11th Taranaki Regiment

[5WWCT]

Cap,Collars & shoulder badges of the 7th Wellington West Coast Regiment and The 11th Taranaki Rifles Regiment 1911 - 1948 Both Territorial Rifle Units provided company's to The Wellington Regt but retained their provincial badges, both units served in Gallipoli,France & Belguim, these were also worn during WWII with the home service Battalions.

[Tinto]

Hi 5WWCT,
Nice badges. Welcome to the Forum, a great bunch of keen collectors.
Cheers, Tinto

[atillathenunns]

I too am a great fan of the Wellington Regiments.
From some collections I have seen, the 7th & 11th Regiments have a lot of badge variations to collect.
Heres my small collection.

No. 1 is the 4th Battalion Wellington (Taranaki) Rifle Volunteers, circa 1902 to 1910 (Made by J R Gaunt London).

No. 2 is the XI Taranaki Rifles Regiment badge with the battle honours ‘Waireka,’ ‘New Zealand’ and ‘South Africa,’ circa 1911 (Made by J R Gaunt London).
(A bronze officer’s version was also made with battle honours. It is my opinion that these badges were issued in conjunction with the 50th anniversary of the Taranaki Rifles being presented their Regimental Colours on the 25th June 1861.)

No. 3 is a bronze officers badge, circa 1912 to 1917 (Made by J R Gaunt London).

No. 4 is a brass ordinary ranks badge, circa 1912 to 1917 (Made by J R Gaunt London).



No. 1 is the same Gaunt made badge in No. 4 above, and is included for comparison purposes.
No. 2 & No. 3 are NZ made versions, circa 1915 to 1948.



The Taranaki Rifles flag that was presented on the 25th June 1861 shows an interesting view of the regiments’ original badge.-

“The flag is on a black ground, with St. George's Cross in crimson, a green wreath with orange-coloured blossoms below and a yellow regal crown above the centre piece, which exhibits a view of Mount Egmont embroidered in green and white upon a crimson field, this badge placed in the centre of the cross being encircled by double rows of silver cord, between which "Taranaki Volunteers" is inscribed. The appropriate word "Waireka" is affixed to both colours, and worked in the same letters as "Taranaki Volunteers." The Militia flag; save the difference of name and corps, and that the ground is blue, and without St. George's Cross, is a facsimile of that of the Volunteers.”



The (Wellington West Coast Rifles) Regiment.
The two on the left are a Gaunt made collar and hat badge, circa 1902 to 1917.
The badge on the right is New Zealand made, circa 1915 to 1948.
As with the 11th Regiment, the 7ths badge (Rampant Lion) can be traced back to the flag of the Wellington Rifle Battalion that was presented on the 21st June 1887.
(I have a photo of this flag, will post when I find it)



Brent

[5WWCT]

Hi Brent,

I knew you would tease me with the battle honours ones haha very nice! just keep me in mind when you sell up please Taranaki badges have certainly shot up in the last couple of years, as im greedy and collect everything - uniforms,medals,badges,paperwork ect my badge knowledge is some what limited pre WWI issues to these two units, any guidence regarding pre WWI,NZ Vols would be most appreciated.

[atillathenunns]

Badge prices may increase even more when Geoff Oldham publishes his new price catalogue.

If its guidance you seek, I am only too happy to point you in the right direction. You can ask questions regarding badges via this forum, for Wellington Volunteer uniforms and history, we can use the militarianz forum, or you are welcome to send me a PM with your questions.

The following picture is of the original Queens Colours that was presented to the Wellington Rifle Battalion on the 20th June 1887 (Jubilee day) by the Mayoress of Wellington, Mrs Samual Brown on behalf of the Ladies of Wellington.

It is worth mentioning that Mrs Borlase on behalf of the Ladies of Thorndon presented the first Wellington flag to the No. 1 Company, Wellington Rifle Volunteers on The 25th February 1864.
The flag was made by the ladies of Thorndon who kept it a secret until the flag was finished.

The 1864 flag was of green silk with a union jack in red white and blue silk, in the left top hand corner. In the centre was a crown surmounted by the words “No. 1 Company, Rifle Volunteers,” and the word “Wellington” below. At the bottom was the motto “nec timide, nec temere,” which at the time translated as expressing neither fear nor temerity (Rashness).

Interestingly, Archdeacon Stock blessed the 1864 and 1887 flags.

The 1887 Queen Colours below and Battalion Colours were commissioned and paid for by the Ladies of Wellington in November 1886, and were manufactured by Hobson and Sons of London at a cost of 70 Pounds.

The 1887 Battalion Colours consisted of a blue silk flag having the figure 1. (The number of the battalion) in the left-hand top corner, and the letters “N.Z.” in the other corners. In the centre was the battalion badge (Duke’s badge) surrounded by a laurel wreath. The edging of the flag is was silver embroidery.



(Unfortunately, there is a very sad story to the laying-up of the 1864 and 1887 Wellington flags)

I have been unable to find an exact date that the Wellington Rifle Battalion adopted the Duke of Wellington’s badge. 1885???????????

[atillathenunns]

A few more Wellington badges of interest.

The bottom one which I am sure your familiar with, is the 5th Wellington West Coast Taranaki Battalions (5WWCT) 150th anniversary badge (2008) manufactured by Mayer and Toye of Wellington (Only 100 badges were struck in solid silver)



2nd Battalion Wellington (West Coast) Rifle Volunteers helmet plate, circa 1902 – 1910.



2nd Battalion Wellington (West Coast) Rifle Volunteers shoulder title, A Company (Royal Rifle Volunteers) circa 1898 – 1910.



The following badges were worn by the 1st Battalion Wellington Rifle Volunteers 1898 – 1910, and the 5th (Wellington Rifles) Regiment 1911 – 1923. (They are all marked J R Gaunt)



The Wellington Regiment hat and collar badges 1923 – 1949
The Wellington Regiment band (Became the musical arm of the 7th RNZIR) continued to wear the Dukes badge until 1965, where it was worn for the last time on the 50th Anzac Anniversary parade in Sydney.
The ordinary ranks cap and collar badges are NZ manufactured. The officers badges were made Firmin, London)

[woronora]

Keep them coming Brent. I look forward to your postings on the 9th Hawkes Bay and 17th Ruahine Regiments.

Cheers

John

[atillathenunns]

Originally Posted by woronora

Keep them coming Brent. I look forward to your postings on the 9th Hawkes Bay and 17th Ruahine Regiments.

Cheers

John

I will post them hopefully on Wednesday.

[5WWCT]

During WWII the 7th WWCT & 11th Taranaki's again provided companies to the 19th,22nd & 25th Infantry Bn's of the 2nd Division NZEF which served in North Africa, Britain, Greece, Crete, & Italy. The 36th Bn served in the Pacific in Fiji, Tonga, & The Solomons.

The Onwards Badge was universal to the 2NZEF & later Japan Force, later in the war the 22nd converted to a motorised infantry unit authorized to wear a red backing within the "NZ" section of the badge, the one pictured was originally a unit flash of the HQ unit of the 2NZEF with lug holes present. worn from 1939-1947

[5WWCT]

In 1948 Both Regiments amalgamated to form The WWCT Regt, the new badge, the phoenix stems from Arabic mythology as the new unit rising from the ashes of the two former VII & XI, In 1960 the unit was given the right to wear collar badges on all forms of dress for being the oldest unit in the NZ Army, Worn from 1952 - 1964.

[5WWCT]

A further reorganisation in 1964 saw the various Infantry Units numbered, The WWCT redesignated 5 Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment, introducing the RNZIR Badge and collars, made of aluminium of which the lugs usually broke. worn from 1964 - 1974. The cap is still worn today by some old sweats

[5WWCT]

In 1974 a reintroduction of Regimental tittles changing to 5(WWCT) with the phoenix collar badges worn on all forms of dress, in the late 80's a new bi metal RNZIR badge was introduced and in the early 90's saw the introduction of the blackend collar badges worn on DPM work dress, compare the quality of the bi metal collars to its 1950's version.

[5WWCT]

In 1999 for a short time TF Infantry Units reverted back to their former Regimental tittles then overnight another reorg saw them as Battalion Groups adopting other TF Corps and trades within their regions, these are there current badges, this RNZIR badge was introduced in 1996-7, a much better design with the former having the front "kiwi" part falling of, usually on parade. In the early 90's the collars changed to stayshine silver for service dress.

[5WWCT]

The Blackend Phoenix is worn by the CO & RSM, introduced around 1996, The silver 11th Taranaki badge commemorates the 150th Unit birthday in 2008, and the QC Onwards badge is worn on the Lemon Squeezer, any corrections are welcomed.