Yorkshire Regiment Brassard.
 

Dear all,
Bought this brassard off e### and on receipt photographed it to add to my albums. I then noticed some interesting markings on it. At the top a padded rectangle of red felt added to the red stripe? Halfway down the red stripe is a "U" embroidered in, and at the bottom are 2 very faint outlines of letters?
These are best seen on the photograph of the back. A quick check of the Yorkshire Regt cap badge, which has a slider, shows that were I to cut a very small hole at the front top of the "U", the cap badge would slip neatly in. The top of the "U" is seen by the red thread in the centre of the back.
The letters were another problem. I had seen similar brassards with "RP" for Regimental (fatherless) Police on, but that didn't fit properly. A bit of experimentation with cardboard and scissors showed that the only letters that fitted were "PS", for Provost Sgt. The letters being approx 2 inches high and presumably made of sheet brass?
I took a photo of the front of the brassard with the cap badge and letters in place.
A few questions. Does anybody have a photograph of such a brassard being worn? Does anybody have any PS letters in brass they can let me have (for money) and does anybody know what the rectangle at the top is for?
Regards,
Ian H

Could the rectangle have been a '1' for 1st Battalion?

No indication of the chevrons of a Provo' Sergeant being affixed?
Could it've been chevrons of some kind fitted above the cap badge?

If you have a look at baor-locations.org under Oxford Barracks,an image of a 1st Yorks PC in cs95 so it's old.
Black brassard with Yorkshire shoulder title cap badge on a green square below on a green square and PC in brass letters below that .

Regimental Police brassards (RP, PC, PS) frequently don't have rank badges fitted. I presume it's an appointment rather than a rank. Everybody in the Battalion will know who and what they are anyway.
Ian H

If you look at the shape of the red rectangle, seen more clearly in the photo of the back, it is def not "1" or even a "I". It is just a plain rectangle. May have been for another badge, but I don't know.
Ian H

My (thankfully) limited experience with Regimental Police sergeants and corporals in my battalion was that they wore chevrons.

But yes, you knew who they were and that they should be avoided.

Perhaps previously a brassard used by the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment who wore a triangular shaped scarlet patch point [edit] up behind their cap badge. The DWR RP staff wore a badge on their brassards. Brass letters were usually made using sheet brass by the Battalion REME Armourer, and then the rough edges taken off using his electric buffer. I watched this being done in my own battalion. The pairs of letters generally represented Provost Sergeant, Provost Corporal and Regimental Police.

Ah,the Duke of Boots RP staff wore the elephant and howdah collar badge on a red brassard. Maybe with white cloth letters not 100% sure on that part.

Duke o' Boots RPs, issue 10 of "The Regiment" Oct/Nov 1995.

If I were a betting man I'd be guessing that the central dark blue material with the red stripe is a part of a pair of "repurposed" number 1 dress trousers !

PL

What would the width of that stripe be? - that worn by most units or the wider stripe as worn by RA (and by RF and RRF though the latter may no longer do so).