London Regiment cloth shoulder title
 

Recently acquired:

LONDON REGIMENT embroidered white on scarlet in Firmin & Sons packet of issue.

Pattern No 23536 NSN 8455-99-974-0626 Date Sealed 10/11/11


Tim

Are rounded ends the norm for cloth shoulder titles nowadays?

The London Regiment is the only Reserve regiment in the Guards Division.

https://www.army.mod.uk/who-we-are/c...ndon-regiment/

Here is the title worn by D (London Irish) Company at HM The Queen's Diamond Jubilee Parade in 2012.

Tim

Have they stopped wearing the London shield badge on No2 dress now ?

Guards units have always used rounded end titles as a way of distinguishing themselves and the London Regiment is the Guards Reserve regiment.....

Not all Guards units, though I did wonder if the rounded London Regiment was a nod to the Guards that did /do or if rounded's becoming more common in general.

The only other modern non Household Division unit that I can think of that wears cloth shoulder titles in No.2 Dress is the HAC. Their titles are rounded but they also have the Grenadier Guards linkage.

The Londons are emphasising their Guards link, so I would think their choice to use rounded ends is definitely Guards related.

Confirmation that the white on red cloth embroidered with rounded ends shoulder title LONDON REGIMENT is worn on No2 Dress by all companies:

A Company (London Scottish)
D Company (London Irish Rifles)
F Company (Rifles)
G Company (Guards)

Tim

That’s not quite true Colin although I understand why you thought so. The Guards first began wearing cloth titles of white letters on scarlet along with the rest of the Army in 1902 and wore them with varying degrees of enthusiasm and consistency until 1907, when they were replaced (again along with the rest of the Army) by gilding metal shoulder titles (for the Guards Fusiliers and Light Infantry in two parts that included an emblem). The cloth titles had all been square ended, including for the Guards, and intended to be worn with a separate number indicating the battalion beneath.
In 1914 similar cloth titles were again adopted, initially with square ends, but by 1916 the Grenadiers and Coldstream Guards had started using a slightly revised pattern with rounded ends and at the same time the Welsh Guards were establishing themselves with a uniquely coloured title, which the Scots and Irish Guards soon emulated with their own unique colours leaving just the Grenadiers and Coldstream with the original white letters on scarlet, but with rounded ends. These patterns then continued until the present day apart from a repeat of the metal shoulder titles in a/a as an interim practice for a couple of decades in the 1960s and 70s. During the second period of metal titles the Grenadiers alone changed the emblem part by reverting to their oldest piece of insignia, the garter strap. For the WW1 period of cloth titles the Scots Guards adopted an cloth emblem, before switching to unique colours.

The Coldstream also retained a form of Battalion numbering with the use of red cloth stripes indicating the Battalion number. I am not sure when this form of badge first started, certainly worn in WW2 I believe and was still in use in the 90's on Number 2 dress. With the 2nd Battalion now gone I'm not sure if it is still retained within the Regiment to this day.

Simon.

Having just looked at the images on the Coldstream Guards facebook page it does indeed show that the red cloth stripe has been retained.

Simon.

Yes it started during WW1 Simon.

Thanks Toby.

Simon.