Unknown South African Insignia
 

Hi,
I have the following South African related badges that need some clarification/thoughts on please.

1. Brass collar (or cap/slouch hat) badge with coat of arms and title "Gewapen en Regtvaardig" of Stellaland. Stellaland was a boer republic in the area of Bechuanaland and in existance between 1882 and 1885. (see Wikipedia for a full story). The closest reference I could find to a military unit was in 'The armed forces of South Africa' by Major G. Tylden who refers to a Stellaland Light Horse, 30 strong raised by Major Dennison for the Bechuanaland Campaign of 1896-1897. (note period is post the existance of Stellaland). Could this possible a badge from this unit??

2. SMB title (shoulder or slouch hat) - Was thinking WWI Southern Mouted Brigade, but can only find reference to a Southern Mounted Rifles. Of interest this was found together with the Stellaland badge in the bottom of a toolbox full of brass nuts, bolts, etc at a local carboot sale.

3. A two piece badge which appears to be made from a WWII SA general service springbok collar mounted onto the wreath of a brass RAF cap badge.
Appears well made and obviously done for a reason. My opinion would be Cadet related. Maybe a Cadet band.

4. A small SA related rank pip of type I have not yet seen. Image shows a SA five point rank star on a 5 sided castle rank badge. The regular rank badges used to be a 5 point star with SA coat of arms and a 5 sided castle with SA coat of arms. I have not seen a rank badge showing both devices together and the coat of arms is surrounded by laurel wreath intead of the motto 'Ex Unitate Vires'. Could this be a prototype badge?

Regards
Steven

S/T "SMB":This is a very long shot.
I wonder if this belongs to the Sohan Mountain Battery of the Indian Mountain Artillery. Originally raised as 38 (Reserve) Mtn Bty RA in 1918, it became 18 (Sohan) Mtn Bty in 1928, and as such was swept up for the campaign in East Africa in Aug 1940; there it formed a close friendship with 1 Bty SAFA, while together in Fowcol: there were in fact lots of SA participant Units in this campaign. The Sohan Bty remained until about Jun 41, when it went to Haifa, joining 26 Mtn Regt.
I have NO proof for this suggestion, but a s/t such as this is no innovation; for c.1905 the IMA Btys wore such initials as s/ts, e.g. "DMB" for "Derajat Mtn Bty". Only between the Wars the more familiar Pagri type badges came in.
I cannot prove all this - just a hunch as nothing else seems to fit, way out though this conjecture may be!

Thanks for posting Revdougall. Very interesting and very much a possibility.

Steven

I believe Revdougall is correct. The style of the title says "Indian Army" to me too.

Peter

Just some feedback on an old thread I started 6 years ago.

I noticed mention of a South African unit serving in GEA during WWI called "Stokes Mortar Battery" and as the SMB badge was found in SA and is of similar construction to other SA WWI badges, this may be what the SMB stands for.

Steven

Republic of Goshen Boer State 1882–1883 Badge
 

[FONT="Arial"]The first badge referred to is the devise and motto 'Gewapend en Regtvaardig' (Dutch: Armed and Fair) of the Republic of Goshen Boer State, Bechuanaland, 1882–1883. Capital, Rooigrond, Mafikeng.