mknown british tunic.

[Monsieur Hulot]

In my collection I have this tunic, it is in a corduroy type fabric. the pips are strange.

Does anyone have any suggestions what this might be?

[Graham Stewart]

Looks like an officers(Captain) World War One Service Dress jacket, which includes on the lower left cuff a single wound stripe. The collar badges are those which we call "Royal Arms" collar badges and were only ever worn by;-

(A) - Officers on the General List who were designated no specific unit on completion of officer training.

(B) - Officers of the Labour Corps.

(C) - Officers of the Volunteer Force.

However I suspect (B) because the two holes on the shoulder strap aren't for an officers rank 'pip', but the should title "L.C." - for the Labour Corps. Certainly not (C), as a little bronze/brass 'V' was worn below the Royal Arms collar badges and a small hole would have been left behind.

Edited May 31, 2015 by Graham Stewart

[dante]

Hi, IMHO the cuff rank has been added,  the rank pips do not conform to British officers rank and nor does the chevron lace (is the lace directly applied to the tunic?) the collar should be bronzed for officers and the wound badge has not be applied well.....that said could we have a look inside the tunic and is there a tailors label or name?

PS a good book on the subject is "British Uniforms and Equipment of the Great War 1914-18" by Bodsworth

 

 

 

[Chris Boonzaier]

Pretty unusual looking.... especially the pips?

 

Here is my example....

 

http://kaiserscross.com/286801/286927.html

[dante]

Nice tunic Chris and it conforms to the period....for my money the holes on the epaulettes that  Monsieur Hulot has are for a single metal rank pip.....and conforms to a post war piece

Edited May 31, 2015 by dante

[Monsieur Hulot]

The chevron lace is part of the tunic, it was fitted when the jacket was made.
Here is a picture of a Canadian officer taken in 1915..

[dante]

Sorry I should have been clearer, the chevron (cuff) lace does not conform to British Chevron lace of the period (no chevrons) nor does the rank pips, the lace was not fixed directly on to the tunic but on a separate piece of  scalloped cloth 

I have attached a picture your lace and known period lace to compare

[Monsieur Hulot]

Closeup.

[Chris Boonzaier]

I wonder about the cufflace itself, was it not usually "V" shaped? This is Diagonal. The Pips are very "un British"... The only thing I could imagine is that it was tailored in another country for a British officer, the tailor did his best to make pips and used some other kind of tress? :-(

[Chris Boonzaier]

The Basoc error on the pips, the British pip is NOT a 4 pointed star... it is as shown here... whover made the ones shown assumed they were supposed to look like a star....

[Mervyn Mitton]

I would say the more likely explanation is that they have taken a later tunic and restitched the cuffs  -  possibly for a theatre production.   Mervyn

[Jerry B]

The tunic is an early example, having a waistband seam and change pocket, but it does appear to have been enhanced and a theatrical costume is the most likely explanation for the failure to match exactly the pattern of the cuff lace and rank stars.  The tunic is probably circa late WWI or early post war as the waistband and change pocket were both dropped later.

[Mark Holden]

I have see period officers tunics with cuff rank lace applied directly to the cuff. A large stable of tailors made officers service dress in WW1 so variations to the accepted norm do appear. The lace is in fact WW1 lace seen mainly on NCOs chevrons ostensibly for the greatcoat. There is a picture of this type of lace on Sgt chevrons in John Bodsworth's book. While the rank pips are unusual the quality of manufacture seems to be of a high standard going by the photos. While it may well be a post war theatre piece it may be worth further study before dismissing its idiosyncracies.

[jf42]

On 30/05/2015 at 22:49, Monsieur Hulot said:

In my collection I have this tunic, it is in a corduroy type fabric. the pips are strange.

Does anyone have any suggestions what this might be?

The fabric is not corduroy (which I believe would be cotton),  but a heavy wool twill, hence the pronounced diagonal 'grain' to the cloth.