Interpreting Insignia & Patches 3

[hen190782]

Grumpy

Thank you very much for your input ... at least we know that he was artillery, which should help when Orangelil tries to match the man in the picture with one of the men on the Castleton RoH.

Nigel

[Andrew Upton]

I have now received a high res. scan, thank you. This is a tantalising one! I cannot even be sure if the badge is worsted or gilding metal, but favour the later. It just might be MG .......... there were two varieties of script, one plain jane capitals, one curly. If this is MG it is clearly the curly one, and the M is convincing. The G bothers me, it is much more like a 9 ....... the curly G is indeed like a nine with a gap on the right of the top of the letter, but there appears to be no gap. My eyes never were much good. Unless the badge is a unit artefact or private purchase, I suppose it has to be MG, however unlikely. This one goes in the "I don't think we will ever know" file!

I am pretty certain it is the worsted variety, if you look you can just make out an oval outline running around it which would match the cloth backing. The M is a very good match to the following badge, and given the variety of home made and privately purchased badges floating I can easily see some manufacturer make one with a somewhat non-standard G, or one where the gap is too small to be appreciable in a photo:

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[FROGSMILE]

So what is MG Asst Instr doing in the artillery?

Not a lot I hazard a guess.

I know of no badge in wreath that might legitimately be worn with the three chevrons and gun of a full sergeant RA.

Going through the list DURING THE WAR I stress:

L : yes, RA but not worn by senior ranks ........ a gun sergeant who was not layer qualified was unlikely to be real.

G: yes, RA but gunnery prize badge lower left, and hardly ever worn in the war.

LG HG MG: infantry and cavalry

R: rangetaker infantry

O: RA : observer but should be lower left and unlikely on a senior rank and the badge in question seems to have two letters.

QI: RE only

Which is not to say that he is not RA and not an MG instructor but it does make him a little unorthodox. As do the gloves, of course.

Army Order 480, dated 12 November 1914 and sanctioned in February 1915, approved the addition to each Division of a motor machine gun battery. They were designated to be units of the Royal Field Artillery and were collectively known as the Motor Machine Gun Service. Men were found from volunteers, or by special enlistment of men known to be actively interested in motorcycles (such as cycle club members). Such a man would fit with the concept of a gunner with a machine gun instructors badge who later returned to the RFA. The MMGS were absorbed by the MGC in 1916 and quite a number later went to the Tank Corps.