Leeds Rifles?

[billy4294]

Good Evening,
Can anyone help with the id of the regiment please. Black rifle regiment type cap badges and shoulder titles. I think they could be Leeds rifles but I'd like some opinions. Some tunics have black buttons and some standard. If they are Leeds rifles could the button difference mean a mix of 7th/8th Battalions, or could the button difference be down to a lack of supply of the correct tunics'/ buttons. Sorry if the pictures aren't best quality but the original is a large group. Hence I've had to use macro which reveals some pitting not visible with the naked eye.
All opinions welcome.

Thanks
billy

[Deejayuu]

Dont think its Leeds Rifles as the officers badges are identical is style to the OR. I think it was post WWII that the officers and OR wore the same style badge. Prior to this the officers wore the maltese cross without the laurel surround.
Could it be one of the London Regiments?

[billy4294]

Thanks for that. I thought there may be a chance it was one of the London's but I didn't think any of them wore a blackened badge of this style. Just white metal or brass.

[Sonofacqms]

Billy,

I think you will find that the 17th London (stepney and Poplar) wore blackened brass cap badges as well as G/m.

Rob

[gb64]

Could it be the 17th London's ?

Gerard

[Phil2M]

A couple of the badges look like 12th London, unless its just my small phone screen.

[REMEVMBEA1]

Originally Posted by Deejayuu

Dont think its Leeds Rifles as the officers badges are identical is style to the OR. I think it was post WWII that the officers and OR wore the same style badge. Prior to this the officers wore the maltese cross without the laurel surround.
Could it be one of the London Regiments?

Surely not post WW2 with puttees and Service dress.

[Deejayuu]

Originally Posted by REMEVMBEA1

Surely not post WW2 with puttees and Service dress.

The point being the unified badge was not worn until after WWII, and mentioned to rule out the Leeds rifles as the photo obviously pre-dates this by many years

[billy4294]

Thanks chaps,
I've had a look at some members London Regiment albums on this site and it appears that 17th & 19th both wore black cap badges with the 19th having a slightly larger kc. So, could this group be a mix of 17th & 19th which may explain the different coloured buttons? but then both have black shoulder titles.

billy

(Cant see any 12th pattern badges Phil. I've had a good look through the jewellers loop)

[Noxin]

Originally Posted by billy4294

Thanks chaps,
I've had a look at some members London Regiment albums on this site and it appears that 17th & 19th both wore black cap badges with the 19th having a slightly larger kc. So, could this group be a mix of 17th & 19th which may explain the different coloured buttons? but then both have black shoulder titles.

billy

(Cant see any 12th pattern badges Phil. I've had a good look through the jewellers loop)

You will see many examples of group photographs depicting men of the same rifles regiment where both brass and black buttons are being worn, so this in itself is not necessarily an indication of the photo being of more than one particular regiment.

If your photo is not too large to fit on a scanner, could you perhaps post a few higher resolution scans please?

Noxin.

[billy4294]

As requested a higher res picture. I can't scan it above 600dpi as all the pock marks will show up. Regarding the buttons. I know this could be down to no more than a shortage of black buttons, but since I don't know much about the London units it could also be possible that some of their rifle units did things a bit differently.

Cheers

[Noxin]

Originally Posted by billy4294

As requested a higher res picture. I can't scan it above 600dpi as all the pock marks will show up. Regarding the buttons. I know this could be down to no more than a shortage of black buttons, but since I don't know much about the London units it could also be possible that some of their rifle units did things a bit differently.

Cheers

Billy,

Thanks for the scan; unfortunately it still remains a little difficult to see any detail close up. Do you think it would help if perhaps a smaller area of your picture was scanned at 600dpi - say, one or two of the clearer cap badges - rather than the entire thing?

There could have been any number of reasons for there being a mixture of brass and black buttons worn by the men in your photo, and no doubt a large percentage of the reason may well have been that they were simply issued with what was available at the time.

N.