[Guzzman]

Hi Michael

I guess your relative was a Royal Navy regular? I wouldn't bother about trying to find a shoulder flash as none of those were worn before WW1. Even today the only people who wear shoulder flashes are Royal Navy Commandos and those engaged in Bomb Disposal. And neither of those existed at that time.

The only other ratings I can think of that used to wear shoulder flashes were the crew on the Royal Yacht (until 1997) and members of the Royal Naval Reserve (until 2007). Neither of those wore shoulder flashes on their uniforms prior to the First World War.

You say you want to make this the jacket of a Leading Stoker? Well in that case the first thing you will want is his badge of rating. For a Leading Rate this is a foul anchor and it should be worn directly above his Good Conduct badges. This should be worn on the left arm.

The trade badge should be worn on the right arm. The Stokers badge was a three-bladed ships propeller. The level of qualification was marked by different arrangements of stars and crowns. These changed at different times. For instance, between 1890 and 1914, when your relative was serving, Leading Stokers just wore the three-bladed propeller without any stars, but between 1942 and 1947 they wore it with a star above it.

There is no such thing as a Stoker today and hasn't been for years. Ratings in the Marine Engineering branch continued to use the propeller as their trade badge for many years but it was replaced about 15 years ago with a new design. So there isn't actually a modern Leading Stoker badge that you could put on to the jacket. However, the old ships propeller badges are still easy to pick up.

I have a feeling that your uniform was worn by a member of the RNR prior to 2007 so it might be OK to badge it with the three-bladed propeller badge.

You asked whether red or gold badges should be used. At the time your relative was serving either would be acceptable - gold badges on the best uniform and red on the second best or working uniform. Red badges ceased to be issued in 1994 (although they were allowed to be worn until 1996). In 2004 gold wire badges began to be replaced by gold rayon badges. You would probably do best to use gold wire.

Trying to badge a uniform from one period as it would have been in another period is actually quite a difficult thing to do! Badges and uniforms have changed so much over the years.

I will sort out some illustrations of the badges for you and post them later.

Pete