RMF officer badge anomaly
 

Spotted this photo Lt. Col. Rickard. Note the absence of the shamrock on the cap and the collar badge placement!
https://www.rmfa92.org/rmfa_la/ricklut1.html

CB

PS, yet another. Page down to Lt. Newsom sans Shamrock and collar badges.

https://www.britishbattles.com/first...tle-of-etreux/

Still another even stranger yet! OR badges!
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/294422894382205537/

The Munster officers seem to have had a very relaxed attitude with regard to badging their uniforms.

I am on a roll here: Note the small Shamrock with "beaded edge".
https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/i...ject/205385231

love the Captain C W Marsden pic
bc

There was a thread not long ago that touched upon the Shamrock backing and the "specification" size was to be 2 3/4 high X 2 1/4 wide. There was to be a "beaded edge" as well. The Marsden photo shows the edge, but it is certainly smaller in size.
Photos would suggest that if the Shamrock was worn at all, it was anything the individual officer could come up with that looked like one.

CB

A search of Munster and shamrock reveals the answer in John’s fantastic post here...

https://www.britishbadgeforum.com/fo...25&postcount=3

Shamrock backing introduced Feb 1915 on SD cap. Newsom photo is dated Aug 1914. I’d imagine Rickard photo is similarly prior to Feb 1915 given he was KIA in May 1915.

Re the ‘ORs badge’ you do see die stamped bronzed badges with blade fixings. They are somewhat of a quandary, discussed here...

https://www.britishbadgeforum.com/fo...Munster+bronze

Thanks Luke,
That at least has some semblance of an explanation. But what about the collars on Capt. Frizell, which do not appear to be bronzed (although this could be a result of the photo ). Assuming they were bronze, were there matching OSD collars (presumably with lugs, which I have never seen) to go along with the cap badge? And the placement of the badges on Rickard's collars? I would presume the missing collars on Newsom are a result of his incarceration?
I suspect that many of the other WW1 period photos I have seen would indicate that Shamrocks still not always worn even after their adoption.

CB

CB

I take a great interest in the Royal Munster Fusiliers. From the archival research I have managed to do I too see that there was a relaxed attitude among officers towards uniformity of insignia.

Regarding OSD collar badges, the collar badges initially authorized for wear on the 1902 OSD jacket were as described in regulations as: “on the collar, in bronze as for forage cap but in pairs”. The same size as the cap badge, I find them difficult to acquire but they were quite widely worn judging by the photographs I have seen.

By the start of the Great War we see a pronounced change in the collar badges worn in OSD by the regiment. By 1914, most officers of the Munsters had largely adopted the small vertical collar badges. In almost every photo I have seen they appear non bronzed and thus I assume were the silver and gilt versions (by this time also most of the regiment had abandoned the large bronzed badge in the OSD cap in favor of a silver and gilt collar badge sized device)

However, photos of the 1913 pattern OSD jacket exist with both the 1902 pattern bronzed collar badges and the smaller silver and gilt badges in use during the Great War. A variety of collar badges were thus worn during the great war on the OSD jacket.

An unusual design is a mid size badge which I have not found any photographic evidence for.

Regarding the position of the of collar badges work by Rickard (2nd Bn) , he was not alone I have photographs of at least three others wearing them thus, all 1st Bn, Capts. Nightingale, Hume-Henderson and Maj. Wilson.

Attached of some relevance a page from an article that I wrote for the RMF assn. journal of officers insignia showing collar badges worn in OSD (images not to scale) and a short survey of (n=39) of collar badge types worn in OSD c.1910 - c. 1916 taken from various image sources. This was done quite some time ago but should reconfirm the lack of uniformity.

On topic of shamrock size and shape, one finds a great variety in use when studying period photographs.


John

Thanks John,
I had not been aware that those large OSD badges may still have been in use by the beginning of the war. They were apparently also a very light bronze, giving an appearance similar to OR badges in period photos.

CB

Very interesting John, especially the graph. Thank you for posting. It’s interesting that the 7 and 9 flame variations relate directly to the RA and RE. As for the makers variations, it’s worthy of a reminder that the larger badge’s basic design was shared with the NF, R inng F, and even some pre-war RWF units.

As we are on the topic, attached my summary of collar badges worn by officers in full dress, undress and service dress pre 1902. An analysis of period photos also shows a great deal of non uniformity in the period 1881 - mid 1890's in the type of collar badges worn in undress.

This image is also one I prepared for the RMF assn. journal and once again the images are not to scale.

John