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Scarlet and Gold Concerts

Following the great success of the 2010 concert. Two massed bands concerts have being arranged for the 15th and 16th November 2012, to be held at Central Hall, Westminster.

Ticket availability will be very limited, therefore you are advised to book as soon as the tickets go on sale.

Tickets can be purchase direct from Central Hall, Westminster’s ticket agents  by clicking on the address below.

http://store.ambassadortickets.com/gateway.aspx?E=N&QL=S12050|VCEN|GShowDatesCombo.aspx

or by telephoning 0844 8717605

The 2012 exhibition - Cloth Badges of the Brigade of Guards

Cloth badges have been worn for centuries by the British Army, either on the arm, on the headdress or on the soldiers equipment.

One of the earliest are chevrons, they were first introduced into the Army in 1802. The pattern of lace to the chevrons has changed over the years, today it is known as ‘Broken Bias’ or ‘Stand and Fall’. An interesting point is that the chevrons to both the Scots and Irish pipers have been the same as the rest of the Guards Division in pattern and have never featured either the thistle or shamrock pattern lace. The Foot Guards are unique in that they do not wear any single bar chevrons. Queen Victoria decreed that she did not want to see a single chevron worn by her Foot Guards. Today a Lance Corporal wears two chevrons, white on his Home Service Tunic. Corporals, known as Lance Sergeants in the Foot Guards wear three chevrons again white on his Home Service Tunic and they are part of the Warrant Officers and Sergeants Mess. Since the advent of the Combat 95 system of dress all ranks wear their rank on chest slides.

A peculiarly in the Foot Guards is that these badges are a third larger then the rest of the army.

The rank of Colour Sergeant was introduced into the British Army in 1813. It is not known what the first Colour Badges for the Guards looked like but it was probable that all three regiments had the same design. The earliest that we know of is that to William IV. Because of the short reigns both Edward the VII and Edward VIII very few are known to exist for these monarchs. Over the last forty years those of the Irish Guards have changed by depicting either three or four shamrocks on the Colour.

Shoulder titles were introduced into the Foot Guards around 1902 and were worn by all five Foot Guards Regiments up until the demise of Battledress after which metal titles were worn.  One puzzle is that the Coldstream Guards do not seem to have worn cloth shoulder titles during World War One. With the introduction of the SA80 rifle and the problems with the rifles snagging on the metal shoulder titles, cloth versions were re-introduced into the Foot Guards for wear on No. 2 Dress..

At the start of World War One shoulder titles were issued to the Army generally and were for the infantry white on red. It seems that the Guards were issued with this colour regardless of regiment, very shortly after their issue, three of the regiments reverted to their own colours: Scots Guards yellow on blue, Irish Guards white on dark green, Welsh Guards white on black. A number of the white on red versions exist to these three regiments and some can be seen in the Exhibition.

Trade and proficiency badges have been in existence since the 1850s. They were issued to those who have reached a certain standard in skills like shooting, fencing, signalling, to those who have achieved certain levels in trades. Over the years those worn by the Foot Guards on their Home Service Tunics have been gradually phased out, it was said because they left a mark on the tunic when the badge was no longer worn. The only ones worn today are: the parachute wings, the parachute, commando knife, SAS wings and the Army Air Corps wings. Officer’s badges have red backing whilst other ranks are dark navy blue.

Officers rank crown and stars. The pattern worn by Guards Officers was introduced in 1920 before this date the Bath Star was worn. Today officers of the Grenadier, Coldstream and Welsh Guards feature the Garter Star on their stars, the Scots Guards the thistle and the Irish the shamrock. When the combat dress was introduced after the demise of Battledress, officers wore their rank on slides. Unlike the rest of the British Army, Guards officers have their crowns and stars sewn onto the rank slide instead of embroidered. A number of embroidered versions have been seen, but these are generally frowned upon.

Officers wear no rank crowns and star on their mess dress until they reach the rank of full Colonel and above. Those badges worn by Warrant Officers and below are one third smaller than those worn in other orders of dress

Over the year’s slightly different pattern badges, shoulder titles etc have appeared, this is purely down to a different manufacturers production. An example of this is the rounded or square cut edge to some of the shoulder titles and the different pattern grenade badges worn by the Grenadier Guards as part of their rank structure.