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Remembered Today:

Suffolk Regiment


iristaylor

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Could someone please identify this uniform which I am sure is WW1 .  It is the Suffolk Regiment.  I am unfamiliar with the helmut and the design on the sleeves - in fact the whole uniform?

 

Many thanks for your help.

 

iris

 

 

IMG_1476.jpg

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Victorian pattern crown on the helmet plate and belt buckle plus the style of the photo put the date well before WW1.

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He is a part-time, citizen soldier member of a Volunteer Battalion (VB) of the Suffolk Regiment some time between 1883 and 1900, when the design of the Gibraltar castle that forms his Insignia changed to include 3 turrets rather than 2.  Originally entirely independent of the Regular Army regiments and known as Volunteer Rifle Corps (VRC), it was announced in July 1881 that they would, over the next few years, be aligned with their newly formed (also in 1881) Regular local regiment that now had a so-called ‘Territorial’ (actually often of a County) title, as opposed to the previous number indicating precedence (i.e. seniority - the Suffolk’s had been the 12th Regiment).  

 

As Rifle Volunteers, many of these part-time units of citizen soldiers wore either dark, ‘rifle green’ or grey uniforms, with only a few wearing scarlet.  It is clear that this Suffolk Regt unit is one that wore grey, with coloured collar and cuffs (known as ‘facings’).  

 

A unifying feature of all volunteer units, that marked them as separate from regulars within the parent regiment, was the distinctive ‘Austrian knot’ decoration that you can see on the cuffs of the tunic. A Queen Victoria crown on the (also grey) helmet suggests a date before 1902, probably around the time of the 2nd Boer War (1899-1902) when being seen in uniform was especially popular and applauded.  The regulars of the Suffolk’s (2 battalions) were aligned with a total of 4 Volunteer Battalions.  

 

Perhaps the unit shown is the Cambridge University Battalion (that County had not been allocated a regular regiment and so Suffolk became a proxy), who were famously grey clad with mid blue facings.

Edited by FROGSMILE
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3 hours ago, iristaylor said:

Could someone please identify this uniform which I am sure is WW1 .  It is the Suffolk Regiment.  I am unfamiliar with the helmut and the design on the sleeves - in fact the whole uniform?

 

Many thanks for your help.

 

iris

 

 

IMG_1476.jpg

The helmet is a cork/pith helmet referred to as the home service helmet...a more elaborate parade version of the plain khaki foreign service helmet associated with both the Zulu and the later boer war.

 

Dave.

 

 

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On 2/18/2018 at 11:18, iristaylor said:

Thank you both very much - this is great information although I am not now entirely sure who this chap is!!

 

If it helps, Sue, the 2nd Volunteer Battalion wore grey with red facings (1st VB had Rifle Green), and I think he is more likely from that unit than the Cambridge University Battalion.  

 

The 2nd VB was formed in 1887 (it took that long to convert some units from VRC) and had its HQ in Bury St Edmunds from 1899.  In 1908, further major reform that created the Territorial Force led to the unit being re-titled as 5th (TF) Battalion the Suffolk Regiment.

The eight companies of the 2nd VB were located as follows in 1900:

 

A - Stowmarket.

B - Eye.

C - Eye.

D - Sudbury.

E - Bury St Edmunds.

F - Bury St Edmunds.

G - Hadleigh.

H - Newmarket.

 

I hope this is useful in helping you trace your subject.

 

original (16).jpg

102-201451917210_original.jpg

phot2620.jpg

Suffolk VB PalmerBrothersAlternate.jpg

Edited by FROGSMILE
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Many thanks for all help.

 

Do we know if there are any records of these Suffolk men?  

 

Iris

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3 hours ago, iristaylor said:

Many thanks for all help.

 

Do we know if there are any records of these Suffolk men?  

 

Iris

 

As ‘volunteers’ were recruited and administered by their Counties most records are held in County or Regional libraries, but frequently with duplicate records held at the National Archives Office.  You should be looking for ‘Muster Rolls’ for the unit concerned.

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  • 5 months later...

Iris thanks for posting, a bit 9f regimental history there I wasn't yet aware of, my Gr Grandad joining for the Great War, I started there, then went back to it's beginnings for the upcoming civil war and am progressing along, it may be worth you contacting the regimental museum for the Suffolks, it's open most Wednesdays on a volunteer basis, the guy is very knowledgeable and friendly, happy to chat, someone will always answer the phone though, as its still a military HQ for the East Anglian Reg. But they will just refer you to the museum, it is open to the public if your not far, although I've not been yet, many of the archives are now in the Bury St Edmunds public records office, so you may get the more in depth info there, but certainly check with the museum first! 

Best Regards 

Martin 

 

http://www.suffolkregimentmuseum.co.uk

 

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  • 1 year later...

Help please.

 

Would anyone know if there are any photographs of 2nd Lieutenant WALTER HERBERT PACKARD of the 4th Territorial Battalion The Suffolk Regiment. Died 15 July 1916 Somme.

 

Any information would be gratefully received.

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51 minutes ago, PoohCorner said:

Help please.

 

Would anyone know if there are any photographs of 2nd Lieutenant WALTER HERBERT PACKARD of the 4th Territorial Battalion The Suffolk Regiment. Died 15 July 1916 Somme.

 

Any information would be gratefully received.

 

Welcome to the forum.

 

The addition information on his Commonwealth War Graves Commission webpage for Walter records that he was the " Son of Louisa Mary Packard, of Letheringsett, Holt, Norfolk, and the late Osborn Burgess Packard."

https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/807713/packard,-walter-herbert/

 

So your first port of call should be Picture Norfolk, the Norfolk Library Image Archive, which has a large collection of pictures of those who have fallen.

 

Their picture of him can be seen here: https://norfolk.spydus.co.uk/cgi-bin/spydus.exe/ENQ/PICNOR/BIBENQ?ENTRY=Packard&ENTRY_NAME=BS&ENTRY_TYPE=K&SEARCH_FORM=%2Fcgi-bin%2Fspydus.exe%2FMSGTRN%2FPICNOR%2FBSEARCH%3FHOMEPRMS%3DBSEARCHPARAMS&SORTS=SQL_REL_TITLE&CF=PICNOR&ISGLB=0&GQ=Packard

 

I haven't come across anything for him in the Norfolk Chronicle, one of the newspapers most likely to cover the Edingthorpe area but I don't have notes on that title between September and November 1916 so he could crop up then.

 

If you contact the moderators using the report post option they will be able to split this off into a new thread, where it may get more attention.

 

Hope that helps,

Peter

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A short biography appears in Du Ruvigny's Roll of Honour, but without a picture.

 

 

Steve.

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54 minutes ago, PRC said:

 

Welcome to the forum.

 

The addition information on his Commonwealth War Graves Commission webpage for Walter records that he was the " Son of Louisa Mary Packard, of Letheringsett, Holt, Norfolk, and the late Osborn Burgess Packard."

https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/807713/packard,-walter-herbert/

 

So your first port of call should be Picture Norfolk, the Norfolk Library Image Archive, which has a large collection of pictures of those who have fallen.

 

Their picture of him can be seen here: https://norfolk.spydus.co.uk/cgi-bin/spydus.exe/ENQ/PICNOR/BIBENQ?ENTRY=Packard&ENTRY_NAME=BS&ENTRY_TYPE=K&SEARCH_FORM=%2Fcgi-bin%2Fspydus.exe%2FMSGTRN%2FPICNOR%2FBSEARCH%3FHOMEPRMS%3DBSEARCHPARAMS&SORTS=SQL_REL_TITLE&CF=PICNOR&ISGLB=0&GQ=Packard

 

I haven't come across anything for him in the Norfolk Chronicle, one of the newspapers most likely to cover the Edingthorpe area but I don't have notes on that title between September and November 1916 so he could crop up then.

 

If you contact the moderators using the report post option they will be able to split this off into a new thread, where it may get more attention.

 

Hope that helps,

Peter

Thank you so much for your prompt attention.  Kind regards Valerie

 

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