1 Lancashire Fus

[roger]

One of my hobbies is painting white metal figures and my latest project is a 1/24 scale 1 Lancs Fus. (29th Div) by The Fusilier (whose website is http://www.thefusilier.demon.co.uk/ so you can see what I'm talking about!)

I'm quite happy with what insignia was worn apart from the patches that were worn on the back of the jacket beneath the collar.

The only ref. I have is in the Osprey book British Battle Insignia 1914-18. where it says "Battle patches in regimental colours were worn on the backs of jackets by all ranks of the Division, and these were worn in differing configurations to indicate the company of the wearer."

I understand they were triangular and the top half was the regimental colour and the bottom the company colour. Can anyone amplify on this and tell me what the various colours/ combinations were?

Cheers,

Roger.

[AndrewThornton]

The patch worn by 1st Lancashire Fusiliers was in fact a diamond, divided in half either horizontally or vertically (depending on the company) scarlet and primrose yellow - the regimental colours. I am not sure of the exact sequence for the individual companies but I think A Company's patch was divided vertically red (left) and primrose (right), so the others may have been B: Yellow (left) Red (Right); C: Red (Top) Yellow (Bottom) and D: Yellow (Top) Red (Bottom). You can see these patches very clearly in the well-known sequence of photographs taken of the battalion on the Somme in June/July 1916. A representation of the regiment's primrose yellow hackle (worn on the full-dress fusilier cap) was painted on the side of the helmet, and the 29th Division sign (red triangle) was worn on the upper sleeves of the tunic. Tin reflectors were attached to the backs of the packs worn by the men taking part in the assault on 1st July 1916 as an aid to identification from the air. These took the form of a triangle and these were attached with the point facing downwards. There is a representation of a member of 1/LF in another Osprey Book - The British Army 1914-1918 - but unfortunately the artist made an error in painting the 29th Division sign worn on the upper arms upside down!

Hope this helps.

[roger]

Thanks Andrew that is a great help. I've got the other Osprey you mentioned.

You have highlighted another query in your post. Were the tin ID plates painted or were they bare metal as these are depicted on the model?

Roger

[AndrewThornton]

Bare metal, as this would catch the sun's rays.

[roger]

Thanks very much Andrew your help is much appreciated.

Roger

[Mike_H]

Roger

This scheme worn by 1st Lancashire Fusiliers was illustrated by Mike Chappell, author of your Osprey book, in Military Illustrated No1 in June 1986. His details gave the position of the colours as follows:

A Company - red left (as Andrew describes)

B Company - red top

C Company - red bottom

D Company - red right

He also states that Regimental HQs wore their flash as a square, diagonally bisected top right to bottom left, yellow over red.

I'm afraid I don't know the source of his information but the C Company info seems correct as IWM photo Q744 captioned as men of C Company on 1/7/16 shows the flash worn with lighter half to the top.

I have been chasing information on this type of patch for years but have never found any contemporary information on the 1st L.F. scheme. Have details of the company flags carried at Gallipoli if you ever need it.

Mike_H

[Paul Reed]

The tin triangles were made from chopped up biscuit tins; they were first used at Krithia in Gallipoli in June 1915 (from an idea of Maj-Gen Beaurevoir de Lisle, c/o 29 Div) and the last time they were used was at Beaumont Hamel.

[roger]

Thanks for the info Mike. I have been painting Napoleonic figures for a few years now and thought Great War figures would be pretty staight forward. All khaki ! How wrong that assumption was.

Can anyone point me in the right direction of any books on the subject of cloth patches, badges etc. ?

Roger

[AndrewThornton]

Hello Roger

I am glad someone was able to give you the correct sequence for the 1/LF patches - I do remember seeing a reference for Mike Chappell's article in "Military Illustrated" (at the time when it was a good-quality publication), but I was only a schoolkid at the time and my paper-round money didn't stretch to buying it!

Mike Chappell is the only person who seems to have made any attempt at trying to make sense of the bewildering schemes of patches and devices worn on uniform by the British Army during the Great War, and the British Battle Insignia book is probably the best reference there is. I have been interested in the subject of insignia since I had the book at Christmas 1986 and have used it as a basis to find more information from photos, unit histories and other sources and expand this. I find it an interesting subject but there is still so much that is not known.

[roger]

Andrew

I've come to the conclusion that finding out what insignia was worn by one of the more obscure waffen ss units is a pretty simple task but WW1 British insignia is lot more complicated.

Posting here with the amount of knowledge available is probably the best bet.

Thanks to all who responded to my questions.

Roger

[AndrewThornton]

Roger

It is a shame that the cloth insignia and other devices worn by British troops during the Great War was not recorded in any great detail. I am always willing to help if I can with the information I have managed to note down over the years if anyone else has any enquiries.