Cap badge identification please

[Nepper]

I don't know anything about this chap other than he is from Burslem, Stoke on Trent but any id of the regiment would be appreciated.

[charlie2]

Royal Artillery, but for whatever reason the barrel of the gun is „missing“ in the photo.

Charlie

[Nepper]

14 minutes ago, charlie2 said:

Royal Artillery, but for whatever reason the barrel of the gun is „missing“ in the photo.

Charlie

Thanks

[CorporalPunishment]

1 hour ago, charlie2 said:

Royal Artillery, but for whatever reason the barrel of the gun is „missing“ in the photo.

Charlie

It looks like the cap badge has been seriously curved to fit the cap. This has put the end of the barrel and the rammer in the shade along with most of that side of the badge.  Pete.

[FROGSMILE]

Another vote for RFA/RHA (RGA possible but less likely). 

[lucycutler]

On ‎18‎/‎06‎/‎2019 at 19:52, FROGSMILE said:

Another vote for RFA/RHA (RGA possible but less likely). 

It looks like one of the Artilleries, but why RGA less likely than RHA or RFA?

[FROGSMILE]

2 hours ago, lucycutler said:

It looks like one of the Artilleries, but why RGA less likely than RHA or RFA?

 

Purely because statistically fewer RGA units wore the bandolier when compared with the RFA and RHA, who were horse drawn and mounted.  That is the received wisdom anyway and certainly was true pre-war as the RGA were wholly equipped as a dismounted corps.  All that said I cannot imagine what personal equipment they were given if not bandoliers, I doubt it would have been 08 web equipment.  I also understand that not every Gunner in the battery received a long-arm, there was instead a few issued ‘between’ a section.

Edited 20 June , 2019 by FROGSMILE

[lucycutler]

3 hours ago, FROGSMILE said:

 

Purely because statistically fewer RGA units wore the bandolier when compared with the RFA and RHA, who were horse drawn and mounted.  That is the received wisdom anyway and certainly was true pre-war as the RGA were wholly equipped as a dismounted corps.  All that said I cannot imagine what personal equipment they were given if not bandoliers, I doubt it would have been 08 web equipment.  I also understand that not every Gunner in the battery received a long-arm, there was instead a few issued ‘between’ a section.

 

Ok, I just wondered as I have this picture of my Grandad (Gunner, 245 Siege Battery RGA)

 

 

Edited 20 June , 2019 by lucycutler
addition to text

[FROGSMILE]

2 hours ago, lucycutler said:

 

Ok, I just wondered as I have this picture of my Grandad (Gunner, 245 Siege Battery RGA)

 

 

 

 

There are plenty of RGA gunners shown wearing the bandolier just like your GrandDad, Lucy, but the fact remains that unlike the other two parts of the artillery the RGA were categorised as dismounted troops and so not as a matter of routine issued with equipment intended for mounted troops.  I think that as the war went on sheer pragmatism meant that such lines of demarcation increasingly became blurred.

Edited 20 June , 2019 by FROGSMILE

[lucycutler]

37 minutes ago, FROGSMILE said:

 

There are plenty of RGA gunners shown wearing the bandolier just like your GrandDad, Lucy, but the fact remains that unlike the other two parts of the artillery the RGA were categorised as dismounted troops and so not as a matter of routine issued with equipment intended for mounted troops.  I think that as the war went on sheer pragmatism meant that such lines of demarcation increasingly became blurred.

Yes, that all makes sense. Also, the photo was taken at Prees Heath before he went to Flanders so is arguably a posed photo rather than an 'in the front line' sort of picture. 

[FROGSMILE]

4 minutes ago, lucycutler said:

Yes, that all makes sense. Also, the photo was taken at Prees Heath before he went to Flanders so is arguably a posed photo rather than an 'in the front line' sort of picture. 

 

Yes that seems likely.  The waist belt also comes from the 1903 Bandolier (aka ‘mounted infantry’) Equipment, so he clearly had access to a full set.  The bandolier was popular when walking out as it gave a rather ‘dashing’ appearance.

Edited 20 June , 2019 by FROGSMILE

[lucycutler]

12 minutes ago, FROGSMILE said:

 

  The bandolier was popular when walking out as it gave a rather ‘dashing’ appearance.

Can't disagree with that.  Grandad certainly looks dashing, to me at any rate! 

[FROGSMILE]

4 hours ago, lucycutler said:

Can't disagree with that.  Grandad certainly looks dashing, to me at any rate! 

 

To put it into perspective, imagine yourself in the largest Army that Britain ever put into the field.  Where a majority were wearing cotton web equipment and plodding around on foot, but a minority were wearing shiny leather equipment, slung diagonally across their chests reminiscent of an Officers Sam Browne and with an appearance similar to the dashing Imperial Yeomanry and Light Horse that epitomised Britain’s last war, in South Africa, and you can perhaps see why the bandolier was popular.