Regulating Branch

[RCN]

In the thread entiltled 'Naval Police Brassards' I had shown an example of the old pre WWI Naval Police rate insignia.

After WWI (circa 1919) the NP rate badge was discontinued & the name of the NP branch was changed to the Regulating branch, & the Naval Police ratings changed to Regulators.

The new rate badge (which apeared circa 1920) for the Regulators was a single King's crown worn on the right sleeve of the tunic.

here are examples of two of the Regulator's crown, one large & the other smaller:

[RCN]

& here is an example of the Master At Arms rate insignia. The MAA nsignia appeared circa 1921 & was worn on the lapels of the tunic. This example is a rare uncut pair.

The Master at Arms was the senior Chief Petty Officer on board a ship or base & the only Naval rating permitted to wear (on ceremonial ocassions) an Officer's sword. The MAA ran the Regulating branch on a ship or base, & was what you might call the 'police inspector' of the ship or base.

Bryan

[RCN]

Here is a grp photo of the Regulating branch of a ship, taken after WWI.
The MAA (Master at Arms) is in the centre of the photo & he wears his MAA rate badges on the lapels of his tunic. You can also see he is wearing a frock coat & sword, the only naval rating entitled to wear these. The two PO's on his left & right are Regulating Petty Officers, & the RPO on the left, you can see his rate crown on his right sleeve.

& I will try to include a close up of both the MAA & RPO insignia,

Bryan

[RCN]

Here is another Regulating grp taken around the same time period as the previous photo. The MAA is in the back centre & he wears his insignia on his lapels, & you can also see the RPO crown worn on the sleeve of the RPO on his right.

Bryan

[RCN]

As a result of a near mutiny in the fleet about concerns members of the RCN felt were not being adequately addressed, a lengthy inquest chaired by RAdm Rollo Mainguy was held during 1947-48. The comittee looked into a number of these concerns, & this included making the RCN more Canadian. In early 1949 the Mainguy report was published & one of the major changes was in the RCN rank & rate structure. These were completely changed, & all of the old pre war & WWII rate badges 'went overboard'.

Most of the old wartime rates remained, altho some were almalgamated with other branches & a few new branches were introduced, & this of course meant that a whole new set of rate badges were introduced as well. The common denominator in them all tho was that the Canadian maple leaf appeared above the logo of every RCN rate badge. Gone now were the mutiplicity of one or more stars above & below the rate logo, & the Crown above the logo (for PO & CPO's) also disappeared.

The Regulator branch name remained the same but their rate badge crown logo was abolished & replaced with an entirely new rate badge, & its a superb design, one of the more beautiful designs one sees on RCN badges of this post 1949 period. New new rate badges started appearing in 1950.

Illustrated below is the 1950 Regulator badge in red embroidery. Below it is the matched CPO set, in gold embroidery, that a MAA would have now worn on his lapels instead of his former MAA crown/wreath rate badge.

The Regulator branch was phased out circa 1957 & their 'new' rate badge was abolished. Most Regulators were absorbed into the then Quartermaster branch.

Bryan

[GregN]

Thanks Bryan, very informative.

Cheers,

Greg

[John Cameron]

Great summary Bryan. I hope I'm not preempting you by posting these examples of the Quartermaster branch badges. It's another attractive badge consisting of a ship's wheel over a boatswain's pipe.
The branch badge was initially called the Quartermaster Branch but in the March 1962 edition of BRCN 213 Catalogue of Badges and Insignia it is called the Boatswain branch. As with the Regulating branch, badges were in gold wire for CPOs and in red or blue embroidery for junior ratings.

[RCN]

No thats OK John, I was planning on running a series of posts on each branch in the RCN & how the 1950 RCN branch badge 'came to be' - that is, to illustrate the previous RN/RCN badges that represented that branch. I started off with the Regulating branch as we had a posts running on it at present. I dont have them in any particular order & am preparing to do Gunnery next.

The Boatswain branch, when incorporated in '49-50 was the initially called the Quartermaster branch, & was later changed to the Boatswain branch as you mention. The Boatswain branch absorbed parts of other branches as they became, (for want for a better word) redundant, or I guess obsolete might be better, during the 50's, & I will cover that also in due course.

I always get asked lots of questions on RCN badges at shows I attend.

Bryan

[RCN]

[QUOTE=John Cameron;4496] badges were in gold wire for CPOs and in red or blue embroidery for junior ratings.
QUOTE]

John,

CPO rate/trade badges were worn on the tunic lapels in both red embroidery & gold wire; some also wore their rate badge on their white tunics, not on the stand up collar, but on the right sleeve as did PO1's & ratings.


Bryan