Help with Officers Essex Regt badges

[ForeignGong]

Hi All

I have been helping a family here in Western Australia with their research of Captain Walter Robertson BARLOW.

I have a photo of him from the IWM site, below. He was entitled to a WW1 BWM & Vict plus was MID 1920 and MBE Mil 1943 and Def medal with Home Guard.

They have asked me to obtain some Essex badges as per the photo but I have no idea what I am looking for. Were the Officer ones different and what about the small "T".

How do I know if they are fake or genuine???

Any help will be appreciated.

Many Thanks

 

Peter

[Michelle Young]

The T denotes territorial. 

Michelle 

[ForeignGong]

Thanks Michelle I thought that would be the case

 

Peter

[FROGSMILE]

The badges on his uniform are known as ‘Officers Service Dress Bronze’ and they are a brownish shade of metal worn just by officers on their service dress uniform.  There were also regimental buttons bearing the regimental insignia of a French Imperial Eagle.

The officers’ insignia of that type tends to have flat blades protruding horizontally from the back that were used to protrude through the uniform cloth (including forage cap) and then bent over to secure in place out of sight at the back.  Another type had loops through which a cotter pin was inserted to fulfil the same function.

 

If you carry out an internet search using the terms that I’ve explained you will usually find appropriate badges for sale.  Most such badges are genuine as they are not sufficiently popular with collectors to justify reproducing them.  One variant of the officers’ pattern badge has a larger Sphinx at the top of the badge.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited 16 April , 2020 by FROGSMILE

[ForeignGong]

Many thanks Frogsmile

I will do that.

What are the Bi Metal ones that I have seen please????

Peter

Edited 16 April , 2020 by ForeignGong

[FROGSMILE]

On 16/04/2020 at 09:41, ForeignGong said:

Many thanks Frogsmile

I will do that.

What are the Bi Metal ones that I have seen please????

Peter

The bi-metal badges are for those below the rank of commissioned officer, Peter.

 

There was also a higher quality silver plate version worn by officers on the blue cloth forage cap that they wore in undress uniform before the war.  Undress comprised either a frock coat or blue patrol jacket. The badge usually had two loops to be secured in place by a cotter pin.

 

The purple colour relates to the original facing (collar and cuffs) colour of the 2nd Battalion Essex Regiment, which had been the 56th Regiment of Foot.  The colour was alleged to be the favourite of Madam De Pompadour and the regiment had been nicknamed The Pompadours.

 

The 1st Battalion had been the 44th Regiment of Foot and their principal icon had been the Napoleonic Imperial Eagle captured by that regiment, which was worn on mess dress and, after the 2nd World War, a gilt version of the eagle was adopted for service dress.

 

The castle and key was an honour of the 56th and the Sphinx an honour of the 44th.

 

 

 

Edited 17 April , 2020 by FROGSMILE

[ForeignGong]

Once again, many thanks for your input.

 

Peter

[FROGSMILE]

58 minutes ago, ForeignGong said:

Once again, many thanks for your input.

 

Peter

I was glad to help Peter.  As a final point, examining your IWM photo it’s clear that the OSD badge that Captain Barlow is wearing is the type with the larger Sphinx at the top, which comparison with the silver version seems to suggest was the preferred, officers’ type, during WW1.

 

Edited 17 April , 2020 by FROGSMILE