'V' collar badge - British & Commonwealth Military Badge Forum

DougSA · #1 19-11-23, 12:12 PM

Can anyone please advise the significance of 'V' under officer's collar badges, in WW1 era?

Did it signify 'Volunteer' battalion or something else?

Alan O · #2 19-11-23, 02:16 PM

Yes if it is 1917-18 Volunteer Battalion.

Not to be confused with the pre 1908 Volunteer Battalions.

DougSA · #3 19-11-23, 04:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alan O

Yes if it is 1917-18 Volunteer Battalion.

Not to be confused with the pre 1908 Volunteer Battalions.

As such, Volunteer Training Corps?

Alan O · #4 19-11-23, 04:42 PM

VTC were the predecessors. 1914-16.

Alan O · #5 19-11-23, 05:07 PM

Your photo won't be VTC because they were not allowed to wear the Gloster collar badges.

DougSA · #6 19-11-23, 07:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alan O

Your photo won't be VTC because they were not allowed to wear the Gloster collar badges.

What would then be the meaning of the 'V'?

Alan O · #7 19-11-23, 07:51 PM

Volunteer because they were Volunteer Battalions of the County Infantry Regiments. So in your photos case he was in the Volunteer Battalion of the Glosters.

Alan O · #8 19-11-23, 07:55 PM

He may well have belonged to this battalion

https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/92415

Peter Brydon · #9 20-11-23, 03:14 AM

I thought the “V” meant Volunteer Force as compared to the “T” of Territorial “ Force.

P.

Jelly Terror · #10 20-11-23, 06:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DougSA

Can anyone please advise the significance of 'V' under officer's collar badges, in WW1 era?

Did it signify 'Volunteer' battalion or something else?

Any chance of seeing the photo in full?

Regards,

JT

Peter Brydon · #11 20-11-23, 07:21 AM

The Volunteer Force List.

P.

Alan O · #12 20-11-23, 07:43 AM

Interestingly the Volunteer Force battalions were authorised to wear the same cap badges as the Regulars but without battleground. However by the end of the war many units were still wearing the GS coat of arms cap badges.

So in some cases the cap badges were to be, somewhat ironically, the old Territorial battalions badges. I have seen documented evidence that the Middlesex Volunteers wore the blank scroll badge of the old 10th Bn Middlesex.

K&K attribute the w/m Hants cap badge to the VTC but why this would have been worn by them and not the 1916 GM one is not clear to me.

It is highly likely that all brass 1916 versions of the TF cap badges may have been worn by the VTC and they were certainly authorised for their wear by the VB.

Again like all things VTC actual records are few and far between.

mike_vee · #13 20-11-23, 08:00 AM

Found this on the King's Own Royal Regiment Museum site :

Quote:

Under Army Order 208 of 1918, authorising new alternative titles for units of the Volunteer Force, the 13th (Lancaster) and 14th (Barrow) Battalions Lancashire Volunteer Regiment, became the 1st and 2nd Volunteer Battalions, King’s Own Royal Lancaster Regiment.

Under Army Council Instruction 898 Volunteer Force Order No. CSCVI, the Badges of the Affiliated Units of the Territorial Force with the addition of the letter “V” in bronze below the collar badge, were authorised and adopted.

http://www.kingsownmuseum.com/ww1-volbnskorlr.htm

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