Quote:
Originally Posted by Colin S
Guards units have always used rounded end titles as a way of distinguishing themselves and the London Regiment is the Guards Reserve regiment.....
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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.