A life in the Department of Forestry

[natal01]

Not really mainstream, but I rather like the frame of badges , titles and buttons that arrived today. I have no idea as to who put this lot together, but I'm guessing that it represented the life in the service of Forestry in South Africa in the times of Queen Victoria and onward. Clearly the Bosbou ( Afrikaans for 'Forestry') represents service in South Africa. The Victorian badge and buttons may have been worn by our unknown Forrester in the UK before he came to SA. One can only speculate !
Can anyone add to this speculation with some concrete facts ?
Regards
Mike

[Alex Rice]

Hi Mike
That's different, very interesting. Cheers,
Alex

[milhistry]

I have just turned forest green with envy!

I'll start with the ones I know. The bottom titles are South African and were worn from 1930s up to about 1960. They are the same style as worn in SA Army c1923 to 1950. Foresters wore khaki uniforms and these titles along with the shield shaped badge would've distinguished them from army, police, prisons etc. The shield cap badge was bronze or gilt depending on era and uniform. They were worn 1930s up to late 1960s.

Early in the 1960s a system of pips were introduced for foresters. 1 pip forester, 2 senior forester and 3 I think was Chief Forester. Pupil Foresters wore green cloth slip ons with Bosbou Forestry in gold letters. Once fully qualified they would get 1 pip. The central device on the pip was the logo of the Forest Dept. at the time.

The pips apparently did not aid in minimising confusion with other government agencies so in the late sixties the system was changed. Dark green slip ons were introduced to replace the pips with ranks indicated with thin gold braid stripes as follows:

Pupil Forester - Green slip on
Forester - Green slip on one gold stripe
Senior Foretser - Green slip on two gold stripes
Chief Forester - Green slip on three gold stripes
Control Forester - Green slip-on four gold stripes

A circular shoulder patch featuring a tree and a wreath below with Forestry Dept. Bosbou on it was also introduced at this time.

[milhistry]

The top ones may even be Cape Forest Service. Cape Colony had a ForestcService off and on during the 1800s and early 1900s.