Northern Rhodesia Police

[altcar73]

Originally Posted by Chacal

Afternoon gents

A 16mm version of the Northern Rhodesia Police button I posted above arrived today, I notice that the 'crested crane' faces the opposite way - does that mean they were worn on the righthand side of the uniform? Or at a different time to the other one (24mm - reposted for reference)? Either way, I'm happy to have them .

Graham

Graham,

I may be wrong but I think the left and right facing buttons (16mm) may have been worn on the cap to secure the bull-strap. Both with the bird facing forward, or have I got the wrong end of the stick?

Dave.

[Chacal]

Originally Posted by altcar73

Graham,

I may be wrong but I think the left and right facing buttons (16mm) may have been worn on the cap to secure the bull-strap. Both with the bird facing forward, or have I got the wrong end of the stick?

Dave.

Dave

It is a possibility, although (in my experience) cap buttons are a bit smaller - I've just got some AA RCMP cap buttons which are 12mm diameter. However, a hundred years or so ago, who knows? I'll keep an eye open for images of NRP caps, and post anything that comes up.

Graham

[1314]

There were no buttons on the officer's sun helmet worn pre -war,the chin strap was affixed to the inside of the brim.(Ditto post war with the Bombay Bowler worn in full dress).The R&F wore fezzes without chin strap.

POST WAR - the officers' black peaked cap carried the smallest of the button issue,one each side to secure the patent leather chin-strap.These were white metal ( crowned Fish Eagle over Falls from 1953).The next up in size were those on the top of the epaulettes and on the lower sleeves of officers' winter and full dress tunics.Next those on the patch pockets of the bush and full dress tunics and the largest were the front fasteners of these.
All these buttons were in white/chromed metal with ring fasteners.
Whilst the officers' military style raincoats bore brown plaited buttons (no insignia) the blue raincapes of the R & F carried large black composite buttons with insignia.These were sewn onto the item.
Very Senior Officer's wore Colonial Police issue buttons,sizes as above.