VICTORIAN era RN cap, rank ,& rate badges/insignia
 

Following on from kingsley's recent topic on his Victorian RN Officer's cap badge, I thought it might be interesting to commence a Victorian era topic on badges & insignia of the RN during this interesting period.

These Victorian RN badges/insignia seem to be quite rare in our time. I know I have been collecting RN badges for well on 50 years plus now & I only have a very few Victorian examples in my large badge collection. I consider that I am very fortunate in having the fine examples I do have! I would have thought that when one considers the size of the crews that manned the later Victorian period Ironclad turret & battleships more of their insignia would have survived to this day.

In any event I hope this might bring some more RN Victorian period insignia out of collection drawers!

& I will kick it of with some of those badges I showed in kingsley's topic....

Shown is a VR RN Officer's CIVIL Branch cap badge. RN Civil branch officers consisted of Surgeons, Engineers, Paymasters, & Naval Instructors.
Their Civil branch cap badges differed from the MILITARY branch in that they were all gold embroidery - ie: no silver wire embroidery & a gold metal anchor in the cap badge.

& a photo of a Paymaster wearing the Civil branch cap badge......


RCN Bryan

VICTORIAN era RN cap, rank ,& rate badges/insignia
 

A MILITARY branch Chief Petty Officer's (CPO) cap badge.

The RN Military branch cap badges consisted of both gold & silver wire embroidery. The central anchor was also in silver.

& I have att'd a photo of a Victorian CPO wearing this cap badge.

Bryan

VICTORIAN era RN cap, rank, & rate badges/insignia
 

A CIVIL branch Chief Petty Officer's (CPO) cap badge.
Civil cap badges badges entirely embroidered in gold, with a gold central anchor.

The Civil branch for ratings consisted of Cooks, Stewards, Writers, Sick Berth Attendants, Artisans (Plumbers, Coopers, Tinsmiths, Coppersmiths, Painters & other tradesmen) Bandsmen & Musicians, Schoolmasters, Tailors, ERA's etc.

Bryan

Hello all,

Following recent invitation :
''In any event I hope this might bring some more RN Victorian period insignia out of collection drawers!''

Here are some extractions of my british drawer - specifically the victorian corner :


Beginning with the cornerstone of all navy badges ;

Victorian crown alone from 1846-1856 >> size are 48x40 mm
for comparison, an example from the NATIONAL MARITIME MUSEUM collection;

.../...

Next one is the pattern with laurel leaves from 1856-1870 or 1891-1901

without the circle around the Anchor ...

Due to the perfect conservation of the embroidery, this example should be the later period 1891 ...

.../...

Last one I own for the Royal Navy is this impressive pattern from 1870-1891 :

to note this is the badge presented on the cover of Mr Coleman book vol.1 after some Photoshop 'lifting' improvements ... !

(I would be interested to know where this gentleman have found the raw material to produce his catalog ... ?)

.../...

another examples of victorian crowns are shown with these badges for Customs and Royal Indian Navy :

- the Customs badge has two crowns !
- the indian badge has to be closely examined for confirmation of the crown pattern ....

.../...

Last but not least, these Merchant Marine badges for WHITE STAR and CUNARD .........

As you say, where have they all gone? Great to see all these excellent pictures. Many thanks.

Hell'O

To complete the scope on victorian era Navy, here are some pics from an uniform regulation :

Unfortunately, I do not own this booklet and I have no reference (date, etc ...)
As I know the owner, I will try to get more infos ....