Aden Rifles badge
 

Here it is at last thanks to Revdougal. Crossed Martini-Henry .557 rifles, the tribesman's weapon of choice. I once persuaded an old chap in Oman to fire his pride and joy. It fizzed, went phutt and ejected a huge cloud of white smoke. The bullet fell out of the sky about 50 yards down range.

Thanks Revdougal - I for one and I suspect Cliff too really wanted to see that! And I want to find one too!

Thanks Eddie and Revdougal. This is an amazing find. Most interesting design too. From the names, I have a list of about 20 or 30, they seem to be European or Indians. It looks like they are local Aden born people in the territorial company sized unit late in the War. Brilliant! This Forum really does work.

Quicksilver.

some strange units in the middle east........ in the Pacific too Cliff but not many badges like this...

Fizz Bangs
 

Ha ha! Thanks for the v amusing anecdote Eddie. I had a remarkably similar experience in the market, I think (the memory grows dim!) at Rostaq, home of SOPR. I seem to recall though, that many bystanders were entirely satisfied with the results.

I am sure they were. The problem was they mixed up their own black powder and never got the mixture right. I think it was saltpetre they were short of?

Eddie

Aden Rifles
 

Hi all,
Thanks lads. You got me interested in this and tried surfing around. I finally learnt that the Aden Rifles were raised in 1917 as a company-sized unit originally part of the Indian Army, raised in Aden somewhat a territorial unit. The 45th Aden Rifles formed in as part of the Indian Army.
In another forum, I found this: "A friend of mine recently obtained a well-made white metal shoulder title with 67 Aden Rifles on it. Neither he, nor I, have ever heard of the 67th Aden Rifles. Is it possible that the 45th Aden Rifles were redesignated the 67th in 1920 when the Indian Defence Force became the Auxiliary Force India?"
Further searching resulted in this excellent work: http://www.casematepublishing.com/dl...1906033965.pdf
Would Aden Rifles have had a button of its own?
Rgds,
button-guru
------------------
always interested in buttons

Aden Rifles seems to have been a company sized unit of Aden territorials of different ethnic types. I have found out very little about them and nothing official in the badge, flash and button line. The 67 Aden Rifles title is a mystery. I have a pair but archival searches do not show the unit, only Aden Rifles. The titles came to me with some letters from Aden dated about 1920 or 1920. All rather strange as the 67 was for a different unit in the Indian Army all together. The titles are good sand cast. For some reason there are two types of cap badge for the Aden Rifles, neither of which I have seen other than in photos or books. I doubt that there is a button for them, but who knows! It is a real mystery unit.
Quicksilver

I've contacted a good friend in India who's an authority on Indian badges and insignia, and when I asked him about the AF and especially their possible button, this was his reply:

'Regarding Aden Rifles, I have not come across a button to this unit with a specific regimental device. The AR were a small unit (just about a coy strength or under), raised in response to the Great War. As you would know during the great War period the AFI units were numbered to their intense dislike, numbers were later dropped in 1920, and I presume the 45th would have become simply the Aden Rifles.

Some AFI units that did not wear specific regimental buttons usually carried a button with a scalloped edge with a Tudor crown in the middle or plain ball or half domed buttons.'

I have since sent him the update of Quicksilver's 65th AR's shoulder titles.
Rgds,
button_guru

67 AR
 

Quicksilver,
Received a reply from my friend and contact Capt. Ashok Nath, author of IZZAT, the book on Indian Cavalry badges and insignia. All that he could say was:
'Shoulder titles with 67/ADEN RIFLES are indeed a mystery? I do know that there are a couple of dud badges floating around of different units which were manufactured erroneously by contractors and have somehow survived with collectors. Over the passage of time the riddle becomes difficult to solve. A good example is the badge of the 15th Gurkha Rifles, a unit which has never ever existed but for some reason badges to this unit are floating around, there are other cases as well.'
Rgds,
button_guru

Thank you very much for that information. Would you please send me Ashok's email address. I used to be in contact with him but the email address no longer is valid. Perhaps a private message? I know he was doing a book on Signal badges among others and he has access to many archives.
brgds
Quicksilver

I've sent you a private message and hope that it came through as I had some difficulty which I think was solved.
Rgds,
button_guru

Just to add to the mystery, whilst doing a search for "67" and "Aden" I came up with articles about 1st Battalion Hampshire Regiment being in Aden in 1903 (they were the old 67th of Foot) and 1st/7th Hampshires being in Aden in 1917 when the Aden Rifles were formed, maybe just a coincidence....
Regards
Sean

Very interesting thread!

Terry

The mystery/fictitious badge