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Old 04-06-12, 12:05 PM
Antrim82 Antrim82 is offline
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Default Royal Canadian Navy at the Coronation

On this Jubilee weekend I was reviewing the following excellent colour film “Sailors of the Queen” on The Royal Canadian Navy’s contribution to the Coronation Procession and Fleet review in 1953

http://www.cbc.ca/video/news/player....pid=1530280479

On close inspection of the shots of Naval ratings in dress uniform I realized that there is a badge question here which I hope members may be able to solve. This is “Were gold wire badges worn at the Coronation by the RCN and if so were they on general issue, or restricted to just the Coronation Marching Contingent?”.

The reasons for asking this are as follows.

When Rear Admiral Bidwell embarks on the Quebec in Halifax the Guard of Honour is clearly wearing red badges with medals(0.54). This is the same when Prince Phillip reviews the Coronation Marching Contingent at Pirbright (8.55).

When the full Canadian Marching contingent including the Army, RCAF & RCMP is shown in what is probably the full dress rehearsal the badges appear to have changed to a light colour presumably gold (8.05). This is also the case in the pictures of ratings sightseeing in London (9.19)

When the fleet review takes place there is no sign of the ‘gold badges’(14.02). Further it is noticeable that the Soldiers on the deck of the Magnificent, presumably those from the Coronation Marching Contingent, are back in Khaki Battledress not Dress Blues(15:12).

From this I would speculate that Gold wire badges were only issued to the Marching Contingent for the Coronation itself and were not on general issue to the rest of the 3000 sailors in the RCN Ships. This mirrors the situation in the Royal Navy at the time, where the wartime suspension of No1 dress had still not been revoked and gold wire badges were therefore still not on general issue to the fleet.

Can any member confirm or refute this? Has anyone any clear, preferably colour, photographs of the Coronation showing RCN ratings?
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Old 06-06-12, 08:53 PM
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RCN RCN is offline
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Quite the video - thanks for posting - too bad its somewhat small & grainy - full screen makes it even worse - but enjoyed viewing it! Nice to see the "old RCN" I served in again!

So after first viewing ----- At 0.54 the Left Guide PO is definitely wearing red badges. This would be normal for Nr 2 (at that time) dress.

When they are getting off the ship they are wearing red badges, you can just make it out on one sailor, & same on the marching immediately after that. The Pirbright marching at 8.55 they are definitely wearing gold badges, presumably a dress rehearsal for the big show. Gold badges medals & swords in RCN at that time was Nr 1 dress, which would be a must for a Coronation.
At the inspection they are wearing red again but at 9.12 back in gold.
I could not make out the ashore in London part, but I recall from my time in that when one went ashore either gold or red could be worn, but for something special like the Coronation I would expect gold would be mandated.

Each of the sailor's would have had both their Nr 1 & 2 uniforms for the occasion, they were always taken & worn on board ship. A sailor would never wear gold badges on board ship for everyday wear, that uniform as only worn when the occasion demanded it - ie: Ceremonial Divisions, Church parade, Captain or Admiral Inspections & the like.

I am guessing here but I would think that each of the ratings had at least 4 uniforms - 2 gold & 2 red & perhaps even their whites. The gold uniforms would have been a one off new issue just prior to going over. They would have to be looking their best for a command performance like this. Likewise the gold badges would be new. In the day the RCN had just moved into the new rank & rate badges (from 1950) particular to the RCN, so they would be pretty new at the time.
So I would think at least one of those gold uniforms would be reserved for the special parades closest to the actual Coronation.

As an aside --- I have the medals of the RCN Officer in Command of the 1937 (King George VI) Coronation contingent & a good writeup written by him of that ocassion. He mentions that at that time the ratings were all issued new uniforms & all wore gold badges & all wore the sailor class II rig - even class III ratings were changed into the class II rig for the '37 Coronation, presumably so they all looked the same. I have a photo of the group as well.

If interest I can post some of that dialogue.

So, again Antrim, thanks for posting & I'll have a few more views of the video & see what else I can discover,

I'll also have a look at the Coronation Crowsnest (RCN magazine) & see what is in there on the uniforms....

Bryan
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Old 09-07-12, 03:51 AM
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RonArm RonArm is offline
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I truly loved the video, it sure was great to see the "old RCN" I served in also, the wearing of the square rig, parades and seeing how the ships moved crossing the Atlantic brought back wonderful memories
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