Wear of Chinstrap on the British Army SD hat circa WWI

[Watchdog]

Good afternoon gents,

I am afraid that since joing the forum I have been little other than a passive spectator but now find I have a question I can't answer and hope for help from someone who can!

Someone recently brought to my attention a rather unusual method of wearing the chinstrap on the British Army SD hat circa WWI. This involves separating the two parts of the strap inbetween the buckles passing one above and the other below the cap badge. I have not seen this before and wonder if anyone here has?

I have attached a picture to illustrate this which I believe shows members of one of the Birmingham Pals battalions of the R. Warks (note the apparent double scroll on the cap badges of the soldier sitting centre and the one standing seccond from left in particular).

It occurred to me that this might be a sub-unit affectation and that the four men seen in this picture wearing the chinstrap as described seem to be one NCO and three Ptes so maybe a Vickers MG team? It also occurs to me that with the definition not being clear enough to make a distinction this might even be an extra chinstrap on top of the other.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Regards

Mark

[Stuart Bates]

Mark,

it was not uncommon for soldiers to have two chinstraps. The one in the regulation "up" position and the other to be worn "down" i.e. under the chin.The reason being that the soldier didn't have to fiddle about resizing the chinstrap when moving between the two positions. I have an example of this to a Wolseley helmet but have never seen it with the SD cap.

Stuart

[Watchdog]

Thanks Stuart,

I have encountered the "two chinstrap" thing you describe both in military No1 / No2 hats and particularly in police hats / helmets.

However, whenever I have seen this (or done it myself!!), one has been worn in the regulation manner whilst the other is tucked loose inside the relevent headress for immediate use in preventing wind or other force from causing loss of the hat!!

This "over and under" around the cap badge with both parts tight to the hat seems to be something different to me.

Regards

Mark

[Stuart Bates]

Mark,

my Wolseley example is as you describe i.e. tucked up inside the helmet. In an SD cap that might have been rather uncomfortable so extending it over the cap badge may have been a better alternative.

Stuart

[Stuart Bates]

BTW: Mark welcome to the forum.

Stuart

[Watchdog]

BTW: Mark welcome to the forum.

Stuart

Thanks for the welcome Stuart. I joined over a year ago but hitherto had little reason to post as I was able to find what I was looking for in the archive material. I have been a military enthusiast / collector for some 35 years and as we all know the relatively recent advent of the internet has made things an awful lot easier! So, I'm glad to be here albeit that I am still finding my way around "The Labyrinthe"!

Anyway, back to the topic, anyone else have an idea?

Regards

Mark