KRR Regiment shoulder title

[Simon J Emmerson]

Good Morning, Ladies and Gentlemen. The Regimental shoulder title as worn by the unidentified Rifleman in the studio photo postcard below. Approved on 2 May 1916. Question I have for you is which Battalion/Battalions would've worn this particular patched shoulder title. Once again thank you in advance.

Regards Simon. 

[FROGSMILE]

On 30/07/2023 at 08:19, Simon J Emmerson said:

Good Morning, Ladies and Gentlemen. The Regimental shoulder title as worn by the unidentified Rifleman in the studio photo postcard below. Approved on 2 May 1916. Question I have for you is which Battalion/Battalions would've worn this particular patched shoulder title. Once again thank you in advance.

Regards Simon. 

Simon a cloth, slip-on over the strap title, in off white on drab, became a standard pan-army issue regimental title to replace the metal versions for a period from May 1916**.  This was quite soon after the introduction of the Military Service Act that commenced conscription and created a one-army concept where conscripted reinforcements could be sent to any battalion.  The cloth pattern remained until being made obsolescent after the war in 1919, but in 1917 had been ordered to be stitched to the upper arm as a more practical method of fixture, as seen in your photograph.

The KRRC also had the exact same configuration title of K.R.R. but in red on drab, and it’s not apparent to me which came first, although a sealed pattern still exists showing this latter arrangement.  It’s unclear which battalion your photo shows and it took time for the phased issue of the titles described to reach all battalions, but it would have been fairly universal by the end of the war.  There was a further version in red letters, configured similarly, but on a very dark [rifle] green patch.

The real expert on cloth badges is @poona guard and he might well find your photo of special interest.

** as part of an army wide change in policy. 

Edited 31 July , 2023 by FROGSMILE

[Simon J Emmerson]

43 minutes ago, FROGSMILE said:

Simon a cloth, slip-on over the strap title, in off white on drab, became a standard pan-army issue regimental title to replace the metal versions for a period from May 1916**, soon after the introduction of the Military Service Act that commenced conscription, and created a one army concept where reinforcements could be sent to any battalion.  The cloth pattern remained until being made obsolescent after the war in 1919, but in 1917 had been ordered to be stitched to the upper arm as a more practical solution, as seen in your photograph.  The KRRC also had the exact same configuration title of K.R.R. but in red on dark green, and it’s not apparent to me which came first, although a sealed pattern still exists showing this latter arrangement.  It’s unclear which battalion your photo shows and it took time for the phased issue of the titles described to reach all battalions, but it would have been fairly universal by the end of the war.  There was another version in red letters configured similarly but on a very dark [rifle] green patch.  The real expert on cloth badges is @poona guard and he might well find your photo of special interest.

** as part of an army wide change in policy. 

Again I'm indebted to you. Thank you for the information very interesting indeed. 

[poona guard]

The red KRR was the sealed pattern title for use by all the battalions; it was approved for wear on 2.5.16. The white lettering is the more unusual but more common.