QSAMIKE Posted May 12, 2012 Posted May 12, 2012 Good Afternoon Everyone..... My latest find and I think that they were all worn by the same person over a period of time...... Queen's Own Rifles of Canada - Victorian South African Constabulary Transvaal Town Police Have seen the first two but not the third one before...... Mike
Brett Hendey Posted May 12, 2012 Posted May 12, 2012 Hi Mike A very interesting find! I think the Transvaal Town Police badge is a rarity. I will ask a badge collector friend for his opinion. Regards Brett
Chris Boonzaier Posted May 12, 2012 Posted May 12, 2012 Those are very, very, nice indeed... I have never seen the Transvaal town police badge before...
Brett Hendey Posted May 13, 2012 Posted May 13, 2012 Mike My badge-collecting friend says that the Transvaal Town Police badge is a rare and valuable find. Congratulations on your good fortune. There cannot be too many Canadians with the service indicated by the three badges, assuming they were all worn by the same man, and I wonder if it would be possible to identify the possibilities? I am still in awe of Canadian record-keeping, so I hope you are successful if you do a search. Regards Brett
QSAMIKE Posted May 13, 2012 Author Posted May 13, 2012 Good Morning Brett....... Along with the Transvaal Town Police as stated above there was a Victorian Queen's Own Rifles of Canada and a South African Constabulary Cap Badges...... There was a small package of items that was included with the purchase, a BWM to a Major J.R. (John Ramsay) Biscoe, a 76th Officers Collar Badge, Silver War Badge and a For Service at the Front badge to the Canadian Patriotic Fund...... And last but not least a pair of Binoculars with Broad Arrow and the date 1900..... They all came from the same family...... On checking Major Biscoe's enlistment documents into the 76th Battalion CEF (Officers collar badge) it states that he had service in "South African Constabulary (2 years 169 days) and Johanesburg MP (2 years)"..... I have verified his service in SAC and I hope that he meant the TTP as the Johanesburg MP..... He was 2223 Trooper J.R. Biscoe in the SAC and was serving in the 44th Regiment when he enlisted for WW1..... Since I cannot access the SAC records (they are held in SA) on line I can only assume that he served in the Queen's Own Rifles before he joined the SAC as the QOR is a Toronto based unit and he was living in Barrie Ontario not far from Toronto when he enlisted and his father (NOK) was Colonel J.R. Biscoe lived in Toronto..... The story grows...... LOL Mike
Brett Hendey Posted May 13, 2012 Posted May 13, 2012 Hi Mike Another success for your diligence and Canadian record-keeping! Briscoe's SAC records will be in the Pretoria Repository of the SA National Archives and it would be worth getting a local researcher to copy them for you. The SAC records that I have seen have been far more detailed than those of other units raised in South Africa during the Boer War. In Briscoe's case, they may shed light on his move from the SAC to the TTP. I look forward to reading more about this man. Regards Brett
milhistry Posted July 16, 2012 Posted July 16, 2012 There were quite a few Canadians with the SAC including Colonel Sam Steele. The SAC also wore the dented stetson to distinguish them from the Army. By Johannesburg MP he probably meant "Metropolitan Police" which would be the same as the TTP. I have seen helmet plates of the TTP but not this type of badge before. My guess is that it's for wear on an undress cap rather than a helmet.
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