msdt Posted 2 November , 2015 Share Posted 2 November , 2015 Recently acquired this 1903 - my first converted from an 1888 (the blade is dated Jan.1901, and the VR for Queen Victoria can just be made out). Decent blade, and nice scabbard also dated '01. The regimental markings are interesting. It has struck out ones for University College School OTC (Hampstead, London), and ones to 142 Company of the Royal Engineers. But is the RE mark WW1 or WW2? The implication is that the bayonet was called in from the UC OTC due to the needs of war, but was this pre-WW1? Did the RE carry 1903's during WW2? The marks are quite aged. Any thoughts much appreciated. Cheers, Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shippingsteel Posted 2 November , 2015 Share Posted 2 November , 2015 Hi Tony, I have a P1903 with a similar RE marking being 148 RE, with previous unit markings also crossed out ... there is a pattern developing here.! I recall that I found mine to be a WW1 marking with that particular RE Field Company only being raised during the war, arriving for the Somme battle. There is a useful listing of these Companies and their history on an RE website somewhere. I can't remember it off-hand but I will have a search for it. Your bayonet was converted at RSAF Enfield with that Enfield inspection marking found on the blade centre rib and the EFD stamping on the pommel. I also have a similar P1888 to P1903 conversion with those same markings in those locations, so they certainly followed patterns in how they operated. Cheers, S>S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msdt Posted 2 November , 2015 Author Share Posted 2 November , 2015 Hi S>S, Very interesting. Can you make out the crossed out marking on the RE bayonet? Cheers, Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shippingsteel Posted 2 November , 2015 Share Posted 2 November , 2015 No they completely obliterated the previous marking unfortunately. Note the low rack numbers on these RE bayonets ... company size units. Cheers, S>S PS. I looked for that website I mentioned but could only find a listing of War Diaries. Both 142 and 148 RE were Army Troop Companies raised in 1915. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trajan Posted 3 November , 2015 Share Posted 3 November , 2015 ... The regimental markings are interesting. It has struck out ones for University College School OTC (Hampstead, London), and ones to 142 Company of the Royal Engineers. ... That is a nice one! And logically then, as you say, the OTC markings are earlier as the RE ones are not defaced. Hi Tony, I have a P1903 with a similar RE marking being 148 RE, with previous unit markings also crossed out ... SS, pretty please, care to spell out those other markings on yours as Tony did for his? The photograph is not entirely clear enough for that. Trajan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msdt Posted 3 November , 2015 Author Share Posted 3 November , 2015 Just thought - one thing that probably confirms the 142 RE marking as WW1 is the lack of any re-issue marks on the blade. All the 1907's I have that I think are actually WW2 regimentally marked (well, 1930's really) have re-issue marks, immediately post WW1 and in the 30's. Cheers, Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trajan Posted 3 November , 2015 Share Posted 3 November , 2015 Just thought - one thing that probably confirms the 142 RE marking as WW1 is the lack of any re-issue marks on the blade. All the 1907's I have that I think are actually WW2 regimentally marked (well, 1930's really) have re-issue marks, immediately post WW1 and in the 30's. Cheers, Tony Good point and while I fully agree with the WW1 dating of your example on the basis of current evidence, beware on using an absence of 'reissue' markings as 'evidence' of date in use... IIRC then some of my listed examples of RAF P.1907 bayonets had no 're-issue' marks and the RAF marking has to be 1941+ when issued to the newly formed RAF Regiment... On the other hand, a fair few of them had ricassos that had been scrubbed clean, almost entirely so in one or two cases so that even the maker was hard to identify, so who knows what there might have been there! Trajan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msdt Posted 5 November , 2015 Author Share Posted 5 November , 2015 Have just made a new post of an example of a bayonet displaying the evidence of post WW1 service - and with a regiment that was only formed in 1919 so no disputes there - The Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment. Trajan, I wonder how RAF inspection procedures differed to those of the Army. Cheers, Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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