Who are they ?

[Heather]

Would anyone recognize which battalion or group this is ?

Name listed :

NCO's

3/3

Is this Non-Commissioned Officers ?

Any ideas at all on 3/3 would be much appreciated.

http://talkingscot.com/gallery/displayi ... ?pos=-1276

Thanks for any suggestions )

Heather

[Heather]

That should be 3/3 Highlanders

ooops !

[DavidWW]

Possibly, even probably, the 3rd line battalion of the 3rd Battalion of the Highland Light Infantry (The City of Glasgow Regiment).

If that sounds confusing, in WWI each "headline" battalion of a regiment actually consisted of a number of battalions.

In this case of the HLI there would have been the 1st/3rd HLI, the active service battalion; the 2/3 HLI, basically a training battalion set up to supply men to the 1/3 HLI to replace casualties; and the 3/3 HLI, which would have consisted in the main of those too young or too old for active service, or not fit enough for active service, but capable of duties inside the UK such as manning garrisons, and, as the requirements for more troops changed and the age limits were altered, or as those originally too young grew older, then supplied reinforcements to other battalions .....

Such second line battalions themselves sometimes were sent on active service when they weren't required to reinforce the first line battalion.

Just to confuse matters furthers you will occasionally come across terminology such as the 4th/5th battalion of a regiment. This arose when the separate 4th and 5th active service battalions suffered such high casualties that the only way to continue as a useful regimental unit was to merge the battalions.

If the casualties were really severe, - far from uncommon in WWI, - the battalion would be temporarily disbanded with the remants distributed amongst other battalions, sometimes sister battalions, or at least other Scottish battalions, or even any other active service battalions in the theatre of war involved. Quite often, but not always, the second and third line battalions would later be used to reform the first line battalion.

See http://www.regiments.org/regiments/uk/v ... anark1.htm for some outline details on the 3rd Battalion, the Highland Light Infantry (City of Glasgow Regiment).

There's no other Scottish regiment of that time whose name starts with "Highland", - earlier yes, but in 1914 the Scottish regiments were .....

The Royal Scots
The Royal Scots Fusiliers
The Kings Own Scottish Borderers
The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles)
The Black Watch (Royal Highlanders)
The HLI (City of Glasgow Regiment)
The Seaforth Highlanders
The Gordon Highlanders
The Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders
The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (Princess Louise's)

plus the 3rd Regiment of Foot Guards, the Scots Guards; and the 2nd Dragoons, The Royal Scots Greys.

David

[DavidWW]

After writing all that , a close look at the cap badge would lead me to believe that they are Royal Artillery, rather than a regiment of foot.

I'd suggest that you post the photo on the Great War Forum at http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forum ... hp?act=idx and seek more expert advice .........

David

[don]

I would agree with David on this being a group of NCO's from the Royal Artillery, the wearing of the bandolier, lanyard and what looks like the front strapping for a pair of spurs on the boots of one of the group would point me to this regiment as would the style and form of the RA cap badge.

don

[emanday]

Sorry to disagree, but I've uploaded an enlarged image of one of the capbadges on the photo and it isn't, in my opinion, the Royal Artillery.
http://talkingscot.com/gallery/displayi ... ?pos=-1279
<image URL added, LesleyB>

[don]

There is a medal card for a Corporal Robert Fulton, Royal Field Artillery (service number 96741) to be found on the National Archives site if this is of any help.

don

[DavidWW]

Sorry to disagree, but I've uploaded an enlarged image of one of the capbadges on the photo and it isn't, in my opinion, the Royal Artillery.
http://talkingscot.com/gallery/displayi ... ?pos=-1279
<image URL added, LesleyB>

Have a look at http://www.angelfire.com/mi2/angela764/ ... adges.html - you'll need to page down a bit.........

This is a modern badge so it might differ in some slight details, but it is essentially the way it's always been.

Note the crown on top, the barrel just "sticking out" either side above the wheel of the field gun, and the trail of the carriage on the right hand side dropping down to the very distinct RFA badge scroll at the bottom on which is one of the mottos of the corps, - Quo Fas Et Gloria Ducunt .

The other motto is a bit shorter - Ubique, - placed on another short scroll immediately underneath the crown.

David

[emanday]

My father was in the RA and his cap badge, fixed to the lid of my mother's jewellery box, was visible to me and my siblings throughout our lives. The badge on those caps is not it.

The enlarged image I uploaded is not as clear as it was when I did it in Photoshop, but the "gun carriage wheel" which should be there is nothing more than a circle and the gun barrel which should be to the left of that is not there at all.

I have uploaded a graphic of the RA cap badge for comparison.
http://talkingscot.com/gallery/displayi ... ?pos=-1280
<image URL posted, LesleyB>

[DavidWW]

I will happily defer to the much more expert opinion on such matters to be found on the Great War Forum at http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forum ... hp?act=idx should someone be prepared to post the query there, seeking much more expert advice .........

I'm no great military expert, despite having written a book on the names and numbers of the Scottish regiments since their formation 300+ years ago, - but that was in a genealogical context, but leading to at least a passing knowledge in the arcane area of shoulder, cap, and other badges.

Such an interest has inevitably occasionally taken me into the history, and badges of the various corps of the British Army, involving Scots, including the Royal Field Artillery, Royal Garrison Artillery, and Royal Horse Artillery, on which subject I'm no expert, - I would always refer folk to http://www.regiments.org/regiments/uk/a ... sig/RA.htm for the best summary on the www.

In my own case, I have the treasured possession of my great-uncle Alexander McLENNAN's RFA cap badge from his service in South Africa (Boer War) and then India, and thereby hangs a tale in terms of why the McCLENNANs became known as the black sheep of the family, - but that's another story entirely ................. except that it adds to my belief that this photie show a Royal Artillery group of NCOs.

As stated above, I will happily defer to more expert opinion on the Great War Forum, but, based on extensive experience of identifying the Scottish regimental cap and other badges on many similar photies from WWI and earlier, - given the distortion that very often results from less than perfect original photies, and even less perfect scans, and further less perfect enlargements of such scans, - I'll happily place £100 with a bet holder in this instance that the "3/3" photograph relates to a battery of the Royal Artillery, - wha kens if it's the "Field", "Garrison", or, unlikely I'd have hought, "Horse" variety ..............

The frustratingly truncated chalk marks on the blackboard, would, I'm more than sure, had the full blackboard been visible, have shown something along the lines of 3/3 Battery "Highland" (Greenock or whereever) Royal Field, maybe Garrison, Artillery ......... wha kens?, but I'm 99.9% certain that these NCOs have an artillery connection from my view of their cap badge, never mind don's comments re bandoliers, lanyards, and spurs .......


That written, don's post ..........

There is a medal card for a Corporal Robert Fulton, Royal Field Artillery (service number 96741) to be found on the National Archives site if this is of any help.

....appears to suggest an RFA connection for one RFA NCO of a similar name ............


But lets see what the Great War Forum experts say ................

David