Engineer Shoulder Titles

[Oxley541]

Hi all, my first post…

Does anyone have pictures of any of the following metal shoulder titles:

T/RE CINQUE PORTS
1/RE BEDFORDSHIRE
2/RE CHESHIRE
1/RE FLINTSHIRE
1/RE HAMPSHIRE
1/RE LANCASHIRE
1/RE NEWCASTLE
T/RE NORTHUMBERLAND

Just trying to collate pictures of all Engineer shoulder titles.

Thank you for any support….

[CAM]

From Westlake's Book Collecting Metal Shoulder Titles

Chris

[Oxley541]

Hi Chris,

Thank you for the post and I have already see the book but I now need to find some pictures of the ones not shown in the book?

Thank you again for reaching out.

[engr9266]

Hello, These may help? I am a long-time collector of Engineer badges from around the world.
engr9266

[Oxley541]

Hi Jerry, many thanks for the response. I have pictures of these and was looking the rare varieties and have searched everywhere hence the reason for my shout out on here. I put a list of the ones I needed in my first post. I to collect from around the world and have been dabbling for about the past 20 years, are you part of the RE Badge Collectors on Facebook?

[engr9266]

No sorry I don't do Facebook.
engr9266

[Oxley541]

Thanks Jerry, do you have any more shoulder titles or know of any other avid collector that I could ask? Many thanks.

[engr9266]

I know of many but have few.
engr9266

[Farang]

Attached is a picture of the 1/RE/Newcastle WM title.

I have never seen any of the other titles on your list illustrated.

Best regards,
Andy

[wardog]

If Territorial Force titles with the T altered to a 1 are looked on as being more scarce/valuable, must cause concerns over when the Ts were altered. Regards, Paul.

[Oxley541]

Originally Posted by Farang

Attached is a picture of the 1/RE/Newcastle WM title.

I have never seen any of the other titles on your list illustrated.

Best regards,
Andy

Andy, Many thanks and at least I have another picture to scrub from the list. There are a couple of T/RE badges I am after…..would you have either:

T/RE Cinque Ports or T/RE Northumberland?

thanks again.

[Oxley541]

Originally Posted by wardog

If Territorial Force titles with the T altered to a 1 are looked on as being more scarce/valuable, must cause concerns over when the Ts were altered. Regards, Paul.

Hi Paul, the numbers came first, then in 1908 and the changes being made the Titles were standardised to the more recognisable T/ RE & the place name.

[Farang]

I suspect that T/RE/CINQUEPORTS never existed, at least not as a single title. The Fortress Company of that name seems to be first mentioned in the London Gazette in 1910, so is a later creation. It has been on my list of 'wanted' for many years but have never come across any information to confirm it existed.
There were single row CINQUEPORTS titles in white metal and brass worn with separate RA titles. So one possibility might be that if it was worn it may have been as separate T RE CINQUEPORTS parts as worn by the RA Volunteers. This might explain why a single title has not turned up.

All titles I have seen for RE Volunteer Field Companies north of the Tyne have been as NORTHUMBRIAN. This is not consistent with the naming of other Militia and Volunteer units in the area but I have both T/RE/NORTHUMBRIAN and C/RE/NORTHUMBRIAN and have never seen a NORTHUMBERLAND version. Tyne Division Electrical Engineers is referred to as Northumberland (Fortress) Royal Engineers in the London Gazette but for reasons unknown they chose this different variation. No doubt there is an interesting story behind this somewhere.

Best regards,
Andy

[Farang]

Further to my last post.

In the London Gazette of March 20th 1908 the 1st Newcastle-upon-Tyne Royal Engineers (Volunteers) consists of the Northumberland (Fortress) Royal Engineers and the 2nd Northumbrian Field Company Royal Engineers. The old 1st Northumbrian Field Company was not mentioned as it was to merge with Tyne Electrical Engineers (TEE) to form Northumberland Fortress RE. These were part of the Haldane reforms leading to the the formation of the Territorial Force.

However, TEE did not in practice convert to this Fortress name but were permitted to retained their original title. The 1st Field Company was added to the orbat of the Northumbrian Division Royal Engineers.

One explanation of these RE metal TF titles could be that the Field Companies adopted the Northumbrian name of their title while TEE adopted T/RE/TYNE and avoided the use of Northumberland.

Best regards,
Andy

[WE3305]

That’s some great info Andy. Thanks for sharing your research and the photo of your 1/RE/Newcastle shoulder title.

As Oxley541 mentioned, there is a Facebook group called “Royal Engineers Badge Collectors” if you’re interested in joining.