48th Highlanders Helmet plate

[manchesters]

Hello,

Not being a Canadian collector of Infantry badges I don't know much about this which I have just acquired.

any information gratefully received.

regards

[Bill A]

Hello Simon, The helmet plate is not shown in the standard references. The badge is the post 1922 pattern.

[48th]

This item is a first for me.

Post WWI 48th Highlanders cap badge that what looks to have had its lugs cut off and mounted (crooked) on a helmet plate.

[manchesters]

All I can add is the following.

My knowledge of Helmet plates is good, and the plate ( I am not including the 48th badge here) is a good, original, sturdy Edwardian Other Ranks helmet plate, which in the UK would be used for Volunteer Battalions.

It was also common for glengarry badges of Volunteer Battalions to have their lugs removed and be brazed onto the back plate as is the case here. So in that respect its manufacture is quite normal.

i agree the badge is slightly off centre.

Can I ask, did the 48th wear a 1878 pattern spiked helmet?

What about a post 1922 bandsmans piece?

regards

[Bill A]

I would lean towards the latter explanation Simon.

[servicepub]

The badge lacks the belted garter and uses a simple annulus. A read of this article makes me believe that this is a fantasy piece.
The use of laurel leaves by the time this badge came into use was long past and the use of silver (to denote volunteers) in lieu of gilt had been abolished by the 1880s.
https://servicepub.wordpress.com/201...of-the-garter/

[Bill A]

Clive, Are you referring to the entire concoction or just the the badge portion. The badge has been married up with a plate for some unknown (to us) reason. I remember a 48th Highlanders band that wore Wolseley helmets, but I am not sure if it was between the wars and after, or just after the war. (Wish Bill Elms was still around.)

[servicepub]

Originally Posted by Bill A

Clive, Are you referring to the entire concoction or just the the badge portion. The badge has been married up with a plate for some unknown (to us) reason. I remember a 48th Highlanders band that wore Wolseley helmets, but I am not sure if it was between the wars and after, or just after the war. (Wish Bill Elms was still around.)

There are a number of photos of the 48th wearing the white universal helmet as well as the Wolseley. In both cases a tartan pugaree was worn.
I was commenting o the entire plate. The 48th cap badge was made after white metal helmet pates were abolished in Canada.

What we have is a cap badge that was made in the late 1930s or later - in spite of the edict to get rid of the Garter belt the 48th continued to make and issue these during the SWW.

The generic HP is British.

[Bill A]

Understood that the two were married up and the component helmet plate is British. It is entirely possible that this was worn as a cross belt badge, or perhaps the band master.
There were runs of the 1922 badge before and during the war, but there was a prestige factor in having the garter pattern badge. As the war continued the plain annulus badge became more ususal. I don't think the regiment controlled the dies once they were approved the plain annulus badge.