I haven't yet found out the Royal Berkshire WO II's middle name so I have more to do yet. Simon Simon, by way of comparison here is another gunner in the same walking out dress. Note the collar grenades (that later changed design to include a scroll), the cuff knots and RA girdle. He is wearing the Brodrick and the gun badge that was introduced in 1902 to go with that new design of cap. The RE wore a similar tunic (including cuff knots and shoulder cords) but with reversed colours (i.e. red tunics and blue collar (and cuffs) laced yellow), no collar badge and they never adopted a girdle, which was limited to RA, ASC, Lancers and some Yeomanry. They continued to wear the slade wallace belt instead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Upton Posted 15 March , 2011 Share Posted 15 March , 2011 Belt looks different colours than the example displayed with the photo appearing to have a central stripe and both outside stripes of the same colour. Wouldn't yellow come out lighter than navy and red in a black and white photo? No, or at least not at this time. The main film used was orthochromatic film, which renders certain light colours dark and other dark colours light. Blue is rendered light, but red and yellow dark. Hence the belt in the picture is perfectly right for how the artillery belt would appear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackblue Posted 16 March , 2011 Share Posted 16 March , 2011 Cheers Andrew. I see what you mean by FROGSMILE's second photo. I agree it is Artillery as outlined. Interestingly I note that the Tailor's Guide mentioned previously in another thread (shoulder boards etc.) has a section on Sashes and Girdles (Page 72). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
high wood Posted 16 March , 2011 Author Share Posted 16 March , 2011 FROGSMILE and everyone, thank you for your contributions to this thread. Simon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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