Cap or Glengarry badge?

[ShortestinBattalion]

Good afternoon all, please excuse my ignorance if this is a rather basic question. How do I tell whether or not a particular badge was/is worn on a cap/beret or glengarry?

Is it as simple as cap badges usually have sliders and glengarry badges lugs?

Glengarry seems to me to have scottish roots so I therefore assume (wrongly perhaps) that all of my Scottish regiment badges are glengarry badges.

Perhaps it is regiment specific - some regiments wear caps and others wear glengarry's but not solely Scottish regiments?

Any information would, as always, be gratefully recieved.

Best wishes
Kev

[NorthStafford]

Most Scottish regiments wear the glengarry but they also wear the TOS (Tom o Shanter) and wear the same badges on both. Men from the corps who are attached to Scottish units normally wear their own badge on beret or ToS.

[Peter Brydon]

Kev,

The Infantry Glengarry was adopted for all regiments in 1874 and Glengarry badges which fall into pre and post territorial categories ( that is pre or post 1881 when the old numbered regiments were given territorial or geographic names ) were made with lugs.

The glengarry ceased to be used by the British Army ( other than in Scottish Regiments ) in 1897 ( this date to be confirmed ). The Scottish regiments continued to wear the glengarry and most Scottish Glengarry badges are made with lugs rather than sliders.

I hope goes some way towards answering your query but as with most things in this hobby there are always exceptions to any rule.


P.B.

[John Mulcahy]

To add to what has already been said, in terms of non-Scottish Infantry regiments from 1881…

In 1881 the forage cap for wear in “Drill Order for Infantry regiments was the glengarry. The home service helmet plate centre with a crown above or in the case of fusiliers, a grenade, was worn by most non-Scottish Infantry regiments. These badges were fitted with loops.

The Field Service Cap (FSC) 1893 – 1902. The FSC was introduced in line Infantry, other than Scottish regiments, from 1893. It replaced the glengarry forage cap and it was used by the Infantry for marching order, drill order and as a “walking out” headdress. The badge previously worn on the glengarry cap was too big for use in the FSC and the War Office ordered that the left collar badge was to be worn as a cap badge, with some exceptions, for instance most of the fusilier regiments were ordered to wear the Royal Artillery (RA) grenade in the FSC. (The R. Irish Fusiliers were allowed to change this to wear the coronet part of their collar badge in the cap). In addition the Rifles and Oxford Light Infantry were excepted as they did not wear collar badges. These two were initially specified as no badge to be worn by Rifles and the Oxford L.I. were ordered to wear the same pattern as the DLI.

In late 1894 and early 1895 several regiments had badges designed and sealed for the FSC. This started a process whereby almost every regiment of Infantry and Cavalry designed a regimental pattern badge specifically for this headdress, to replace the collar badge worn heretofore. These are the start of what folks generally refer to as cap badges (a misleading term as the Glengarry badges are forage cap badges also but this is a matter of semantics.)

Most of these badges were subsequently used on the Brodrick forage cap which replaced the FSC (except in India where the FSC remained in use) from 1902 and from c. 1906, when the peaked forage cap and peaked service dress cap replaced the Brodrick.

Initially, these first regimental pattern FS Cap badges had loops. In 1902 sliders were introduced as a fitment for these badges on the Brodrick forage cap. The long sliders used on the Brodrick proved too long for the peaked cap introduced to replace the Brodrick and in 1906 the sliders were ordered shortened.


This is the general sequence and as mentioned there are exceptions including badges for the Foreign Service Helmet and The Terai (Slouch) Hat and indeed even at the Regimental level such as the Welsh Guards forage cap badge that you illustrate as your avatar.

Any of the standard Books should help you identify the Glengarry designs from the FSC and later designs. Searching this site for the regiments that interest you should soon also help you ID what you have.

John

[ShortestinBattalion]

Just want to say a quick thank you for the replies to my query - I'm very much in awe of the knowledge that members of this site possess and really appreciate you taking the time out to pass some of this on to me.

Best wishes
Kev