Ray Westlake looks at the uniform of a bass drummer of the
2nd Home Counties Field Ambulance
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Ray Westlake looks at a photo of a bass drummer of the 2nd Home Counties Field Ambulance, featuring blue uniforms with black velvet facings.
Wearing blue uniforms with black velvet facings, the 5th Division Volunteer Medical Staff Corps was formed of one company at Maidstone, Kent in 1887. A change in designation to the Maidstone Companies, Volunteer Medical Staff Corps took place in 1892, this 10 years later being amended to Maidstone Companies, Royal Army
Medical Corps (Volunteers). It would be the 2nd Company, with its headquarters at 3 Adelaide Place, Canterbury, that provided the 2nd Home Counties Field Ambulance, RAMC (Territorial Force) in 1908. Territorial Force field ambulances at the time were organised on a three-section basis, in this case: ‘A’ at Canterbury, ‘B’ at Ashford and Folkestone and ‘C’, Whitstable.
Cap. Standard khaki service type.
Shoulder title. Brass in three tiers: ‘T’ over ‘RAMC’ over ‘HOME COUNTIES’.
Apron. Thick leather so as to protect the jacket from the rough edges and rope of the bass drum.
Bass drum. The main body of the instrument (the shell) is dark blue and bears the RAMC badge above the designation, ‘2HCFA’. The outer edges (the hoops) are dark blue with red edging. The wavy line in the centre (the worm) is white. Thick leather sliders drawn down the ropes increases the tension of the two skins (heads).
Cap badge. Standard Royal Army Medical Corps brass type with king’s crown and the serpententwined rod of the Greek god of medicine, Aesculapius, in the centre.
Uniform. Standard khaki service type with Royal Arms brass buttons.
Arm badge. Cloth, a red Geneva cross on a white ground and within a yellow circle. All on a black cloth backing.
Mallets. Wood handles with hard leather heads, held in place when not in use via a brass hook positioned at the throat.