Crossed swords
 

Could someone tell me what this uniform is.
Thanks.

Re the Arm Badge, crossed swords, - that's an easy one for me. Gymnastics or assistant PT Instructors arm badge. A proficiency badge.

The cap is the Khaki field service cap, introduced 1933, Became the regulation headdress and worn by the majority of the army. (replaced by the steel helmet when in action of course!)

He's also wearing battle dress (post 1939) I think, ('service dress' with brass buttons more normal before this date) and the Greatcoat. (the greatcoat would have brass buttons)

Rank chevrons are for a corporal, cannot work out what the cap badge is? Do you know what his regiment/unit was?


I did notice this photo in your album some time back and was going to ask about the cap badge.

Hi - Thanks for this info Mike . I dont know anything about him apart from George Carr and 15th April 1941 stamped on the back. There is a Carr branch of my tree that I'm trying to fit him in, together with another photo marked Lily Hilton or Carr, with Saville Studios North Shields on the back.

This cap badge has really got me puzzled. Can I show the picture on another (military) forum and see if the experts can identify it?

crossed swords
 

hi . the infantry rank of colour sergeant was created in 1813 as a reward for senior sergeants with one per company he would wear a badge with two crossed swords, i think it is ww2 battledress , I hope this answers your query.

It does mention the badge being worn by colour sergeants in rifle regiments in the text in post #2 but this guy is a corporal. It was also worn as a skill at arms badge for best swordsmen in cavalry units, but I think obsolete by the time this photo was taken?

I was just trying to determine if it was English Army really, to give me something to go on...Mike you can post the picture where you like.
Thanks again.

The majority decision on the other forum is that it is a Royal Artillery cap badge. I agree with that.


http://www.coquetandcoast.co.uk/imag..._cap_badge.jpg

Uniform ID
 

Mike, Is this a Military uniform? if so what?
Thanks, Gordon

Royal Marines.

yep. Royal Marines - Globe and Laurel:

http://www.coquetandcoast.co.uk/imag..._cap_badge.jpg

Thanks for these answers - bit of a surprise. Any idea of how I can find his service record, ie. Tom Tate, 1910 of Amble, nothing on ancestry searches, Cheers, Gord.

Post WW1 service records still with the MoD at Glasgow unfortunately. Have to be next of kin or show proof the person is dead to access them, then there is a charge of £30 and a long wait of about a year.

They will be released into the public domain eventually. Hoping I'm still alive and compos mentis when they do. Allegedly it could be as early as 2021, but I think it will be later.


https://www.gov.uk/guidance/requests...ervice-records

Another uniform id
 

Hi All, this is the same chap a bit older in uniform - any idea what it is.
Thanks Gordon.

Merchant navy I would say.

Hi Gordon, he's a merchant navy officer in that one. They wore a generic cap badge or a shipping company cap badge. That one, to me, is a shipping company one. Not clear enough to say anything more on the cap badge, apart from flags were a common design feature, possibly a flag in that one.

The rank piping/braid (two gilt bands and the diamond) on the sleeve is a difficult one as it had coloured trim to identify the branch. He is a; Second officer if no trim, third engineer, if purple trim, or a purser if white trim.

Here are some MN epaulettes on ebay (same design as cuff insignia)

2nd officer

3rd Engineer

[Alan beat me to it!]