[Oakham99]

It is time to set out a few facts on this battledress.

I attended the house sale at Gunthorpe Hall which I believe was pre-2000. There were four battledresses for sale, two had the felt Rutland titles and two just had embroidered red and white Home Guard titles. All had the same cloth rank badge. I managed to buy one of the RHG battledresses and tried to get the other, but was outbid due to cost restrictions. There was, however, a few pairs of battledress trousers but were very badly mothed. I knew the auctioneer very well so on the next viewing I asked who the lady I was bidding against was. He replied that she lived in Ashwell, Rutland and her husband owned a pub in London and this battledress that she bought was going on display in the pub. The battledress I bought was better quality, more a walking out one whereas hers was a day-to-day use.

We move on a couple of months to a viewing on a Friday night. Well I thought I was entering an army kit store; apparently an old boy had died in Oakham and this was all his uniforms from the late 1940's. I bought two battledresses and trousers, which were paired together for £5.00 and £6.00 respectively. I intended to cut all the cloth patches off and throw the tunic and trousers away, but never got round to it. There were spare trousers, wool hats, webbing etc for £1.00 per lot if you wanted them but storage for me was always a problem. I have told you this story because my battledresses and trousers are named to "N TATE".

I am now the owner of both Rutland named battledresses that were at Gunthorpe Hall sale. I am not a Home Guard collector but firstly a Rutland collector and secondly militaria. However, I bought two Lincolnshire Officers Home Guard battledresses early 1990's for an eye-watering whopping £5.00 for both which came out of a tin trunk. One war time, the other 52'ish, Lincoln Imp patches on both but different green backgrounds and a felt 1950's Northamptonshire Home Guard (Oundle area) for under £10.00. All of which I still have.

I think to judge whether an item is expensive is dependant on rarity and condition. On buying the first battledress my dad introduced me to a friend who had been in the 1950's Home Guard in Rutland. He said that there was less than 25 in the Drill Hall in Oakham and the troops wore battledresses with red and white shoulder titles with the words "Home Guard". He also said that instructions were given out after a short while that no Rutland identification was allowed to be worn. Some of the contingent were wearing their horseshoe cap badges. This resulted in a couple of them leaving because they would not replace their badge with the Leicestershire Tiger badge. I would say that your rarity figure on a post-war item with relation to Rutland is way off.

I am always interested in purchasing or exchanging items including the above non-Rutland battledresses as mentioned for Rutland items.

Regards, Keith