[Holyboy]

I’ve not seen any mention of official removing of numbers or evidence of it in STs that turn up for Norfolk anyway, but from an intelligence and security point of view they obviously help identify a unit but then so did lots of other insignia look at the masses of cloth patches etc for different battalions I suspect that they get damaged as they are impractical particularly when worn with the 1908 webbing. That keeps getting put on and off. It could be worn under the epaulets but that’s a faff in combat and in colder weather with great coats and sheepskin and leather jerkins the webbing would be worn over that. When the TA units were formed in 1908 they were wearing the 1903 bandolier set up or even Slade Wallace and in times of peace it’s easy to remember to undo epaulettes.

So my theory is that they were not very practical were prone to getting damaged that’s what happened and replacements were probably just like regular STs. Which saved in manufacturing costs. There’s a really knowledgable guy on uniforms etc called Taff Gillingham based in Suffolk so you could ask him he’s on Twitter and I think he has a website. He’s a nice bloke he’d have a view I’m sure.

Hope this helps.