Blue Serge Royal Horse Artillery tunic

[leibregiment]

Recent purchase, barrack or stable jacket, has fittings for busby lines

welcome your thoughts, number inside is to a Maurice A J E Greenway enlisted on or about 1911.

looking for the correct description 

[FROGSMILE]

Known as a Blue Serge Frock (not tunic) it was an undress garment issued specifically to replace the previous Stable Jacket (that was only waist length) for routine duties in and around barracks and stables circa 1890.  As a garment it was also used by the light cavalry**, who for some reason nicknamed it as a ‘jumper’ (Winston Churchill mentions this in his earliest autobiography).

The ball [shaped] buttons indicate this one was worn by a soldier of the Royal Horse Artillery, as you have said.  His rank stripe and cursive L in Laurel wreath badge show that he was a Bombardier [gun] Layer.  The yellow shoulder cords were an identifying feature too, but shoulder straps were also worn at various times, in order to bear shoulder titles.

Along with the Royal Engineers and Army Ordnance Corps, that together with the artillery had once been under command of the Board of Ordnance, the first level of substantive promotion, with seniority and pension earning rights, was a one stripe rank, unlike the rest of the Army where it was a two stripe rank.

** heavy cavalry used a scarlet version.

Edited 20 July , 2023 by FROGSMILE

[Allan1892]

His Medal Index Card (image courtesy of Ancestry) shows that he 'rose through the ranks' to the rank of Acting Captain

[Allan1892]

His entry in the 1914-15 Star Medal Rolls shows that he was commissioned on the 13th March 1917 (image courtesy of Ancestry)

[FROGSMILE]

1 minute ago, Allan1892 said:

His entry in the 1914-15 Star Medal Rolls shows that he was commissioned on the 13th March 1917 (image courtesy of Ancestry)

Thanks Allan.  To be commissioned straight from Bombardier is quite an extraordinary leap and epitomises the effect of shortages among the junior officer cohort that increased throughout the war.

[leibregiment]

Fantastic response, thank you one and all