Ayrshire Yeomanry - Sand Cast is just the ticket

[Rockape]

The existence of this badge with the scarce scroll wording arrangement( EARL OF / AYRSHIRE YEOMANRY / CARRICK'S) confirms for me that the 1/1st Ayrshire Yeomanry continued to wear this pattern when re-deployed from Gallipoli to Rumani, Egypt 1916-1917 where a locally made version (sand cast) was purchased as a field replacement and then possibly continued to be worn while twinned with the Lanarkshire Yeomanry at Gaza, Jerusalem, Tell 'Asur, Palestine 1917-1918 (12th Bn [Ayr and Lanark Yeomanry] Battalion of the Royal Scots Fusiliers). Therefore I would date the die struck badge as 1908-1917 for 1/1st.

The 2/1st remained at home and there is a possibility that they wore the more common scroll variant badge 'AYRSHIRE / EARL OF CARRICK'S OWN / YEOMANRY' much earlier than the 1/1st.

Album link:

http://www.britishbadgeforum.com/for...p?albumid=1905

[Alan O]

Without wishing to be a doubting Thomas why could that not be a 1960s or later cast badge made to fill a gap from what was a very scarce badge? Unless you have provenence then that remias only a theory.

[Rockape]

Absolutely, it's a postulated theory and nothing more. The badge in question fits into the timeline for that badge variation and the sandcast example construction resembles other sandcast badges I possess that were made for Yeomanry regiments in Egypt around that period. What remains is proof that it actually existed, and while it pays to be sceptical about such matters, I spent AUS $5 on what could be a piece of missing history for this unit.

[Sonofacqms]

Gary, I can quite see your point for collecting this badge as it does fit in with the timeline of the unit nicely what with their serving in the Middle east in WWI.

However, all sandcast badges without provenance have to be IMO looked at with a certain degree as "suspect".

These badges were made in the sixties in Pakistan as they had for years in the days of the empire, that was 40+ years ago and they have gained a certain amount of patina in this period.

However I have not seen these in any great quantity and so I think you have a good addition to your collection.

Regards Rob

[Rockape]

Originally Posted by Sonofacqms

I have not seen these in any great quantity....

Regards Rob

Hi Rob, I appreciate your input to the discussion. I have never seen a duplicate of this sand cast badge (doesn't mean they don't exist though). On the premise of theoretical probability we can calculate how many appearances there will be for this badge in future (based on a calculation of past events).

So, f(X) = p (X) x n where f is the frequency of badge (X) appearing p(X) is an estimate of the number made of badges of this type made. n is the number of times this has happened.

So let's say that 100 badges were made of this type then p(X) is 1/100 and it has appeared n = 1. Therefore f = 1/100 x 1 = 0.01. A value of 1.0 indicates it will definitely happen again and a value of 0.0 means it will not happen again.

Therefore the probability of this badge appearing again is 0.1 (infrequently). Of course the value for p is purely arbitrary and will probably never be known.

The value for f will change with each new badge found and so become a greater probability of occurring.

These stats do not convey any information on authenticity.

I am not trying to win an argument here, only representing data with some numbers.