Mid-Kent Volunteers 1914: arm-bands and cuff insiginia

[Moonraker]

The Daily Telegraph, October 12, had a feature on the Great War which included a photo of the 1st Mid-Kent Volunteers leaving Tunbridge Wells in 1914:

see here

What's the significance of the officers and men wearing arm-bands?And the officers' cuffs display unusual (to me, anyway) rank insignia. Comments invited.

Moonraker

[Lancashire Fusilier]

Moonraker,

The armbands are probably ' mourning armbands ', I am more intrigued by the officer's cuff rank insignia which appears to be made up of a ' multi-star pattern ' ? unlike anything I have seen before, unless it is the camera playing tricks due to the officers swinging arms ?

Hopefully, someone will know and explain.

Regards,

LF

[pbrydon]

Definately not on their way to the front. The VTC had their own system of ranks,the insignia being worn on the cuff- see attached from Volunteer Training Corps Gazette 22/1/1916.

P.B.

[Sepoy]

They are all wearing the standard VTC arm band (standard part of their uniform) - GR in black on a red background. Hence their nickname "Gorgeous Recks" taking the micky out of their average ages.....

Sepoy

[Peter Zieminski]

Any chance of a larger image of the insignia photo or is there a way to enlarge it without losing the detail?- It's probably just me but I can't read it.

[Lancashire Fusilier]

They are all wearing the standard VTC arm band (standard part of their uniform) - GR in black on a red background. Hence their nickname "Gorgeous Recks" taking the micky out of their average ages.....

Sepoy

Sepoy,

You are correct regarding the VTC armband, however, the colour red usually shows up much lighter in a black and white photograph, and you should be able to make out the ' GR ' on the armband. In Moonraker's photograph, the armbands look to be ' black ' rather than ' red with a black GR ' indicating probably a mourning armband.

I have posted some photographs of the first and second pattern VTC armlets/brassards.

Regards,

LF

[Lancashire Fusilier]

I hope Mooraker will not mind me posting his photograph for easier viewing reference, and following on from P.B.'s identification of their being VTCs, I was able to find a chart ( copy attached ) with clearer images of the VTC cuff rank insignia, and again, it may be due to the blurred images of the leading officers cuff rank insignia, but I can see nothing on the VTC insignia chart that matches the cuff rank insignia in the photo.

I found an Article written on the Kent VTC., part of which gives the following information :-

" By March 1915 there were some 48 VTC units in Kent ( some known as the ' Kent Volunteer Fencibles ' or ' KVF ' ) made up of men wishing to ' do their bit ', but were ineligible to join up due to their age or for health reasons. Lord Harris administered the Kent regiment, which was formed into a number of battalions; each formed of between 4 and 6 companies. A company comprised of 240-300 men. Each company was formed from 4 platoons ( a platoon was about 60 men ) and each platoon was broken down into 4 sections. By October 1915, the Kent force was said to consist of some 10,000 members. "

With regard to the armband/brassard shown in the photograph it is probably a black ' mourning ' armband, as they may have been mourning the death of a member, for example, I noted that in 1915, a former Kent VTC Commandant had been killed overseas.

However, the VTC did have an ' official ' armlet/brassard, not shown in the photograph, which consisted of a red felt armlet with the black letters ' GR ' for Georgius Rex ( King George ) affixed to the armlet, such initials leading the force being also known as ' Grandpa's Regiment ' and ' Genuine Relics '. The reverse of the armlet was numbered and marked with the Volunteer's name, and stamped with the unit's designation. The armlet was secured by a buckle fitting ( photograph attached ).

Whilst initially there was no government grant for VTC uniforms and equipment, with the members providing their own, in September 1916 VTC battalions were issued with 200 sets of Pattern 1914 Infantry Equipment, and in the same month, the Central Association VTC was renamed the Central Association of Volunteer Regiments.

In October 1916, the War Office announced new badges of rank, cap badges and shoulder titles to be worn by the Volunteer Force, in place of the then current VTC insignia, which would be the same badges of rank for officers and men as those worn by the Regular Army. All ranks were to wear the Royal Coat of Arms as their cap badge, with the officers having the letter ' V ' in place of collar badges ( photo of VTC officer attached ). Other ranks would wear shoulder titles bearing the name of the Lieutenancy ( County ) with the letter ' V ' above.

In late December it was announced that officers in the Volunteer Force were to wear the Service Dress uniform, similar to that worn by the Regular and Territorial Force. NCOs and men were to wear the other ranks Service Dress uniform, but made from a special cheaper, lower grade pattern of cloth known as ' Serge, Volunteer Force '. This being a wartime economy, as the lower and cheaper grade of cloth was acceptable, being that the Volunteers did not generally wear their uniforms on a regular daily basis.

In January 1917, a new pattern of Volunteer Force armlet was introduced, being made from drab serge material, with a crown and the affixed red letters ' GR ' ( photograph attached ). The new armlet having a button fixing rather than the previous buckle fitting.

The Volunteer Force was finally disbanded in October 1920, although the Motor Battalions were retained until 1921. Service in the Volunteer Force did not count towards the award of medals, instead members were issued with a certificate ( copy attached ).

Some information and the photographs are from J. Bodworth's excellent book on WW1 uniforms.

LF

[Lancashire Fusilier]

Post October 1916 VTC uniforms for both officers and men.

LF

[Lancashire Fusilier]

VTC second pattern armlet and cap badge.

LF

[Lancashire Fusilier]

VF Certificate of Service.

LF

[pbrydon]

It wasnt a suggestion.

P.B.

[Lancashire Fusilier]

It wasnt a suggestion.

P.B.

Accepted and edited, also looking again at the officer in post #7, the ' Austrian ' lace pattern on his cuff insignia does look similar to that in the original photograph, and the multi-star effect is probably due to the blurring of the image caused by the officer's swinging arms.

The officers are probably a Regimental Commandant or Commandant ( left ) and a Sub-Commandant ( right )

LF

[Peter Zieminski]

LF - Many thanks for posting the enlarged and additional images and information.

[Lancashire Fusilier]

LF - Many thanks for posting the enlarged and additional images and information.

My pleasure.

Regards,

LF

[Moonraker]

I hope Mooraker will not mind me posting his photograph for easier viewing reference...

LF

Not at all. It would have taken me a while to work out how to isolate the photo from the main article, if that indeed is what you did, Fusilier. In fact a Google search led me to the GetttyImages website, where the photograph is captioned much as in theDaily Telegraph, save that the date was "c1914". Its publication in theTelegraph appears to have inspired someone to add it to this, ahem, somewhat eclectic collection of photos, which may distract some of you:

See post 1127 on this website.

(Seriously: some of us may tolerate some of the other images, but one post you may scroll through on the way to 1127 contains offensive language.)

Thanks for all the comments so far - very interesting. Perhaps I should have researched the Mid-Kent Volunteers on-line before making my OP.

Moonraker

[Lancashire Fusilier]

Thanks for all the comments so far - very interesting. Perhaps I should have researched the Mid-Kent Volunteers on-line before making my OP.

Moonraker

I am sure there would be great research project on the VTCs.

Regards,

LF