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Is this a Royal Horse Artillery uniform?


mikemcc

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post-4692-1117653632.jpgHi,

This is a picture of my Grandfather, Benjamin James (Jim) Watson.

Can anyone tell me what uniform he is wearing?

Is it a Royal Horse Artillery uniform?

I would be grateful for anyones help.

Regards,

Mike McCabe

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Mike

Comparing it to a picture of my Great Great Uncle Benjamin Clives who was in the RHA, i would say yes.

Stephen

post-1512-1117654126.jpg

Edited by Stephen White
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It could be RHA. Then again, it could also be RFA or RGA (or even HAC artillery!)as they are pretty much indistinguishable!

(The RHA also had another ,different, cap-badge worn on certain headgear but tended to wear the standard artillery badge when in Service dress).

Dave.

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post-4692-1117654948.jpgI posted this one earlier, but put it in the wrong part of the Forum!

This is a picture of my Grandfather, Benjamin James (Jim) Watson.

Can anyone confirm what uniform he is wearing?

Is it a Royal Horse Artillery uniform?

Regards,

Mike McCabe

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According to NA search.

Apparently No Benjamin Watsons in RHA, But...

3 in Royal Field Artillery

http://www.documentsonline.nationalarchive...=1&mediaarray=*

Of which the Top entry (Driver) is the most likely, going by the picture.

3 in Royal Garrison Artillery

http://www.documentsonline.nationalarchive...=1&mediaarray=*

Could be Any of these, all ranked Gunner.

But there is 1 in Royal Horse Artillery (Under name of James).

http://www.documentsonline.nationalarchive...1&resultcount=1

Did he serve under the name Benjamin or James?

Doesn't really help much, unless you know his service number.

Mark.

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Thanks Mark,

I have got his medals and a copy of his Medal Index Card - which shows him as Pte B J Watson - 44530, Durham Light Infantry. The uniform is not from there, neither are other photographs I have of him.

I know he was wounded and sent home from France and did not return there.

I presume he was posted to the Durham LI at a later date and stayed in UK

I am trying to trace what happened to him and where he was wounded.

Thanks again for your help

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Mike,

Any chance of an enlargement of his head/cap?

It looks like RA but a closer view may help confirm this.

Regards

PAUL JOHNSON :ph34r:

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Mike,

Your Grandfather certainly was in the Royal Artillery(RA) of that there is no doubt, his cap badge tells us as much. But as to whether he was in the Royal Horse Artillery(RHA) there is no way of telling from this particular picture.

During the Great War the RA was split into 3 branches; the Royal Field Artillery (RFA) the Royal Horse Artillery (RHA) and the Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA). The RFA and RHA were almost entirely mounted branches and the fact that your grandfather is wearing breeches rather than trousers, spurs on his boots, the way his puttees are tied and tha fact that he is carrying a schooling whip tends to indicate that he was involved in mounted duties and therefore it seems safe to assume he was in either the RFA or the RHA. The only way to tell conclusively which branch he was in would be to see what shoulder titles he was wearing on his tunic. They would either be RFA or RHA . Without that I am afraid that this is about as much as we can draw from this photo. Do you have any other pictures or documents which might indicate his branch?

Today it would be easy as soldiers in the 3 RHA Regiments in the RA wear the Roayl Cypher as their capbadge and not the "Gun badge" that the rest of the RA do.

Hope this helps

Regards

David

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Having looked more closely I see that he is carrying a swagger stick, not as I said a schooling whip (which you often see mounted soldiers carrying in photos from this period)

Apologies

David

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Croonaert,

Your thinking of the the Royal Cypher which RHA officers and soldiers wear on their berets today. However, these were not around in WW1, indeed it wasn't until 1946 that they were officially accepted, having been around since the late 1930's when they were worn on Pith Helmets in India. However, even today the RHA wear the Gun Badge on their No2 Dress and Service Dress hats.

regards

David

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Croonaert,

Your thinking of the the Royal Cypher which RHA officers and soldiers wear on their berets today.  However, these were not around in WW1, indeed it wasn't until 1946 that they were officially accepted, having been around since the late 1930's when they were worn on Pith Helmets in India.  However, even today the RHA wear the Gun Badge on their No2 Dress and Service Dress hats.

regards

David

If you look up John Reed in the members list he has an RHA cypher as his avatar

David

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having been around since the late 1930's when they were worn on Pith Helmets in India. 

Thanks for that. I thought they were post-WW1, but after seeing a GV version, became unsure. I take it that this George V version must be pretty rare then (pre-1936?)

Dave.

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post-4692-1117748158.jpgThanks all,

I have another picture which may help.

Jim is second from left, bottom row - hat set at the angle that, in later life, he always wore his flat cap.

Mike

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Where's the group photo taken?

Outside a Nissen hut somewhere in France?

Are there any publishing marks?

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Thanks for that. I thought they were post-WW1, but after seeing a GV version, became unsure. I take it that this George V version must be pretty rare then (pre-1936?)

Dave.

Dave having done a check back to an old article in a Gunner magazine I see that the RHA cypher first put in an unofficial appearance in 1935 and so the GV example which you saw is indeed a rarirty I should imagine.

Regards

David

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Just to make it clear here is what a modern RHA cypher looks like. Soldiers wear a white metal version on their berets, Officers a coloured embroidered one.

Hope this helps

David

post-3365-1118093858.gif

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Dave having done a check back to an old article in a Gunner magazine I see that the RHA cypher first put in an unofficial appearance in 1935 and so the GV example which you saw is indeed a rarirty I should imagine.

...but not as rare as the Edward VIII version that I've just seen a picture of in John Gaylor's book!!!

Dave (seriously wishing he hadn't given away his GV one a while back!!! :( )

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Hello Mike

I think that the mystery here is not what branch of the artillery that the man in the photo served in but why are your grandfathers medals marked up to the DLI. As you say, his MIC shows no service with the artillery. What was his medal entitlement? Are you sure that the man in the photo is your grandfather?

Andy

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  • 16 years later...

He’s a member of the Royal Artillery be-it Field, Horse or Garrison. The bandolier, riding breeches and spurs would suggest a Driver. The only distinguishing feature between the three arms was the shoulder title RFA, RHA or RGA which sadly is not on view in your image

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12 hours ago, jay dubaya said:

He’s a member of the Royal Artillery be-it Field, Horse or Garrison. The bandolier, riding breeches and spurs would suggest a Driver. The only distinguishing feature between the three arms was the shoulder title RFA, RHA or RGA which sadly is not on view in your image

Hi Jay. I thought I might add to this interesting thread some information that was included in a recent topic by one of our artillery experts. Apparently, the RHA have ball buttons on their tunic, as opposed to flat buttons of the RFA and RGA. Looking at this photograph the buttons don't appear to be ball shaped so I wonder if that discounts the RHA as a possibility. 

regards Gunner.

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