1st Canterbury Regt & NZEF cap badges

[davidwyke]

Looking at John's beautiful framed displays of NZEF Infantry badges in a recent thread and, of course, the up-coming commemorations, prompted me to have a look at my (very modest!) collections of New Zealand & Australian badges.

I have two NZ questions which hopefully forum members can help with.

Firstly, I know that men from the various NZ Infantry regts formed 4 "composite" Infantry regts as part of the WW1 NZEF: Auckland, Canterbury, Otago & Wellington; each of these regts being represented by an individual frame in John's display. I've always been a bit confused as to whether the original regimental cap badges were worn by these men or the "general service" NZEF fern leaf badge. I think John's display resolves that, it has to be the regimental badges. This being the case, who wore the NZEF badges? Possibly reinforcements to the original contingent?

Secondly, in John's Canterbury Regiment frame the bi-metal version of the 1st Canterbury Regt cap badge is shown, top left, which I believe is the standard version. Below this are some brass versions. I've had this crudely cast brass cap badge (shown below) since I was a kid, someone has given it a coat of varnish at sometime. Am I correct in assuming that this is a theatre-made example? Possibly from when they were in Egypt c.1915-1916?

Any information much appreciated.

David

[woronora]

Hi David

Many thanks for your comments on my collection. All the cap badges are bimetal (brass and white metal (ORs) and bronze and siiver (OSD)), except for the middle right one which is all brass. i believe that this is a WW1 economy version similar to some of the British bimetal badges that were also made in brass during WW1.

Your badge appears to be a WW1 theatre made sand cast badge. These were often cast in Egypt, due to a shortage of official die struck manufactured badges. They were then issued to Reinforcement troops arriving from NZ when they were assigned to specific companies in 1915. The Reinforcements generally wore unofficial badges with a specific pattern to represent that particular draft with a number on each which identified the reinforcement draft. Consequently, there was an enormous variety of reinforcement badge designs, however from the 34th reinforcements on, a NZ pattern expeditionary force badge was adopted as the standard reinforcement badge. This latter badge is similar to the WW2 NZ Onward badge, except that it has 'Expeditionary Force' written in the bottom scroll. The origin of the Onward badge is obscure, but a collar size version appears to have been first worn by the British Section of the NZEF. This has been extensively discussed in this section under the title 'British Section NZEF'. I have attached a copy from Geoff Oldham's book on the Badges and Insignia of the NZ Army, however disregard his comments about the British Section oak leaf type badge being worn by them.

I am quite attached to these theatre made badges. Sand cast badges are generally scarcer than their die-struck cousins. Once considered sub-standard by many collectors this type of badge has grown in popularity during recent years as it was realised that these WW1 era copies are legitimate collector's items made to be worn and used at the sharp end of active service.

I am sure that others, with greater expertise in this area than me, will gladly share their thoughts with you.

Regards

John

[davidwyke]

Hi John

Many thanks for your comprehensive reply to my queries and for the attachment, much appreciated!

I feel the same about theatre-made badges, usually not much to look at but they have "been there".

I've really enjoyed looking at your display, I have a few of the badges shown there, but not many.

David