Territorial Force Badges 1908-1917
 

Whilst I know there has been mention made on the Forum before about the formation of the Territorial Force in 1908, as well as the 1917 granting to territorial battalions of the right to wear the same honours of the regiment to which they were attached, I don’t believe much in the way of detail on this has been posted before so thought I would take this opportunity to put up a couple of things.

As I am sure most members will know, and to quote Ray Westlake, “the Territorial Force came into being on 1 April 1908” (The Territorial Battalions: A Pictorial History 1859-1985, p. 33). It will no doubt also be familiar to members that most battalions “were permitted [to use] the badges of their parent regiment, but with scrolls etc. that normally display battle honours left either plain or inscribed with any distinction that the TF unit possessed” (British Territorial Units 1914-18, p. 16), or indeed with the scrolls concerned completely absent; as was the case with the 4th and 5th battalions of the Leicestershire Regiment. However I don’t recall there being any direct reference to the relevant section of Regulations for the Territorial Force, and for County Associations dealing with cap badges, so here it is as shown in the 1912 edition:


1917, of course, saw a change in these regulations, with the granting of the right to wear the same honours as the regulars of the relevant regiments (A.O. 298/1917), the announcement of which was recorded in The Army and Navy Gazette of 29 September 1917, p. 641, as follows:


I personally always think it’s good to try and reference things back to original sources where possible, hence why I thought I would share the above on the Forum. Anyway, I hope other members find things of interest, particularly those who collect any kind of territorial badges from the period.

Best regards

Martin

TF Btns
 

Thanks Martin for your research and showing the paperwork, very interesting.

A really interesting read, Martin, and always nice to see a good bit of documentation to back things up with.

Thanks very much.

Peter.

So if I read that right, (very interesting by the way, thanks Martin), at that time it wasn't compulsory to change to the "full Regimental badge" but optional if they wished to do so.

Regards
Brian

Implementation of 1917 change in TF badges
 

Many thanks for posting the comments gentlemen - glad to know a few members have found things of interest. As to Brian’s point about the change not appearing to be compulsory, I too noticed the wording, and in particularly the use of “permitted”, and would agree that this certainly looks suggestive of it not being an automatic change in the sense of ‘out with the old, and in with the new’. Though interestingly a similar wording was still used in the 1924 edition of the Regulations, that is in Regulations for the Territorial Army (Including the Territorial Army Reserve), and for County Associations, but with the paragraph number now being 513:


Perhaps the only way to be sure would be to look for documentary proof, possibly amongst relevant collections at local archives or maybe within the papers of the War Office, for more precise dates of when particular TF battalions adopted the regular badge of their affiliated regiment, etc. However according to something Stephen (badjez) posted up here, the War Office had actually already taken over responsibility for the supply of territorial badges in 1916, so presumably any new issue after the 1917 change in the Regulations would have been more likely to have been of badges with the appropriate honours rather than those without?

Having said that I’m sure that any practical change would have been slow to implement, and no doubt some battalions, as a whole, would not have made the change until after the Great War. I’m assuming men joining after 1917 would have been more likely to have had badges with honours, but equally soldiers already serving with territorial battalions would have hung onto their badges with blank scrolls, etc. Maybe photographic evidence would be one way to try and find out what was being worn by a particular battalion at a particular time, but certainly the 1917 date must be seen a significant one with regard to the badges of the territorials. If I find out anything specifically about what happened where the Leicesters are concerned I’ll be sure to post it up, and I’d hope anyone else who finds similar evidence for other regiments’ TF battalions would do the same – in fact maybe someone out there already has this information!?

Best regards

Martin

P.S. I see that in Kipling and King’s Head-Dress Badges of the British Army, Volume I Chapter 28, they give the various territorial badges under the heading ‘The Territorial Force of 1908 to 1921”. I take it this second date is because of the changes in 1920, and the formation of the Territorial Army, rather than that the badges listed were actually worn up until 1921?

Thanks for sharing this with us Martin, much appreciated as ever, always is when members show the fruits of their hard work, best wishes,
Wilf.

Whilst it does contain a nunber errors, the article "Territorial Force and Territorial Army Headdress Badges 1908-1939 by J.B. Peter in the MHS Bulletin of November 1968 is worth looking at ,as are Chapter 8 in Gaylor`s "Millitary Badge Collecting " and Chapter 28 in Kipling and king "Head-dress badges of the British Army " Vol.1.and Westlake`s "The Territorial Battalions- A pictorial History 1859-1985.

P.B.

One to digest- TF adoption of Regular battle honours
 

Army Orders - October 1917 (Published on the 22nd September 1917
A.O. 298/1917 - III - Territorial Force - "In consideration of the services of the Territorial Force during the war, His Majesty the King has been pleased to approve of units of the Territorial Force being permitted to wear on their badges the mottoes and honours worn on the badges of corps, regiments or departments of which they form part of."

"The letter 'T' will still be worn below the collar badge by officers of the Territorial Force, and no officer will be called upon to change the badges he now has in wear. Badges in store, in wear and in regimental charge will be used up before any new badges are issued."

Paragraph 486, Regulations for the Territorial Force will be amended as follows;-
Delete from 'Honours' in line 1 to 'forces' in line 5 and substitute "Units of the Territorial Force are permitted to wear the badges of the corps, regiment or department of the Regular Forces of which they form part, including all honours and mottoes that are incorporated in any of these badges."

Apologies if you've seen this one before.

Nice one, very interesting.

To build further, the RACD list of changes notes this order on the 26th Sept 1917 noted in WO 359, VOL 16 P93.

Also related to the use of the letter "T" is this from WO359 vol 16 p3.

subject "Titles emdb T.F. with metal T"

"It will be necessary to issue emdb. titles to the Terr. Force with the addition of the loose metal "T". appd. 17.4.16 This refers to S.D. jackets. Titles are not to be worn on the Great Coat"

The entry is dated 1.5.1916

Excuse my ignorance, but what does "emdb." signify?
GTB

embroidered.

I have typeD the text as it appears in WO359.