gordon92 Posted 1 November , 2014 Share Posted 1 November , 2014 Am trying to pinpoint the battalion of this Seaforth Highlander. Could one of our experts identify what I assume is a Division sign on his left shoulder? Thanks in anticipation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trenchtrotter Posted 1 November , 2014 Share Posted 1 November , 2014 According to the Osprey Men At Arms book on Battle Insignia it is the 2nd battalion and is in Mackenzie Tartan. TT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gordon92 Posted 1 November , 2014 Author Share Posted 1 November , 2014 According to the Osprey Men At Arms book on Battle Insignia it is the 2nd battalion and is in Mackenzie Tartan. TT I infer then that the shoulder insignia is that of the 4th Division. Thank you, very helpful. The main subject in the photo has one wound stripe, but the man on his right has four. Date of the photo is likely later in the War and not before 1916. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike_H Posted 2 November , 2014 Share Posted 2 November , 2014 G92, The tartan patch was a battalion identification, not divisional. The 2nd Seaforths adopted the patch in your photo in June 1916. In early 1917 units in the 4th Division began to wear a divisional sign, the silhouette of a ram's head, normally above any battalion sign on the sleeves. The colour of the Divisional sign varied to indicate brigade, green for 10th, yellow for 11th and red for 12th Brigades. M Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trenchtrotter Posted 2 November , 2014 Share Posted 2 November , 2014 Mike You are right however it was not inferred it was a div patch. Merely the id of the 2nd battalion placed it into 4th Div. it was always a battalion patch. I also believe they wore a large white C in the early part of the Somme 1916 battle. TT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gordon92 Posted 2 November , 2014 Author Share Posted 2 November , 2014 G92, The tartan patch was a battalion identification, not divisional. The 2nd Seaforths adopted the patch in your photo in June 1916. In early 1917 units in the 4th Division began to wear a divisional sign, the silhouette of a ram's head, normally above any battalion sign on the sleeves. The colour of the Divisional sign varied to indicate brigade, green for 10th, yellow for 11th and red for 12th Brigades. M Mike You are right however it was not inferred it was a div patch. Merely the id of the 2nd battalion placed it into 4th Div. it was always a battalion patch. I also believe they wore a large white C in the early part of the Somme 1916 battle. TT Thank you both for clearing up my mistaken inference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wmc Posted 22 December , 2014 Share Posted 22 December , 2014 Mike You are right however it was not inferred it was a div patch. Merely the id of the 2nd battalion placed it into 4th Div. it was always a battalion patch. I also believe they wore a large white C in the early part of the Somme 1916 battle. TT Some fantastic footage on YouTube of 2nd Seaforths at roll call with the aforementioned large white C on upper left arm. Put in search for footagefarm and the video should show up. Regards Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gordon92 Posted 22 December , 2014 Author Share Posted 22 December , 2014 Some fantastic footage on YouTube of 2nd Seaforths at roll call with the aforementioned large white C on upper left arm. Put in search for footagefarm and the video should show up. Regards Mike Could you provide a link? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wmc Posted 23 December , 2014 Share Posted 23 December , 2014 Could you provide a link? Good morning Gordon Was unable to post link (perhaps because I am using my phone). I have PM'd you and it appears to have been successfully pasted in the message. Merry Christmas Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
headgardener Posted 23 December , 2014 Share Posted 23 December , 2014 G92, The tartan patch was a battalion identification, not divisional. The 2nd Seaforths adopted the patch in your photo in June 1916. In early 1917 units in the 4th Division began to wear a divisional sign, the silhouette of a ram's head, normally above any battalion sign on the sleeves. The colour of the Divisional sign varied to indicate brigade, green for 10th, yellow for 11th and red for 12th Brigades. If you look very carefully at the photo in the OP you can see a rams head patch above the Battn patch on the shoulders of both men. It's perhaps more easily seen on the shoulder of the man just out of shot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Broomfield Posted 23 December , 2014 Share Posted 23 December , 2014 Well-spotted: there sure is! BTW, can anyone post the link to the movie footage referred-to above, please? (And I cannot recall the last time so many correct uses of "infer" appeared in one thread!). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seaforths Posted 23 December , 2014 Share Posted 23 December , 2014 Well-spotted: there sure is! BTW, can anyone post the link to the movie footage referred-to above, please? (And I cannot recall the last time so many correct uses of "infer" appeared in one thread!). Steven, if this link doesn't work, you could google 'footage farm seaforth somme', you should get a hit.Edit: It is clear that the link I am pasting is not appearing. As soon as I submit the post, it vanishes. Initially, I thought I'd forgotten to insert it but I tried again using the edit function and it just vanishes. Revert to Plan B and Google! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Broomfield Posted 23 December , 2014 Share Posted 23 December , 2014 Cheers - I'll give it a spin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gordon92 Posted 23 December , 2014 Author Share Posted 23 December , 2014 Here is the link (courtesy of wmc): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYEVKG1TvL0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Broomfield Posted 23 December , 2014 Share Posted 23 December , 2014 Thanks. Odd - some of it is from Malins' film, and I suspect the rest is off-cuts from same. Interesting though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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