To start the ball rolling, although British “Machine-Gun Sections” date back to the Boer war, I would like to begin with the NZ Territorial Defence Scheme that was introduced in May 1910.
Under the 1910 Defence Scheme, the Machine-Gun Section became an integral part of each Mounted Rifle Regiment and Infantry Battalion.
The Machine-Gun Section of a Mounted Rifle Regiment consisted of one subaltern, one sergeant, and 11 rank and file. (One gun and 18 horses)
The Machine-Gun Section of an Infantry Battalion consisted of one officer, one warrant officer, and nine rank and file.
After the Gallipoli campaign the NZEF Machine-Gun Sections were used to form the nucleus of the NZ Machine Gun Corps (forming 3 MG Companies in January 1916, and one Mounted MG Squadron formed July 1916)
Officers and men were sent from the battalions and regiments to a machine gun school that had been established in Cairo under the command of Major F. L. Pardoe, an officer who is mentioned of having a wide study experience in the machine gun and its tactics.
Up until the formation of the NZMGC the Infantry Machine-Gun Sections wore the standard NZR shoulder titles.
The first shoulder titles worn by the three companies of the NZ Machine Gun Corps were brass with “NZ” at the top, Company number (1, 2 or 3) in the middle, and “MGC” at the bottom. (These shoulder titles were replaced by the NZMG shoulder title)
So far I have only seen photos of NZMG Squadron members wearing NZMR shoulder titles. I would be very interested if anyone has a photo of their squadron patch being worn or a different shoulder title to NZMR????
To supply specially trained reinforcements to the NZMGC and the NZ Signal Corps, a “Specialist Company” was formed at Featherston camp. The Specialist Company, consisted of two sections which trained in cooperation, comprising of a “Specialist Machine-Gun Section” and a “Specialist Signal Section.” (Originally called the Specialist Signalling Company)
The formation of the Specialist Company can be traced to the 13th Reinforcements, of which a number of men along with men from the 14th Reinforcements were transferred into the 15th Reinforcements Specialist Machine-Gun Section. (It can get a bit confusing with 4 different reinforcement drafts in camp at the same time)
Although a Machine-Gun Section attached to the Mounted Rifles Brigade embarked with the 13th Reinforcements, the 15th Reinforcements Specialist Machine-Gun Section was the first reinforcement draft to receive special instruction, and were given five months training before they departed New Zealand. (A month more than other reinforcements)
However, the new Lewis gun and Vickers gun did not arrive in time for the 15th SMGS to receive their full course of instruction on. (These did arrive in time for the 16th Reinforcements Specialist Machine-Gun Section to train with)
At this time, Captain Fraser was the Featherston Camp Machine Gun Instructor (Under the supervision of Major Neave, Chief Musketry Instructor at Featherston Camp)
The NZ Defence records from August 1916 to December 1916 list all the shoulder titles that were purchased and issued by the NZ Defence Department. An example of a typical document is included below. It shows the NZR, NZE, NZMR and NZP&T shoulder titles that were issued to the Specialist Signal Section. This and the other copies of shoulder title documents that I have DO NOT SHOW the NZMGS shoulder title.
The document in itself does not prove what NZMGS stand for, but it does prove that the NZMGS badges were not Government Issue and that they were privately purchased. They possibly may have been paid for from a Corps fund, the money coming from the Machine-Gun Sections camp canteen profits, as this was common practice within the NZ Reinforcement camps.