Photo of officer

[wig]

This is a fine photograph but I am unsure of the nature of the sleeve badge or the chevrons. I assume he is a captain but do the rings around the lower sleeve signify anything?

Wig

[Tom A McCluskey]

Wig,

I think the two vertical stripes on the lower left arm are wound stripes.

Tom McC

[Tom A McCluskey]

The rings around the captains pips were part of the rank badge at that particular time. The rings and the border around the pips is made of similar, if not the same material, that SNCOs & NCOs chevrons were cut from.

Hope this helps

Tom McC

[delta]

The upper arm badge looks like a grenade - do we know his unit

[wig]

Sherwood Foresters

The upper arm badge looks like a grenade - do we know his unit

[themonsstar]

Hi Wig

The Officer pos is in the 7th Batt (Robin Hoods) Foresters , he is a Capt with 2 wound strips and the grenade is the bombing officer's badge.

[Bill Alexander]

Didn't the grenade represent bombing officer? (Officer in charge of a specialized bombing section (grenade throwers)?)

[Muerrisch]

It is a little more likely he was officer of Trench Mortar Battery: the badge for a TMB officer was very similar, perhaps even identical, worn in the same place, and a captain is a bit on the senior side for a bombing officer: substantive captains were in short supply and were needed to run companies.

[Raster Scanning]

Is it my eyes or is there something not quite right with his right hand?

[Muerrisch]

seems comparatively armless!

[PhilB]

That would indicate that he probably is a bomber - or ex-bomber? I imagine lost fingers/hands was an occupational hazard? Phil B

[Rob B]

A Captain, two wound stripes, missing right hand carrying a walking stick old style captain pips and is that a Rifle Brigade cap badge. As to the grenade or bomb on the upper sleeve is that for TMB officer?

He has certainly had a busy war and from the picture I would say we were pre 1916.

Rob

[PhilB]

Actually, doesn`t he have part of a hand - a thumb? Phil B

[Tom A McCluskey]

M13PQB,

I thought he looked like rifle brigade too, especially the blackened buttons.

Tom McC

[wig]

I now know a little more about this officer. The officers name is Arthur Annan Dickson of the Sherwood Foresters. He is a Scottish man and his second name, Annan is taken from the Annnadale area of West Scotland. Before the war he worked in a bank in Devon. He enlisted into the Inns of Court O.T.C. and was commissioned into the 2/7th Bttn of the Sherwood Foresters in early 1916. As a subaltern he fought in Ireland during the rising when his battalion took heavy casualties (see http://www.wfrmuseum.org.uk/rhr_Ireland.htm). He went to France in 1917 in command of a Trench Mortar Battery and was engaged in heavy fighting before being wounded at Gommecourt – shot in the neck by a German sniper. He was demobbed in 1919 and went back to the Bank, Llyods bank, where he rose to become bank manager in the picture postcard town of Bourne End, Buckinghamshire. He wrote a fictionalised account of his war as a Trench Mortar Battery commander that was never published although a few private copies were printed by his family. He is of that generation. He is why we come here. He is all our grandfathers

wig

[Muerrisch]

Nice to be right about the TMB.

[wig]

for an account of the incident in which this officer was wounded see http://www.firstworldwar.com/diaries/varie...ftrenchlife.htm

wig

[Matthew]

Looks like his hand is OK; just obscured by the gloves and stick.

[Tom A McCluskey]

Wig,

I don't think your man is wearing a Sherwood Forresters outfit. Here is the Herwood Foresters capbadge on their museum site:

http://www.wfrmuseum.org.uk/sf_museum.htm

Again, it looks like the capbadge of a Rifle type regiment (possibly rifle brigade).

Hope this is of use

Tom McC

*Sherwood

[toofatfortakeoff]

The cane aint military is it? Looks like something he may have used at home while wounded.

Fantastic pic and info.

[MIDMED]

The cane aint military is it? Looks like something he may have used at home while wounded.

Fantastic pic and info.

This type of cane, silver or brass topped and very common as a status symbol as is the gloves amongst Great War military officers and no indication of once being wounded or weather at home or overseas. He is most defiantly a Territorial Sherwood Forester, the territorials being a Rifle battalion hence the blackened brass/bronze buttons ect,ect. May be a 1.7.16 veteran being a trained bombing officer.... just a guess his wounds may have been to his head as his eyes to me dont look quite right.

Great image

Tom…….

[Tom A McCluskey]

Thanks Mid Med,

That explains the cap badge

Tom McC

[Graham Stewart]

The unit he belongs to is actually the "Robin Hood Rifles" or as it was officially known pre-war 7th(Robin Hood)Bn, The Sherwood Foresters(Nottinghamshire & DerbyshireRegiment)(T.F.), whose H.Q. and 'A' to 'H' Companies were located on Derby Road, Nottingham.

Being a Territorial Rifle Regiment they adopted the peculiarities associated with either the Kings Royal Rifles or Rifle Brigade and in doing so adopt badges and dress associated with these units. The badges are usually blackened or silver have the cross based upon the Order of the Bath, the centre of which usually bares a bugle horn and crown. As Rifles they're also allowed to wear blackened buttons and rank insignia.

In the case of the Robin Hoods they adopted a full dress uniform that was closely associated with that of the Rifle Brigade, as opposed to that of the the Kings Royal Rifles. I'll post a few illustrations without I hope infringing on copyright to illustrate what I'm trying to explain.

Graham.

[Graham Stewart]

As promised the cap badge as a line drawing last seen circa 1968 and how they would have looked in full dress in 1914. If I'm 100% certain the Robin Hoods adopted the full dress of the Rifle Brigade which is illustrated here showing an officer, senior rank and private.

Graham.

[wig]

I was wrong about this officer being a scotsman. He was born in Hele, Devon and educated at Hoe Grammar School Plymouth. It is also true that his hand was injured. In Nieuport Belgium, his H.Q. was destroyed by heavy shelling in October 1917 and it was upon that occasion that he recieved the injury to his hand.

After the war he became a pacifist and a membe of the Peace Pledge Union. Eventually he also became a Quaker.

I have just recieved a copy of a book he wrote about his life as a Trench Mortar Battery Commander in the 42nd Division. The book is entitled "Surviviors - Four men in Flanders" He uses fictional names in real situations and the book was wrtten in the 1920's but never published.

wig