Cap badge
 

I am doing the ancestry thing and trying to identify what regiment my grandfather served in.
All that I have is this photo and was hoping someone could identify or give me a pointer on the cap badge.
I have attached a photo of a very old photo so not that clear.
He was born and lived in Langport Somerset or the surrounding area, and I believe he would have served 1914 to 1922 ish, although I seem to remember there being some talk of him not being honest about his age at the time.
Any help will be appreciated as this subject is not my field.
Tony Davies

Hello Tony, welcome to the Forum. Your account is active and open for posts.

Welcome. It’s Royal Artillery.

Looks Royal Artillery to me also, have you the full picture if it shows more,there might be some other insignia on his uniform that we can advise on .

Gerard

He is RA and probably in the second half of the war judging by the style of the cap with the lack of stiffening etc. he has 'split' the chinstrap to have one part of it over the top of the badge whilst the other part runs below. It's not uncommon and as far as I know has no practical use but an affection of the owner in the way he wore the cap.

Reference cap badge.
Thank you for that information, I would never have thought about that, as you know trying to find out the history of people who served in the army is very difficult (well for me).
Your help is appreciated.
Tony

Cap badge
 

Thank you for the information.
Tony

He is wearing the 1916 New Specification (NS) ‘soft cap’ in drab wool. It’s purpose was to be easily stowed in large or small pack or pocket for donning when steel helmets were not worn ‘out of the line’. A cotton gabardine version was issued in 1918. The splitting of the chin strap was an affectation to secure the cap badge in place so that it could not move upwards out of its slot and be lost.

Looking at the photograph, both pieces of the split chin strap appear to actually be below the cap badge.

Yes, in this case they are Frank, my point is that the fashion of splitting the chin strap was for the purpose I’ve mentioned. There are numerous examples to be seen on the Great War Forum and various genealogical websites.

I'm not too sure the strap is split rather than just both "layers" showing.

What's the soldiers name please?

In fact it is such a good image that you can see the shadow cast by the cap badge upon the chin strap beneath.

A normal chinstrap that's been loosened (I was misinterpreting "split" as meaning "slit").

His name was Henry George Cornick but he was always called George and that seemed to generally be the name that he went by.
Never questioning him when he was alive I picked up fag ends of conversations. I spent a lot of time living with my grandparents while growing up and now regret never really being
interested in their lives (how you view things differently when you become old)

Thank you for your help and interest.

Regards
Tony

Toby,
That information is great, it helps me work out the time he was likely to have been in the army.
Tony

Possibly (but by no means certainly):

First Name:
Henry
Surname:
Cornick
Rank:
Driver
Service Number:
148354
Regiment:
Royal Field Artillery

Archive Reference:
WO 372/5/29855
(Can be found at The National Archives in Kew, and contains First World War, War Office: Service Medal and Award Rolls Index)

Collection:
Nominal index of all service personnel serving in a theatre of war 1914-1919

Yes, that’s what I’d meant, the double layered part loosened and divided. You will probably know that some men actually did slit and then plait the strap before passing it back through the brass adjuster. The securing the badge in place fashion seems to me to have been a bit of an ‘old sweat’ thing. It’s often seen in informal photos, but would have sent most sergeant majors apoplectic on parade. For some reason it’s seen quite a lot on ASC men and was derided by the smarter regiments, Guards, etc. as like a b****y “tram driver”.

Thank you for that information.
I will start the research next week on the additional I formation.
Tony

I would imagine a fair number of those Great War ASC men were actually ex-tram drivers.:)

Yes, I think that’s what was being implied Hoot. Even females attached to the ASC.

I believe those girls in the photo served as ambulance drivers at the military hospital on Cannock Chase. The one badged as RE was probably attached to the military railway in the same location.

That sounds eminently feasible, Hoot.