Royal Artillery Forage Caps

[Graham Stewart]

Right lads,

Need some help here. Does anyone have in their collection either actual items or coloured prints depicting gunners of the Royal Horse, Field or Garrison Artillery wearing forage caps, otherwise known as the "pill-box" cap, which was worn during the 1880's through to 1902 when it was abolished as a mode of head-dress.

I need to know the colour of the band which went around the cap for the Regulars, Militia and Volunteers of the above mentioned artillery units. Can anyone help?

Regards,

Graham.

[Stuart Bates]

The 1874 Dress regulations states the Forage Cap as being "Blue cloth with band of 1 5/8" gold lace, gold button and braided figure of special pattern to crown.The cap to be 3" high". Militia specified as for the R.A. but with silver substituted for gold. Volunteers not mentioned.

For OR's the band would have been yellow cloth and for Militia white cloth.

The 1891 Dress Regulations are as for the 1874 except that the cap is 2 5/8" high. The Militia "as for the Garrison Artillery" so the lace, button and braid would have been gold. Volunteers not mentioned.

The 1900 Dress Regulations as for the 1891 for both Regular and Militia. It also states that for a cap with a peak the height is 3", without peak 2 5/8 ".

The 1891 and 1900 regulations state that Volunteer Officers (this would include Artillery officers) appointed as ADCs to the Queen are to substitute silver for gold on embroidery, lace, buttons &c (1891) and ... on the forage cap (1900). This would indicate that the Volunteers had gold lace at that time. However, I have seen today a Home Service Helmet on the net which has white metal fittings so it's a bit confusing unless the helmet pre-dates 1891.

I will try to get better information on the Volunteer Artillery.

Stuart

Edited October 9, 2006 by SJB

[Stuart Bates]

Graham,

I got his from the Sussex Artillery Volunteers web site. Not really conclusive and I will try further

"hello stuart,

as far as i know the sussex artillery volunteers might have had exactly what you said, silver for the higher ranks and white for the men but there is no evidence to suggest that they had forage caps at all.all pictures show the men in helmets but i know the portsdown artillery had forage caps and they are in portsmouth which is only an hours drive away.there is a picture of the helmet plate on my website www.shorehamfort.co.ukthank you for you question and i hope my answer has been of some help, please contact me again with any other questions you might have and in the mean time i will try to look into forage caps morethanks againGary Baines"

Edited October 9, 2006 by SJB

[Stuart Bates]

Hi Graham,

I haven't given up, rather I am waiting for a book on Artillery Volunteers to arrive from the UK. This, I hope, will give us the required information.

Stuart

Edited October 15, 2006 by SJB

[Graham Stewart]

Stuart,

Many thanks for going to all that trouble looking for the correct colouring. I needed an answer in relation to a photograph of a gunner, and it's always been presumed the coloured band was red, but I kept coming across references and coloured illustrations saying "yellow". This of course would indicate that sepia photography is colour blind and we are looking at yellow bands and not red, just because of the dark appearance.

If it's Norman Litchfields book on the "Volunteer Artillery", then it'll be well worth the wait Down Under. I have a copy of it myself and his "Militia Artillery" one too, again a fabulous book. Sadly he passed away a few years ago and his expertise on all things regarding Gunners, will be sorely missed.

Graham.

[Stuart Bates]

Hi Graham,

yes, it's Norman Litchfield's book on the "Volunteer Artillery" so I guess that this topic is now closed.

Never mind. I like collecting books almost as much as British headdress.

Cheers,

Stuart

Edited October 16, 2006 by SJB

[Stuart Bates]

Well Graham, the book arrived today and states that the Volunteers wore silver... up until 1908. But you knew this.

Stuart

[Graham Stewart]

Stuart,

Thanks again. I was looking for confirmation in case I'd missed something, or there was a change of colour in the band, but it's now obvious that all of those cabinet photo's of Gunners in the "pill-box" forage caps, do indeed have a yellow band and not red as people tend to think, due to the dark colouring of sepia. So the lighter coloured bands would be either Militia or Volunteers.

Graham.