4th Battalion WW1 cloth shoulder title (forum archive)

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Posted by plbramham » Tue Jul 09, 2013 7:04 pm

plbramham General Global moderator Posts: 1369

I had always thought that during WW1 The Border Regiment only used the curved brass shoulder titles, but I have recently found a khaki wool/felt cloth embroidered white lettering slip on shoulder title with a single cloth loop fitting to the reverse, which I was told was First World War (an economy measure perhaps I thought? – but I was dubious). I knew that there were briefly WW2 black lettering on khaki cloth titles, and I have heard rumours of a version with white stitching around that time, but this example seemed larger than other types I’ve seen from the 1940s period (measures approx 78 x 54 mm.) I’m told it came from a drawer of remnants when an old military tailors shop was being emptied out in the 1980s, which explains its unissued condition. I checked with Stuart at the museum in Carlisle and received this reply: “The Border Regiment did use cloth titles during WW1. I am fairly certain that this type were worn by the 4th Battalion both as slip-on titles and also sewn on to the uniform epaulette. They are a simple wartime economy measure. The only other cloth title that I am aware of is the rare XI BORDER shoulder titles worn by the Lonsdales – red cotton lettering on a light khaki background and manufactured in straight strips of cloth. The WW2 examples with black lettering were worn in the early stages of the war 1939-41 and then gradually replaced as the standard cloth shoulder titles appeared.” So I guess there we have it - there were cloth WW1 titles worn by 4th Bn & 11th Bn. Watch out for them, I reckon I was lucky! Regards, Paul.