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Help with uniform


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The Prince of Wales’s Own (West Yorkshire) Regiment officers tunic.  The bullion collar badges were replaced by gilt and white metal in 1890.  Ergo the tunic insignia is that of a Major circa 1881-1890.  I enclose an image from the uniformology series that I worked on with Bruce Bassett-Powell.  The button on the plate is incorrect and awaiting revision.  It should be that seen on your tunic with the Tiger’s tail low down.

 

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Edited by FROGSMILE
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21 minutes ago, JeffV said:

Why does it have King's crown? It should be Queen's, right? 


The Queen (Victoria) died in 1901.  The new King, Edward VII was crowned in 1902. Officers had to purchase their own uniforms and would only change things that were essential.  In this case the officer has ( most probably) obtained the correct crowns at the time that he was promoted, but not bothered to change the other insignia.  This was common for officers who had left regimental duty and were working in a staff appointment where the niceties of regimental minutiae would not have been known and even less worried about.

Edited by FROGSMILE
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30 minutes ago, JeffV said:

Many thanks, FROGSMILE. Your help is greatly appreciated. 


I’m glad to help. I enclose images of the collar badges that replaced the bullion type on your tunic.  You can perhaps see why an officer might retain his obsolescent badges if he could get away with it.  There was also (and still is) a ‘convention’ whereby if changes took place during an officers final tour of duty (generally 2-years) then he might retain his old regimental insignia rather than bear the personal expense of replacing them.

 

NB.  An interesting and important aspect of your tunic is that the cuffs and collar have been modified to the standardised arrangement for officers of all ranks introduced in 1902.  Before that date tunic cuffs and collars were decorated differently according to rank.  This means that the officer who owned the tunic retained the old pattern buttons and collar badges, but otherwise modified his uniform to the correct pattern as at 1902.

 

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Edited by FROGSMILE
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