British & Commonwealth Military Badge Forum

Recent Books by Forum Members

   

Go Back   British & Commonwealth Military Badge Forum > Common Forums > It's a Mystery -Unknown Insignia for Identification

 Other Pages: Galleries, Links etc.
Glossary  Books by Forum Members     Canadian Pre 1914    CEF    CEF Badge Inscriptions   Canadian post 1920     Canadian post 1953     British Cavalry Badges     Makers' Marks    Pipers' Badges  Canadian Cloth Titles  Books  SEARCH
 
Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old 20-05-12, 05:49 PM
Milmed's Avatar
Milmed Milmed is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: South Africa
Posts: 1,702
Default Unknown South African Insignia

Hi,
I have the following South African related badges that need some clarification/thoughts on please.

1. Brass collar (or cap/slouch hat) badge with coat of arms and title "Gewapen en Regtvaardig" of Stellaland. Stellaland was a boer republic in the area of Bechuanaland and in existance between 1882 and 1885. (see Wikipedia for a full story). The closest reference I could find to a military unit was in 'The armed forces of South Africa' by Major G. Tylden who refers to a Stellaland Light Horse, 30 strong raised by Major Dennison for the Bechuanaland Campaign of 1896-1897. (note period is post the existance of Stellaland). Could this possible a badge from this unit??

2. SMB title (shoulder or slouch hat) - Was thinking WWI Southern Mouted Brigade, but can only find reference to a Southern Mounted Rifles. Of interest this was found together with the Stellaland badge in the bottom of a toolbox full of brass nuts, bolts, etc at a local carboot sale.

3. A two piece badge which appears to be made from a WWII SA general service springbok collar mounted onto the wreath of a brass RAF cap badge.
Appears well made and obviously done for a reason. My opinion would be Cadet related. Maybe a Cadet band.

4. A small SA related rank pip of type I have not yet seen. Image shows a SA five point rank star on a 5 sided castle rank badge. The regular rank badges used to be a 5 point star with SA coat of arms and a 5 sided castle with SA coat of arms. I have not seen a rank badge showing both devices together and the coat of arms is surrounded by laurel wreath intead of the motto 'Ex Unitate Vires'. Could this be a prototype badge?

Regards
Steven
Attached Images
File Type: jpg unknown 2.jpg (22.6 KB, 70 views)
File Type: jpg IMG_0001.jpg (20.9 KB, 49 views)
File Type: jpg IMG_0002.jpg (29.5 KB, 58 views)
File Type: jpg Rank 1.JPG (12.7 KB, 53 views)
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 02-06-12, 04:22 PM
revdougal revdougal is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 313
Default

S/T "SMB":This is a very long shot.
I wonder if this belongs to the Sohan Mountain Battery of the Indian Mountain Artillery. Originally raised as 38 (Reserve) Mtn Bty RA in 1918, it became 18 (Sohan) Mtn Bty in 1928, and as such was swept up for the campaign in East Africa in Aug 1940; there it formed a close friendship with 1 Bty SAFA, while together in Fowcol: there were in fact lots of SA participant Units in this campaign. The Sohan Bty remained until about Jun 41, when it went to Haifa, joining 26 Mtn Regt.
I have NO proof for this suggestion, but a s/t such as this is no innovation; for c.1905 the IMA Btys wore such initials as s/ts, e.g. "DMB" for "Derajat Mtn Bty". Only between the Wars the more familiar Pagri type badges came in.
I cannot prove all this - just a hunch as nothing else seems to fit, way out though this conjecture may be!
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 03-06-12, 01:48 PM
Milmed's Avatar
Milmed Milmed is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: South Africa
Posts: 1,702
Default

Thanks for posting Revdougall. Very interesting and very much a possibility.

Steven
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 04-06-12, 12:31 AM
peter monahan peter monahan is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2009
Posts: 2,406
Default

I believe Revdougall is correct. The style of the title says "Indian Army" to me too.

Peter
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 17-07-18, 06:22 PM
Milmed's Avatar
Milmed Milmed is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: South Africa
Posts: 1,702
Default

Just some feedback on an old thread I started 6 years ago.

I noticed mention of a South African unit serving in GEA during WWI called "Stokes Mortar Battery" and as the SMB badge was found in SA and is of similar construction to other SA WWI badges, this may be what the SMB stands for.

Steven
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old 01-09-23, 01:16 AM
Kalpak1 Kalpak1 is offline
New Member
 
Join Date: May 2010
Posts: 4
Default Republic of Goshen Boer State 1882–1883 Badge

[FONT="Arial"]The first badge referred to is the devise and motto 'Gewapend en Regtvaardig' (Dutch: Armed and Fair) of the Republic of Goshen Boer State, Bechuanaland, 1882–1883. Capital, Rooigrond, Mafikeng.
Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump

mhs link

All times are GMT. The time now is 07:45 PM.


Powered by: vBulletin
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.