ayedeeyew

No need to apologise Will, your description of the marking and in particular the location being in the shoulder made it clear it was one of these typically off-the-peg tunics made available to officers through the War Department as I mentioned earlier. And clearly not "put there by the recipient" 😉 It's a gorgeous find and all the rarer for it. Do you have any other shots of the cuff rank? From the first shot it looks like the owner may have been promoted from Lieutenant to Captain, hence one mismatched "pip" where he had the rank updated. The marks of sewing on the left cuff are likely from where a "Wounded Stripe" was once fixed as this is the exact location they should be worn, eg: Army Order 204. 6/7/16 ...the following distinctions in dress will be worn on the service dress jacket by all officers and soldiers who have been wounded in any of the campaigns since 4th August, 1914:- 'Strips of gold Russia braid, No.1, two inches in length, sewn perpendicularly on the left sleeve of the jacket to mark each occasion on which wounded. In the case of officers, the lower end of the first strip of gold braid will be immediately above the upper point of the flap on cuff...

This is 100% incorrect I'm afraid. Perfectly as marked before it ever got to the original owner.

People tend to forget that increasingly from the mid-war period onwards an option available to officers in the field (and those less well off) was to purchase/replace their kit through the War Department. The markings Will describes and the label he shows are typical for these "off the peg" garments (I have previously seen the general quality described as "workman-like"). They have a much lower survival rate than the usual private purchase items, and I consider myself very fortunate in having a 1918 dated pair of the trousers of this type:

It's to fix your pocket watch on it's strap or chain.

They are the 1887 Police Jubilee medal with the 1897 Bar and the 1902 Police Coronation medal, eg:

On Ebay currently - listed as Met Police, but correct red/white for City: VINTAGE GENUINE METROPOLITAN POLICE RED & WHITE ‘ON-DUTY’ CUFF BAND | eBay

Filfoster - until 1895 in the Metropolitan Police (at least officially) there were no loops on the tunic for the Duty Armlet, and period photos prior to this certainly show a great deal of variation in where the armlet was positioned (presumably it tended to start to be initially positioned higher on the lower part of the sleeve and gradually work itself further towards the cuff as the day wore on). This was eventually standardized so the lower edge of the armlet sat 3 inches from the base of the cuff. Loops I have encountered on original jackets also display variation in material and construction. Usually they are made from the same material as the jacket (so serge for serge tunics, melton for melton tunics, etc), but I have also found black cotton tape used as well (see below), also loops formed from stout blue-black sewing thread. I have included some photos with added measurements taken from a mint unused 1954 War Department Constabulary OR's jacket in my collection as it broadly follows normal Police practice. They show the back and front of the same (left arm) sleeve, with the loop aligned against the rear seam on the viewers left photo and with the loop aligned against the front seam on the viewers right photo:

Thanks for this - how certain are you of the spelling of the surname there? I ask as I passed this information on, and three family names that are contenders for who this is supposed to be are apparently Marks, Welch and DAVEY. I personally believe this photo pre-dates the 1930's, but not by a lot, and Davey is very close to Davis if that is just a coincidence...

Excellent, thanks.

This was sent to me for identification, but I can't recognize what force the helmet plate is for. PC in question apparently had strong links to Somerset. Does anyone recognize what force the helmet plate is for? Thanks in advance.

Sent.

Have sent you a PM regarding something that may be of interest.

If it's any interest, there has been a Lancaster Police example listed for sale on Ebay for a very long time: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VICTORIAN-LANCASTER-CITY-POLICE-BADGES/174240721000?hash=item28918e6868:g:wuUAAOSwls5Y6Tya

Tunics are the post-1897 pattern and the helmet plates appear to be the pre-1906 pattern with Guelphic crown, so a relatively short time span.

It's a Duty Armlet - see: