Another boss badge ? - British & Commonwealth Military Badge Forum

Peter Brydon · #1 03-09-16, 10:29 AM

A most interesting photograph has recently been posted on the Great War Forum;;

http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/fo...nt-mi-section/

The officer dressed in blues appears to have two badges on his field service cap, a Kings Liverpool badge on the side and ,what appears to me , to be a boss badge on the front. I am not sure which battalion the men belong to, the cloth title "Liverpool" makes me think a regular or militia battalion and of course the officer may not belong to the same battalion but another piece in the jigsaw puzzle of badges worn by the Regiment.

P.B.

KLR · #2 05-09-16, 07:10 PM

Peter, I've finally got home and can look at this now. I'm quite sure that the officer you refer to is not 3VB - they were a line unit, whereas that officer is from a rifle unit. He is undoubtedly from 2VB. I have a photograph of a Lt Westby which shows the two badges worn - though not as clearly as this wonderful offering !!! The boss is red.
Glover's booklet on side caps mentions (alas without reference) that the unit wore both badges.

Peter Brydon · #3 05-09-16, 07:50 PM

Julian,

The point I was making on the GWF was that although the initial post mentions " 3rd Battalion (SouthPort), King's Liverpool Regiment ", which is why I commented that it was the 3rd V.B which was based at Southport and not the 3rd battalion which was a militia battalion.

The absence of a battalion number under the cloth title " Liverpool" on the arms of the soldiers suggests to me that the photo is of a regular or militia battalion because if it was a volunteer battalion they would almost certainly have had an embroidered "V" and number under Liverpool.

I did wonder if the officer might have been a member of the 2nd V.B. having regard to the similarities with the uniform worn by Westby and the description in the Glover book, hence my comment "the officer may not belong to the same battalion.... "

Peter

KLR · #4 05-09-16, 09:12 PM

The 2VB red boss badge was worn between 1896 and 1908 and the S&G regular badge was worn between 1896 and 1926.
I would go so far as to suggest that the S&G badge worn by the 2VB officer (and the 3rd whatever officer to his right) are Gaunt badges.

Peter Brydon · #5 07-09-16, 03:54 PM

Having exchanged messages with the person who posted the image originally on the GWF , he tells me that it states on the back of the photo that it was taken at Southport .

P.B.

Peter Brydon · #6 08-09-16, 11:02 AM

Toby Brayley, member of the GWF has kindly given me permission to share the original photograph which is attached.

P.B.

Peter Brydon · #7 08-09-16, 12:18 PM

A look in the 1905 edition of " Historical Records of the Kings Liverpool Regiment" shows that during the South African War, three composite companies were formed from the Volunteer Battalions of the Regiment.

If the picture is of one of these composite companies that would explain perhaps the lack of a battalion number below the cloth "Liverpool " title on the men`s arms

I wonder if this is the 3rd Company which consisted of 50 men and NCO`s ( the same number in the photo ) which was formed in March 1902 from the 1st, 2nd. 3rd, 4th and 6th V.B.`s under Lt. J.W. Fisher of the 4th V.B. and Lt. H.D. Read of the 1st. V.B..

The Company was at Warrington for a fortnight before leaving for South Africa.

I wonder if the picture might have been taken at Warrington ?

P.B.

Alan O · #8 08-09-16, 12:59 PM

Peter,

I has thought the photo was militia (no 'V' titles so not VB) c.1903-05 when the SA war inspired the slouch hat to become normal UK wear. But I could not work out why they were wearing slouch hats with not one of them having a single medal ribbon and why they were all so pristine. Your explanation of the photo being just before they went to SA with newly kitted out uniforms is very plausible.

Alan

Mercian · #9 09-09-16, 02:48 PM

Information and photos of the militia and volunteer service companies in South Africa seems quite scares as in the VSC were attached to regular battalions. Here is part of a photo of the 3rd Militia battalion the Cheshire regiment taken from the regiment magazine. It shows the 3rd Militia battalion Cheshire regiment in January 1902 the day before they set off for South Africa, the men are wearing the same headdress as in the Kings photo, a Terai hat now made famous by the Gurkhas.