London Irish

[PeterMc]

Neither is RIC Jonny, nor even RUC. The RUC did have a pattern badge with slider but the harp was different to that shown. Some high bids going in!

Thanks everyone for their replies, it being a brass badge and making £64 had me wondering. The top of the harp on the london irish pic seems to look similar but cant be sure.

Jonny

[ard-ri]

Originally Posted by PeterMc

Neither is RIC Jonny, nor even RUC. The RUC did have a pattern badge with slider but the harp was different to that shown. Some high bids going in!

That's good to know. I was not aware that the RUC used a slider badge.

Cheers, Michael

[John Mulcahy]

Originally Posted by PeterMc

Neither is RIC Jonny, nor even RUC. The RUC did have a pattern badge with slider but the harp was different to that shown. Some high bids going in!

Peter

I am no expert on the R.I.C., I defer fully to you on this matter . However the badge in question looks very much to me like the R.I.C. officers badge .

Attached here is a link to a posting by yourself on the subject.
http://irishconstabulary.com/topic/6...ap-Badges.html

Also below a scan (apologoes for the quality) from the M.H.S. Bulletin Nov 1974 Badges & Buttons of the Royal Ulster Constabulary 1922-1973. The design looks near identical to me to what Tom describes as the R.U.C. officers badge 1922-53. I shall try to do a better job with the scan later, I am working with poorer hardware than normal.

I admit that the slider is a bid of an anomoly but the design looks to me to be the same as the item in post no. 1

I would be very interested in your comments.

John

[PeterMc]

Hi John and Michael. One of the problems of making quick responses to posts, whilst using a laptop in front of the TV, is that you occasionally stuff up. Which I did in my reference to the term 'slider'.

What I meant was that the RUC pattern badge with a slider was used by the Ulster Home Guard; the RUC themselves, as far as I am aware, never used a slider but did use 'blades', and of course, lugs. The different pattern badges and combinations of lugs, blades, dies etc can be shown on a timeline of development that can pretty accurately date RUC badges more or less to within a decade.

The badge shown on the ebay photo appears to me to be a blackened bronze badge with non-voided harp strings. The badge is of RIC officer pattern as John points out but the metal used, and the non-voided aspect of the harp strings, together with the slider, rules this out - in my opinion - as being RIC or RUC.

I say 'in my opinion' as I am on a continual learning process and never fail to be surprised by variations. I am aware that there are some who hold that such a badge (officer pattern, non-voided strings, but with blades to reverse) actually existed in the old RIC; whether this was official issue or a manufacturer's sample for approval I don't know.

Just to add to the confusion it is generally held that RUC badges always had a void between the bottom of the crown and the top of the harp. During the 1930's the design was changed and a non-voided pattern was introduced. I'm not sure how many the contract delivered.

By the way I'm certainly no expert on the RIC, just someone with an interest!

[orasot]

Hi Lads, Just thought I'd add these for interest, I know we've spoken about them before but I thought it would be good to show them again in this post for comparison, all the best, Wilf.

Here is my RUC officers badge still on the cap for comparison, the strings are voided but dont show very well in the picture.

Jonny

[PeterMc]

Some new info on Ulster Home Guard badges. I spoke to a friend tonight whose knowledge on these things I rate very highly, and he has confirmed the following with other expert sources (no names on open forum as I haven't spoken to these guys myself) but in summary:

At the start of the war a local defence corps was formed from elements of the Ulster Special Constabulary. This force (the UDV) was mustered as special constables and initially wore the same cap badge as the RUC, some in fact wore the collar badge in the side cap. Around 12,000 members of the UDV were assembled. Around 1942 the UDV was reconstituted under military authority as the Ulster Home Guard. Crucially now, they could no longer draw from RUC stores for their equipment, and were then supplied with badges fitted with sliders, as was normal for a lot of other military badge suppliers. These new cap badges included O/R and Officer pattern bronze badges with non-voided strings, and sliders, blades or lugs to reverse.

Which I think places the initial badge shown on ebay, plus some of those shown by Orasot, in this category. I don't know if the UHG badge is considered a rarity or not, given the number of personnel, but maybe it is given the bids placed?

[silverwash]

were better quality versions available ?