Collingwood Battalion - Royal Naval Division ???

[Luke H]

Hello All,

I’m sure most remember in April the Professor Charles Thomas collection being auctioned off by Thomas Del Mar.

One of the lots (Lot 200) was a selection of Royal Naval Division cap badges and shoulder titles.

Very interestingly glued to the card was this rubbing of a purported Collingwood Bn cap badge allegedly ‘made in 1915 but never issued’.

My question is, does anyone know who Huw Thomas is/was or what source this ‘rubbing’ may have come from in 1972?

Personally I doubt the claim as we know the other RND cap badges weren’t approved until 1916 after the Dardanelles campaign, however, as a rubbing it presumably must have come from some badge - but what could it have been?

Cheers,

Luke

[Tinto]

Originally Posted by Luke H

Hello All,

I’m sure most remember in April the Professor Charles Thomas collection being auctioned off by Thomas Del Mar.

One of the lots (Lot 200) was a selection of Royal Naval Division cap badges and shoulder titles.

Very interestingly glued to the card was this rubbing of a purported Collingwood Bn cap badge allegedly ‘made in 1915 but never issued’.

My question is, does anyone know who Huw Thomas is/was or what source this ‘rubbing’ may have come from in 1972?

Personally I doubt the claim as we know the other RND cap badges weren’t approved until 1916 after the Dardanelles campaign, however, as a rubbing it presumably must have come from some badge - but what could it have been?

Cheers,

Luke

Hi Luke,
I can't help you regarding the Collingwood badge rubbing but Huw/Hugh Thomas was an advanced badge collector who lived in Swansea and corresponded with my father in 1950-60s.
Cheers, Tinto

[Alex Rice]

Could it possibly be a livery badge which just co-incidentally has the Collingwood name? I tried to find a site for livery badges online but didn't have time to search properly.
As mentioned, it seems unlikely that there was a proposed badge that early on in the war.
Cheers,
Alex

[Guzzman]

Can anyone even tell me what the image in the rubbing IS? I've been looking at it for ages and I can't actually make out anything!

I do know that Collingwood livery buttons included a design of a stern view of a man-of-war surrounded by laurel branches. I thought that might be included at the top of the design but I still can't actually make it out!

Pete

[Nozzer]

Originally Posted by Guzzman

Can anyone even tell me what the image in the rubbing IS? I've been looking at it for ages and I can't actually make out anything!

I do know that Collingwood livery buttons included a design of a stern view of a man-of-war surrounded by laurel branches. I thought that might be included at the top of the design but I still can't actually make it out!

Pete

It looks like a stag, which is used in the Collingwood family crest.

[kingsley]

A mystery that is easily solved. It is a collar badge of a very rare 55th Inf Melbourne militia regiment worn between 1912 and 1918 in the compulsory training period. Sorry for the poor quality images.

[Luke H]

Gents,

Thank you all so much. The forum at its very best, a mystery I’ve been pondering off and on since April solved before breakfast!

The collar badge looks spot on and would explain why the stag is facing the wrong way. Plus from the period of wear it’s possible Huw Thomas acquired the badge amongst a WW1 collection and mis-identified it.

Cheers again everyone,

Luke