Foot Guards Rank Badges of Battalion Staff 1881-1915

[Toby Purcell]

I thought that forum members might be interested to know and see the badges of appointment that were worn by the more senior members of Foot Guards Battalion Staff, known then (collectively) as First Class Staff Sergeants, up until the point that they were elevated to the new, Warrant Officer Class II status, in 1915.

In both undress and full dress the key point to note is that the badges were worn point down on the upper arm. The RQMS (4 chevrons surmounted by a star), the ORQMS (4 chevrons) and the Drill Sergeants (3 chevrons surmounted by a crown). At that time there were no Company Sergeant Majors, but instead 8 Colour Sergeants (3 chevrons with colour badge over on full dress and 3 chevrons and crown on undress).

The dress differences between the latter, and Drill Sergeants, were defined by extra gold lace and sword and slings (aka 'carriage') for the Drill Sergeant in full dress, and in undress the wearing of a brown leather sword belt and slings, or Sam Browne, thus denoting his status as a member of battalion staff. The colour sergeants were equipped with rifles.

The upper arm positioning of point down 4-bar chevrons was unique to the Foot Guards in the Regular Army (the complete reverse applied for line regiments), but was also used by the permanent staff instructor and acting sergeant major (who was not at that time given the rank of warrant officer) appointments in the Volunteer Force/Volunteer Battalions of the auxiliary forces.

There were some further ‘sergeant major’ appointments in various ‘other arms’ of the Army British that at that time were not deemed to have sufficient importance to be graded as warrant officers, which has caused confusion for some historians who do/did not understand the evolution of ranks below commissioned officer.

Information and images courtesy of an old thread in the Great War Forum.

[manchesters]

Toby,

Thats very interesting, thankyou.

I had never seen the badges worn in SD before

regards

[leigh kitchen]

Thanks button.

[Toby Purcell]

Hopefully our Foot Guards aficionados will find it of special interest too, as this has largely been forgotten.

[grenadierguardsman]

Thanks for this Toby, very interesting.
Andy

[grumpy]

Originally Posted by manchesters

Toby,

Thats very interesting, thankyou.

I had never seen the badges worn in SD before

regards

It is KD, in Cairo c. 1908 I believe.

[Toby Purcell]

Originally Posted by grumpy

It is KD, in Cairo c. 1908 I believe.

Yes, location and dress is as you state.

I hope that readers can start to better understand the meaning now of Battalion (HQ) Staff Sergeants, who from 1803 (when there were just 4) held sway as the most senior other ranks in each infantry battalion until 1915, when they were reorganised and CSMs were added to the total, thus ending the exclusivity of employment at Bn HQ level. They also existed in other arms too, but were established in different numbers.