brassards, armlets, armbands

[Muerrisch]

Treasure trove! Thank you.

 

The tri-service one is interesting ........ called "purple" these days.

[themonsstar]

Cheers 

Roy

[Toby Brayley]

"CP" Worsted Armlet.  

 

[KENDO]

Hi,

One for you - Brigade Water Supply Officer. Blue armband with BWSO in red. In the heat of Gallipoli, fresh water was often in short supply, the BWSO was the man responsible for issuing water to the troops.

Kendo

[Muerrisch]

The Gungha Din, Brigade bhisti wallah.

[green_acorn]

I have just been through the British WO images the US National Archive has digitised and right near the end of the image group found one of a young French woman who was employed by the British Army managing traffic at road/canal junction at Arques, France who is wearing an interesting brassard.

 

 

[FROGSMILE]

34 minutes ago, green_acorn said:

I have just been through the British WO images the US National Archive has digitised and right near the end of the image group found one of a young French woman who was employed by the British Army managing traffic at road/canal junction at Arques, France who is wearing an interesting brassard.

 

 

 

That’s very interesting.  It looks like an anchor, a sign I’ve seen before.  Perhaps channel ferry loading, or inland water transport?  I seem to recall it was all run by the RE Movers at that time, rather than the ASC it later became?

Edited 15 October , 2019 by FROGSMILE

[Grovetown]

1 hour ago, FROGSMILE said:

That’s very interesting.  It looks like an anchor, a sign I’ve seen before.  Perhaps channel ferry loading, or inland water transport?  I seem to recall it was all run by the RE Movers at that time, rather than the ASC it later became?

 

Inland Water Transport, as per GRO to Jan 1918.

 

Cheers,

 

GT.

[FROGSMILE]

3 hours ago, Grovetown said:

 

Inland Water Transport, as per GRO to Jan 1918.

 

Cheers,

 

GT.

Thank you.  Makes sense.  I can imagine her helping with loading arrangements/schedules on the barge traffic, etc.

Edited 15 October , 2019 by FROGSMILE

[green_acorn]

2 hours ago, FROGSMILE said:

Thank you.  Makes sense.  I can imagine her helping with loading arrangements/schedules on the barge traffic, etc.

 

I would suggest she was the canal lock keeper/the keepers assistant, which also had a road bridge.

 

 

Cheers,

Chris

[FROGSMILE]

2 minutes ago, green_acorn said:

 

I would suggest she was the canal lock keeper/the keepers assistant, which also had a road bridge.

 

 

Cheers,

Chris

Yes, that seems a very likely scenario indeed, Chris.

[Toby Brayley]

Unsent Postcard. Cheshire Engineers Regimental Police. They are VF or TF as the Sjt has a proficiency star.  The armlets have VRP on... Volunteer Regimental Police? 

[FROGSMILE]

1 hour ago, Toby Brayley said:

Unsent Postcard. Cheshire Engineers Regimental Police. They are VF or TF as the Sjt has a proficiency star.  The armlets have VRP on... Volunteer Regimental Police? 

 

A very rare photo Toby.  Yes, Volunteer Regimental Police.  I had heard of their existence and acronym, but never seen an example until now.  Great to see at last.  They are of course all wearing working frocks, less examples of which seem to have survived than the RA equivalent.

Edited 28 October , 2019 by FROGSMILE

[Robin Garrett]

The bloke on the right, front row looks a real bruiser. Just right for the job.

[Muerrisch]

Given that apart from "Drills" in Drill Halls mostly at company level the battalions only met for a fortnight's camp, surely these men were only in that role for that fortnight?

[FROGSMILE]

15 minutes ago, Muerrisch said:

Given that apart from "Drills" in Drill Halls mostly at company level the battalions only met for a fortnight's camp, surely these men were only in that role for that fortnight?

Yes I think so, but I suspect that they were carefully chosen and, if reliable and efficient, kept the role for successive camps providing that they continued to maintain a record of ‘attendance’ (at the drill hall, which was always a difficult litmus test).

Edited 28 October , 2019 by FROGSMILE

[FROGSMILE]

On 02/07/2019 at 15:19, Toby Brayley said:

"CP" Worsted Armlet.  

 

 

Missed this one Toby.  Camp Police, as I expect you know.

[robins2]

11 hours ago, Toby Brayley said:

Unsent Postcard. Cheshire Engineers Regimental Police. They are VF or TF as the Sjt has a proficiency star.  The armlets have VRP on... Volunteer Regimental Police? 

they all appear to be wearing a ribbon with something attached to end???

[Andrew Upton]

3 hours ago, robins2 said:

they all appear to be wearing a ribbon with something attached to end???

 

They mostly appear to be wearing ribbon bars for the QSA and KSA - the lighting has merely accentuated the effect of the central white stripe in the KSA:

 

[Andrew Upton]

Christmas Eve I spent the afternoon with my girlfriends parents, and knowing my interest in military history out came the photograph albums and this chap appeared. No obvious unit specific insignia visible unfortunately. He wears an armlet on his lower left sleeve with the visible letters " S P ", presumably the "Something Police" but looking back over this thread I have been unable to identify it. Curiously, his L/Cpl rank (worn only on the right arm) looks like it might be some form of armlet as well:

 

 

[elliot#1]

58 minutes ago, Andrew Upton said:

Christmas Eve I spent the afternoon with my girlfriends parents, and knowing my interest in military history out came the photograph albums and this chap appeared. No obvious unit specific insignia visible unfortunately. He wears an armlet on his lower left sleeve with the visible letters " S P ", presumably the "Something Police" but looking back over this thread I have been unable to identify it. Curiously, his L/Cpl rank (worn only on the right arm) looks like it might be some form of armlet as well:

 

 

Hi Andrew,

 

It's possible it could be Sanitary Police, which would be my best guess from memory away from my files!

 

Best,

 

Elliot

[FROGSMILE]

I agree that sanitary is a possibility. It was a position that arose from experiences in the 2nd Boer War.  Another that I have come across before is Station Provost.

[Muerrisch]

2 hours ago, FROGSMILE said:

I agree that sanitary is a possibility. It was a position that arose from experiences in the 2nd Boer War.  Another that I have come across before is Station Provost.

 

The slight vote against Sanitary is the known use of yellow for the sanitary men.

This in 1917: Sanitary Sections in France 1917 Yellow, SAN in Red . [Joe Sweeney list]

Also listed as "yellow" [plain] in 1923. Clothing Regs, Priced Vocabs.

 

Both these dates may be later than the photo of course, but we would expect yellow to show dark grey in the period of the photo.

 

[FROGSMILE]

3 hours ago, Muerrisch said:

 

The slight vote against Sanitary is the known use of yellow for the sanitary men.

This in 1917: Sanitary Sections in France 1917 Yellow, SAN in Red . [Joe Sweeney list]

Also listed as "yellow" [plain] in 1923. Clothing Regs, Priced Vocabs.

 

Both these dates may be later than the photo of course, but we would expect yellow to show dark grey in the period of the photo.

 

Yes, that is a good point given that the intention of colour coding was to standardise visually recognised function across the Army. That said, the exponential increase in scale during WW1 put great strain on such minutiae.

Edited 9 January , 2020 by FROGSMILE

[Muerrisch]

Uniformity!

 

The hated instructors at Etaples were called the canaries because:

 

They wore yellow armbands.

 

Not helpful.