Royal Marines Colonels forage/dress cap.

[JerryBB]

Another from my collection. When first I had it I wrongly thought the buttons were RWK but only the other day I was looking at Oli's book on British army peaked caps of the Second World War and noticed that they have this style of button on the officers caps, a lion atop a crown. I have a similar cap for a Colonel in the RWF and he kept his regimental buttons on it and that is where I went wrong and perhaps I have this wrong but I am now sure that this means it is for a Senior officer of the RM.

The cap is circa mid 1950's with a Queens crown emblem on the front, though the buttons are Kings crown so perhaps a RM or buttons expert can inform me if they kept the old buttons after 1953 as the cap might be a little earleir in date as they are hard to narrow down sometimes to a precise date and they remain unchanged for long periods except for the insignia which can of course be upgraded over time.

[Irv]

Yes Royal Marines. There must have been a lot of items still issued with the KC after 1952. Lovely cap.

[Jim Maclean]

Ascertaining when RM officers changed to the all white crown would give the latest date of this cap.

[JerryBB]

Originally Posted by Jim Maclean

Ascertaining when RM officers changed to the all white crown would give the latest date of this cap.

Jim,

the RN introduced the fixed white top in 1956 and perhaps the RM introduced their version at the same time, I don't know. The RM did introduce a lightweight version with a fixed white top in 1938 though it appears they were not much used until after the end of WWII.

The end of use is not what I was trying to establish, rather the earliest date possible for this cap as the Brigadier/Colonels badge has been added as an upgrade following promotion. It the hand the mounting holes for the two part badge used by Lt.Colonels can clearly be seen. Also not seen in the photos are 3 removed metal initial badges (not sure what the proper term for these are but they have the owners initials on them, one for each letter) from the sweatband, but sadly it is not possible to read what they once showed.

[Sunray9]

Jerry, according to 'Personal Distinctions' 350 Years of RM Uniforms and Insignia, this cap was first introduced in 1923 ... the same year the RMA and RMLI joined to form the Royal Marines.

Ritchie.

[JerryBB]

Originally Posted by Sunray9

Jerry, according to 'Personal Distinctions' 350 Years of RM Uniforms and Insignia, this cap was first introduced in 1923 ... the same year the RMA and RMLI joined to form the Royal Marines.

Ritchie.

Thanks Ritchie. I assume you mean the officers forage cap, so sometime between 1923 to 1956. It looks circa WWII or perhaps just after, so probably 1939 to 1952. It is hard to be more precise as the caps don't really change much in that period. The Hatters, A.J.White started manufacturing in the Late Victorian period and were still in business until at least the 1960's as far as I have been able to find out.

Circa WWII or early post war with an upgrade to Brigadier/Colonel sometime between 1953 and 1956 is probably as close as I will get it.