THE CHANGING FACE OF MILITARIA
MILITARY badges have been used to identify, decorate and fasten uniforms since the end of the 17th century when the regular or “standing” armies of Europe were raised. Today, they make a fascinating collection and an invaluable means by which to study military history.
Medieval soldiers wore their own clothing and showed their allegiance to their leader by wearing his badge on their coats, usually copying the nobleman’s coat of arms. Richard III’s men, for example, took a white boar as their symbol.
However, this haphazard system was outlawed by Henry VIII, whose soldiers were permitted to wear only the red cross of St George. His idea was to show unity in an effort to emphasise the national character of his army and prevent civil war.
British regiments were first identified only by a number, but the tradition of association with particular counties was introduced in 1881.
The regimental emblem formed the helmet plate, or cap badge, and was often repeated on epaulettes, buttons and plates attached to shoulder belts, which were worn from the late 18th century until 1855.
Badges worn by officers were generally gilt or silver and sometimes enamelled, while lower ranking badges were made of brass or silvery metal.
Metal shoulder titles were introduced shortly after 1881 and were at first worn only on officers’ tropical uniforms.
Khaki drill uniforms were issued in India in 1885 and it was on this dress that metal titles were first used by all ranks.
Home service and other forms of dress at first had the title of the regiment stitched into the shoulder straps, metal titles being issued only after 1907.
Embroidered titles were used on the service dress that was introduced in 1902 and retained until 1907 when the “Priced Vocabulary of Clothing and Necessaries” decreed they should be replaced by metal.
Metal badges were being worn throughout the British Army by 1908 when clothing regulations laid down strict rules on how and on what they could be worn.
Badges have also been worn on items of uniform other than the shoulder strap.
During the Boer War of 1899-1902, for example, a wide-brimmed headdress known as the slouch hat was introduced.
It soon became the custom to wear the hat with the left side turned up and fixed to the main body.
Several methods of fixing the brim to the hat were used, some units using badges made specially for the purpose, while others used those already in general use.
In many cases the shoulder badge was considered the most convenient method and it soon became widely used as the slouch hat badge. Boer War examples are rare today.