Royal Navy Admiral Full Dress, Model 1924-39, Attempt to Attribute Uniform....HELP REQUESTED

[diwe]

 

A few weeks ago I acquired a full dress uniform for an admiral of the Royal Navy at an auction in France. Based on the embroidery on the collar this is the model worn between 1924-1939. Evidently the epaulettes were added later and not of flag rank (starting with the buttons) I am trying to potentially identify the owner. One clue might be the number of breast stars. The way the loops are attached to the fabric is high quality and seems authentic. The loops for one breast star slmost align with the row of buttons…maybe that is a clue. I identified the following flag officers that held the rank between 1924-1939 and were on active list and might have worn this uniform. Of course, it could have also been an admiral who had retired which would make the list indefinitely longer. I noticed that a lot of flag officers who were promoted (full) admiral after 1924 continued to wear their full dress coat with the 1883 collar embroidery pattern. Does anyone have any other good ideas for a shortlist of candidates?  Needless to say there was no tailor label. Thanks so much!

•  Sir Lionel George Preston - Active until retirement in 1935
•  Sir Herbert Meade-Fetherstonhaugh - Retired in 1936
•  Sir Alfred Dudley Pickman Rogers Pound - First Sea Lord from 1939; promoted Admiral of the Fleet the same year
•  Sir Charles James Colebrooke Little - Active until 1945 
•  Sir William Milbourne James - Promoted before World War II
•  Sir Reginald Tyrwhitt - Promoted to Admiral of the Fleet in 1934
•  Sir Michael Henry Hodges - Served until retirement in 1932
•  Sir Alfred Ernle Montacute Chatfield - Served as First Sea Lord (1933–1938)
•  Sir John Donald Kelly - Promoted Admiral of the Fleet in 1936
 

[Farkas]

Hi diwe 

it’s a lovely thing, congratulations 🍻

 

a couple of thoughts just to check.

 

One thing is, there are sometimes labels inside one of the inside pockets, maybe because on some pieces it would not look great visible inside the collar.

Also if you can tell me what the detail is on the rear of the buttons I’ll give you a date range 👍

last thought, as you say officers wore their uniforms even after regs were changed. As I understand it as they were privately purchased and probably because the regs kept changing, they were allowed to continue wearing them in service until they needed replacement due to promotion or another reason.

tony 🍻