44th Battn Info

[jim a]

Was at a second hand store and picked up the May 1939 copy of the Legionary magazine... (the early version of the Legion magazine). It first caught my eye because there was a picture of the head table of the 1939 Vimy Dinner in Montreal showing 4 VC winners in attendance.

On further reading there was a letter to the editor from a Mr Charles B Hill-Tout with info on army badges... From the tone of the letter he was a pretty dedicated collector...

One thing that caught my attention was a reference to the 44th Battalion...
"Col. Davis of the 44th Bn told me that the 44th was changed to a New Brunswick unit. As such, the sheaf of wheat was not appropriate, so the officers had a set made of gilt maple leaf with a green enamelled 44, otherwise quite plain"

Still looking for that variation to fill out my Manitoba badges but now realize they went to New Brunswick....

You never know where info can turn up....

[Phillip Herring]

Charles Hill-Tout was of the same generation as Bill Bone who wrote an early series of books on Canadian badges. There were errors in them, but much of his information came from the people who wore them. I believe The Hill-Tout Collection was sold by Ed Denby in the mid to late 1980s.
My BC Garrison Artillery plate came out of that sale.

Phil

[Bill A]

Hi Jim, Thanks for that piece of information.
There were a cadre of early collectors, and Charles Hill-Tout was one of the first dedicated, serious collectors of CEF badges. IIRC, he compiled notes on the badges and there are copies of this out there somewhere.