208th Battalion Harp Collars

[cefguy]

I recently photographed a set of harp collars from the 208th Bn CEF for the book project. I was asked if the 208th actually wore the harp collars. When I acquired these beauties they came with a group photo of the 208th MG section. Thought that would share this bit of history with the forum members. Interesting to see the various combinations of left/ right collars, 208th/ MGS/ Canada and 208th/ INF/ Canada. Of the soldiers in the photo all appear to be wearing the 208th cap badge and there is no sign of the 208th maple leaf collars.
Don

[whizzbang]

Beautiful collars, Don! Haven't seen them before, wonder how common they are?

[Bill A]

Thanks Don. There are several patterns of the harp collar badges. Mazeas shows similar collars for the 110th Irish Regt / Irish Regiment (1920-32), but they are different in details on the harp. I wonder if that was an artistic error? These collars could very well have been made for the Irish Regt and used by the CEF battalions. I wonder if any of the other Irish CEF battalions also wore the harp collars?

[irishhorse]

I always believed the harp collars were first worn by the 110 Irish Regiment. Then adopted by the 208 CEF who were formed by the Irish Regiment. But I've only seen one early photo of the 110 Irish Regiment. Its shows an officer not wearing any collars. Must be other photos out there! I've not seen harp collars worn by the other Irish CEF battalions, just the normal smaller version of their cap badges. The 208 CEF also had these small collars produced, but I've never seen them worn.
Apart from the INF and the MGS. What other title would have been worn by sections of the 208 ?

[Bill A]

I thought that was a possibility as well. The collars posted by Don are not the same pattern as those listed for the 110th; the details on the collars are quite different, eg the number of strings, and the details on the arms of the harp. That may be an error in the reference, or it may indicate the 208th acquired collars of their own design?

[Bill A]

To answer the question posed by irishhorse, the 208th would have worn the battalion numeral "208" over INF over Canada. No unique shoulder bar is recorded.
The MGS was likely only worn by the Lewis gun section / platoon in the Battalion.