Badge with tiger, plumes, India

[daggers]

I am revisiting after a few years several badges/crests of regiments forming part of the frescoes in Liverpool Town Hall where there is also an extensive WW1 roll of honour.  

One badge features a tiger below the word INDIA, with a coronet and Prince of Wales plume above that.

Beneath is XIV, but the artist is known to have erred in his numbering and with his versions of heraldry.  My photo is not clear enough to post here.

can anyone please offer a view on what old regiment was intended?  Leicestershire (XVII) was suggested when I first tried this on the forum.

thanks,

Daggers

Edited 3 September , 2018 by daggers
Addition

[FROGSMILE]

It’s the 14th (later Prince of Wales’s Own, West Yorkshire) Regiment of Foot, Daggers.  The Royal Bengal Tiger was one of their proud honours.

 

Edited 4 September , 2018 by FROGSMILE

[daggers]

Thanks very much.  The artist had the numbering right, then, but left out the Hanover horse and  mottos.  Glad to have it right now.

D

[FROGSMILE]

7 minutes ago, daggers said:

Thanks very much.  The artist had the numbering right, then, but left out the Hanover horse and  mottos.  Glad to have it right now.

D

 

Pre -1881 the 14th Regt of Foot were associated with ‘Buckinghamshire’ and, as you can see from the regimental buttons, the Tiger badge was that with which they were most associated at that time.

[daggers]

More useful evidence.  Thanks again.

D

[FROGSMILE]

6 hours ago, daggers said:

More useful evidence.  Thanks again.

D

 

Glad to help.  Regimental Crests are important and often overlooked iconography and changed over the decades.  I enclose some for the 14th and you might spot one that your Liverpool artist perhaps used at the time.

[Tony cribb]

Morning Frogsmile ,

 

Im trying to find more info on the Shoulder strap badges worn by of the 14th foot 

 

Thanks in advance 

 

Tony C

 

[FROGSMILE]

On 23/04/2020 at 09:53, Tony cribb said:

Morning Frogsmile ,

 

Im trying to find more info on the Shoulder strap badges worn by of the 14th foot 

 

Thanks in advance 

 

Tony C

 

 

Tony they relate to the White Horse of the House of Hanover.  In the British Army’s history of iconography the white horse figures among the earliest devices and is especially widespread among the first 25 regiments of foot, as they were one of the early headdress badges.  They came to prominence on the richly embroidered cloth headgear known to uniform historians as the Mitre Cap, but more importantly were specifically awarded as a badge to be worn on regimental colours, as authorised by regulations issued under the auspices of the King.  
 

The cap and white horse relate to the reigns of the Hanoverian Kings, George’s 1st, 2nd and 3rd.  Many regiments received this honorary badge in relation to their performance in the battles under the reigns of the House of Hanover.  The emblem always came with the motto NEC ASPERA TERRENT (nor do difficulties deter).  The white horse and motto were specifically awarded to the 14th in 1765.

 

Concerning the wear of the horse as a shoulder strap badge by the 14th, this was not something authorised for other ranks by official regulations, but might perhaps have been adopted idiosyncratically by the regiment on a whim.  There were always periodic attempts to crack down on these unauthorised dress practices, but with regiments dispersed widely it was something difficult to control.
 

I do not know what period the badge was worn in such an unusual way, but they are possibly from officers bullion coatee epaulettes, as other regiments also sometimes wore emblems in such a way from 1826, through until the demise of the coatee after the Crimean War. The white horse badge was clearly especially important to the regiment because it became a common feature on various headdress insignia and, when a simplified regiment-wide cap badge was adopted, in 1898, it was the white horse with a title scroll beneath that was selected.
 

The 14th Regiment was especially lauded by King George III, along with two others (37th & 53rd), that performed so well in the Flanders campaign of 1793-1795 that together they became known as “The Fighting Brigade”.  The 14th regiments other two badges were The Royal Tiger for service in India 1807-1831, and The Prince of Wales’s Plume from 1876.  This sequence explains the gradual changes in design to the regimental crests referred to above.

NB.  Bear in mind that they might not be 14th/West Yorkshire Regiment badges at all.  An identical badge to that which you’ve shown is recorded as having been worn by the 3rd (King’s Own) Hussars and a similar badge (slightly different ground under horse) by the 6th Volunteer Battalion of the King’s (Liverpool) Regiment (page 52 of Churchill’s Infantry collar badges refers).

 

 

Edited 24 April , 2020 by FROGSMILE

[Tony cribb]

Frogsmile,

 

Many thanks again for such informative information, the 3rd Kings Own Hussars also wore similar  pattern of badges as collars for officers and as an NCO arm badge for ORS.

Also the motto was used by The Queens Own Hussars.

 

Tony C

 

[FROGSMILE]

21 minutes ago, Tony cribb said:

Frogsmile,

 

Many thanks again for such informative information, the 3rd Kings Own Hussars also wore similar  pattern of badges as collars for officers and as an NCO arm badge for ORS.

Also the motto was used by The Queens Own Hussars.

 

Tony C

 

 

Yes, that’s right Tony, the cap badges of the West York’s and 3rd Hussars were very similar.

You will see that I mentioned the collar badge at the bottom of my last post under “NB”.