I see that it was over ten years that we were looking at this!
RACD stands for Royal Army Clothing Department, though they are usually known as ACD.
There are 21 ledgers listing badges, boots, knives and forks and hundreds of other militarry items at TNA WO/359/ vols 1 to whatever it was).
The first volume was written (yes, handwritten by army clerks) in 1855 and the last one was 1939.
For examples, badges were given a full date (ie when sealed) and gave the Pattern number and then year eg 4362A/1896 - cap, collar ST etc
The Pattern cards discussed above, most now are in the IWM and the NAM (largest collection), other ones were dispersed into the market. Quite often they have makers names on the back.
In 1938 the Ministry of Supplies took over the authorisation etc up to 1946. There are two fat ledgers of badges at TNA of Pattern numbers and who made them! There is also a ledger of plastic badges
(I have the accession numbers somewhere, I'll add it later
I have a list of infy cap badges Pattern numbers - painstaking assembled, In my 1914 Infy collection I only use ACD Patt numbers - and for my KLR collection.
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