Quote:
Originally Posted by cbuehler
It is the case that many metal badges were worn in the later interwar years, but my own (admittedly perhaps faulty) research would indicate that cloth badges were predominate, at least in the Infantry.
This may have had something to do with the two battalion system, wherein they apparently had the opportunity to express their pre-Cardwell numbers without censorship in India, as so many cloth Pagri badges indicate.
CB
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Yes I think you’re right that 1st and 2nd battalions with separate lineages often did different things, and it’s also true that there was never a 100% uniform uptake of a particular style of wearing badges across the whole of the infantry. That said, by around 1930, I’ve found that the balance had shifted to a much greater take up of metal badges on the front of Wolseley helmets, with just a few regiments such as fusiliers and highlanders wearing hackles or short horse hair plumes, or tartan patches on the sides. The Lancashire Fusiliers became the last to wear the scarlet shoulder strap flash, largely in commemoration of their sacrifice at Spion Kop, and before disbandment, the Royal Munster Fusiliers used a large green felt shamrock, superimposed with a one piece shoulder title, behind which was affixed their plume/hackle when in review order.