Unusual coating for 25th Bn CEF Cap Badge?

[guest_000]

anyhow Stephen keep looking as the unit did keep recruiting it would seem they badged in CANADA and many men went through those colours still lots to find out. I will let you know of any other variences I discover.

PAUL

[N.S. Regt.]

Paul

I have a photo of the boys marching off to the S.S. Saxoina May 20 1915 I also have a number of photos taken a few months earlier in front of the armories and on the commons and the badge they are wearing is the general list badge. If you have a photo or a document to show otherwise I would like to see it.

Regards
Stephen

[guest_000]

Do you have or have you seen any photos in Canada say around 1917 ?

PAUL

[N.S. Regt.]

Paul

I do have a couple most were of wounded sent back home I can lay my hands on a couple. The first is Lieut Ralph Lewis M.M. Lieut Lewis was commissioned on April 9 1917 at Vimy he was wounded 19 days later and returned to Halifax on Dec. 13 1917. The attached photo was from his book "Over the Top with the 25th" printed in 1918. You will not the lack of collars and Div. patches on his tunic. I am lucky enough to have Lieut. Lewis's B.W.M. in my collection. the next photo is a little later Sgt. 734266 Sgt. Harold Clinton MacKinnon was wounded a couple of times he was hit in the attack on Elouges Nov. 8 1918 which is the last day the 25th Battalion was in action. He was not sent back until May 21 1919 after the rest of the battalion was home. This photo is of great intrest to me as I have in my collection the very tunic he is wearing the only difference being the addition of Sgt. stripes he was promoted just prior to his discharge. I am not sure if you can see it as I had to reduce the size of the photo but he is wearing a two peice badge and C/25 collars. If you are intrested I can post further photos of his insigina and tunic tomorrow when I get his stuff dug out. His cap badges are all the white medal Gaunt type three in total one has a trench art maple leaf backing made from a brass Tiptaft badge. You will note in the display photos the crutches from the photo also. The hat in the photo is not his this hat was the one that I mentioned I had to Pte Bustard and it was used for this display sorry about the poor photos it was done with my old camera.

Regards

Stephen

[guest_000]

VERY nice, I had not seen the overlay type badge pictured in wear before to bad he had not put up the mini collars.I wonder if all unit recruits went into the depots for NS ?

[N.S. Regt.]

Paul

Most replacements and wounded sent from Nova Scotia or comming from France from Nova Scotia battalions ended up in the 17th, 26th and 40th Reserve Battalions but there are exceptions. Many of the Highland Brigade were given the option to go to France early if they wished. I have medals in my collection to A original 85th boy who landed in France with the 13th Battalion and another from the 193rd who went in with the 73rd both these men went in late in 1916, months before the 85th landed in France. The 73rd battalion fellow ended up with the 25th and was killed on May 3 1917. I have never been able to locate a photo of the 25th boys wearing anything other then the C/25 and the single peice maple leaf collars. The officers on the other hand I have mainly seen them wearing the G&S Co. collars with one exception who appears to be wearing a two peice badge and other ranks maple leaf collars. Unfortunately the photo is not I.D.ed but would date to at least 1916 as he is wearing Div. patches. I have looked at hundreds of photos of the battalion trying to nail down the specfic issue of badges. and have found some intresting photos.

One thing I have found odd is also the lack of photographs showing the wearing of shoulder titles I have a few of the officers wearing them but never seen the other ranks wearing them. There is two types that were issued the officers version seems to be the most common where as the other ranks less so. I have three different titles that came with groups or from the families. The first is a pair to a Lieut Patchell I found them in a antique shop in New Brunswick it also contained his badge, two sets of Div. patches, collars and dogtags. The second was to R.S.M. Frank Hinchcliffe M.C. I got his directly from the family His badge was the G&S co. single peice with the red backing i also have his shoulder titles a collar and a O.R.'s div. patch. His titles were the second type. Lastly I bought a D.C.M. group to a C.S.M. Harold L. Cassidy his group contained a Gaunt two peice badge and the officers version of the shoulder title. I did wonder why he had this title and could only find that he was sent to the U.K. for a commission but never received one till after he was discharged prehaps they may have issued thenm to cadets??

This is the reason I joined this forum as I would like to see other photographs and insigina I am not aware of.

Regards
Stephen

[guest_000]

Interesting shoulders my collection consists of thousands of insignia and here we have two that not only do I not have but have never seen before thanks for showing these

PAUL

[N.S. Regt.]

Paul

Thanks as I mentioned the 25th is my main intrest and have picked up some scarse peices over the years. In regards to the shoulders I have noticed the smaller version shown in photos of officers wearing them to be common when compared to the pair worn by the R.S.M. I would like to show the members and collectors here a couple of peices that are not normally seen. As some of you may know the 25th battalion had a pipe band and their insigina was quite different from the rest of the battalion. They wore a Seaforth highlanders type badge and sporran the only distintive insigina to the battalion was the collars which were the C/25 in this photo Div. patches and a belt buckle and cross belt plate. I have only ever heard of two of these buckles both in my collection and two of the cross belt plates one in my collection one in the Army Museum in Halifax. The photos I have of the band does not show them wearing the Cross belt plate but it is a intresting study of insigina worn by them. You will also note that the collar on the Belt buckle is a G&S Co. version with a silvered finish.

Stephen

[guest_000]

Once again a true rarity thanks for sharing this one. How many in the band was it strickly a pipe band ?

PAUL

[N.S. Regt.]

Paul

The pipe band from what I am able to gather had about 25 members. The only other photo I have of them is when the Battalion is crossing the Rhine River going in to Bonn Germany. I have in my collection a single B.W.M. named to the 25th He was a piper from the 185th and was sent to the 25th while they were in Germany in 1919. The photo I used in the previous image has 20 men in the photo. I have seen a photo of a brass band but I do not think it was in existance long as I have seen no mention of it after 1915.

Below is another badge I have not come accross much I have seen a total of one badge and six collars in my life time. I am speaking of the Tiptaft made badge in white medal. It is similar to the Gaunt badge but has the distintive Tiptaft stamping seen on the maple leaf version of the badge. The Brass collar is the only one like this I have seen I beleive it to be trench art but it is lugged. The Tiptaft badge is slighty larger and does not have the detail as the ones produced by Gaunt which is to the left in the first two photos.

Stephen