Phoebe Hessel's grave, Brighton.

On 12 December 1821 a remarkable woman died at the age of 108. She is buried in the churchyard of St Nicholas, Brighton.

The fact that Phoebe Hessel, reached the ripe old age of 108 could be considered to be amazing in itself, but this incredible lady spent years serving as a private soldier in the 5th Regiment of Foot, later the Northumberland Fusiliers.

 Phoebe was born Phoebe Smith in Stepney in 1713 and baptised at St Dunstans. Women were not permitted to serve in the forces, but Phoebe,  dressed and acted as a man, apparently to stay with her lover, Samuel Golding, who was also serving with the regiment. Her tombstone records that she served under the Duke of Cumberland at  the battle of Fontenoy on 11 May 1745 where she was injured, receiving a bayonet wound to the arm. She is also recorded as having seen action at the battle of Wilhelmstahl on 24 June 1762, during the Seven Years War, although by this date she would have been 49 years old.

Apparently when the truth came out both Phoebe and her lover were discharged from the army. They married and settled in Plymouth, Devon. After Samuel Golding’s death, Phoebe moved to Brighton and married Thomas Hessel, a fisherman.

After Thomas Hessel’s death Phoebe fell on hard times but in recognition of her service to her King and Country she was granted a pension by George IV.

So if your family name is Hassell, or Hessel, or Golding it might be worth tracing whether you are related to this remarkable lady!

This was just one of the enquiries received today; a badge dug up in the enquirers back garden!

Mystery badge?

Whilst not strictly a military badge this could have connections to the army. The CLB gave the mystery away immediately – it is the badge of the Church Lads Brigade. 

The Church Lads Brigade was founded in 1891 by Walter Mallock Gee and was proposed as a way of encouraging young lads to stay connected to the church after they reached the age of thirteen and started work. Various other similar groups were started for both boys and girls and they became known collectively as the Brigade Movement.

In 1911 the Church Lads Brigade, which placed emphasis on discipline, drill and uniform, become recognised by the War Office and became part of the Territorial Cadet Force. Youngests frequently drilled with rifles and undertook military style exercises.  Two years later the CLB adopted khaki service dress uniform as standard.

When the call to arms came in the summer of 1914  past and serving members of the Church Lads Brigade were keen to do their bit.  On 19th September 1914 the 16th (Service) Battalion (Church Lads Brigade) of the King’s Royal Rifle Corps was raised by Field Marshal Lord Grenfell at Denham in Buckinghamshire. The Battalion trained and served in England by providing guard duties at reservoirs and railway bridges etc. until being sent to France the following year, landing at Le Havre on 17th November 1915.  The Battalion suffered heavy casualties during the Battle of the Somme in 1916 but remained in France and took part in further actions until the armistice.

During the Great War the Church Lads Battalion used the distinctive blackened brass cap badge of the King’s Royal Rifle Corps. A similar, smaller bronze badge carrying the motto “Fight the Good Fight” was used by the Church Lads Brigade cadets.

King's Royal Rifle Corps cap badge cards from Military Heritage

What a fascinating find! I would like to say thanks to Steven for letting me share this with you and giving me permission to use his photo.

Whimple war memorial, near Exeter, Devon.

 Those commemorated are:

1914 - 1918

Boy 2nd Class A E HUTCHINS
Boy 1st Class H SHEPHERD
Pte F BUDD
Lieut C H CAMERON
Capt R A F CHARD
Pte J COLES
Gunner C GODFREY
Rifleman F GODFREY
Pte S P HANNAFORD
Lieut G F HUGHES
Pte L HUNT
Pte W H LOCKYEAR
Pte R L NORMAN
L Corpl G OSMOND
2nd Lieut W E H PERRY
Pte M T REDLER
Pte L J REDLER
L Corpl H N SLEE
L Corpl T WEST
Capt E V WHITEWAY MC
Pte G WOODLEY
Pte G YOULDEN
Pte J YOULDEN

1939-1945

Lieut H J HOLEMANS RN
Sjt LWA HUDDY RAF
Pte A H G JEFFERY
Sjt D C RETTER RAFVR
Pte J ROSE
Sub-Lieut (A) E. WHITEWAY RNVR

Names on Whimple village war memorial, near Exeter, Devon.

One of the most common mistakes in family history is to assume that because an ancestor came from a certain place he must have served in the local county regiment.  A little delving into the history of those commemorated on Whimple war memorial illustrates that this is far from the case.  Only Privates Coles, Norman, Woodley and Youlden and 2nd Lieut Perry died whilst serving their country under the cap badge of the Devonshire Regiment.   Two men served in different branches of the Royal Regiment of Artillery, Lieut Cameron inthe Royal Horse Artillery and Gunner Godfrey in the Royal Garrison Artillery.  Surprisingly given the size of the corps, only one man served under the cap badge of the Royal Engineers. He was L Corpl Osmond and he is buried in the corner of the churchyard in Whimple with a very familiar white headstone of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

The grave of Lance Corporal Osmond, Whimple churchyard.

Of the remaining soldiers, one served with each of the following regiments; Wiltshire Regiment, Royal Fusiliers, King’s Royal Rifle Corps, Royal Horse Guards, London Regiment, Queen’s Own Royal West Kents, Worcestershire Regiment, The King’s (Liverpool Regiment), East Surrey Regiment and the Hampshire Regiment.  Pte Hannaford appears to have served with the Canadian Expeditionary Force and L. Corpl Slee appears to have died whilst serving with the Labour Corps but having previously worn the cap badge of the Hertfordshire Regiment and/or the Hampshire Regiment.

Despite having no personal or family connection that I know of I am always saddened by the names on any war memorial, but perhaps the saddest of all are those of “men” of tender age.  In the case of Whimple these were the two Royal Naval casualties.  Boy 2nd Class Hutchins (listed on the Commonwealth War Graves records as Hutchings) was only 17 when he died whilst serving with HMS Powerful on 7th October 1918.  Three years earlier, on 13th January 1915, Boy 1st Class Shepherd perished when HMS Viknor hit a mine and sank with all hands. He was only 16.

To find out more about military cap badges please visit www.MilitaryHeritage.co.uk.

Marker flags being marched into position at Trooping the Colour (Colonel's Review) 2010

As well at the Foot Guards, the mounted troops of the Life Guards and Blues and Royals also take part in the parade and, since 1998 as a result of a request by the Sovereign, so do The King’s Troop, Royal Horse Artillery.  The bands of the five Foot Guards regiments and the Mounted Bands of the Household Cavalry (the collective name for the Life Guards and the Blues and Royals).

The Band of the Irish Guards arriving on Parade

This year the Colour was that of the 1st Battalion of the Grenadier Guards. Each Foot Guards Regiments has two colours being the Queen’s Colour and the Regimental Colour. Because the Sovereign is present today the Colour trooped is the Queen’s Colour.  The Colour is the regimental flag. Flags are called Colours because they displayed the uniform colours and insignia worn.  The main role of the Colour was to provide a rallying call to the soldiers on the battlefield in the days long before modern communications.  In order for the troops to be able to recognise their colour young officers would march through the ranks formed up in lines with the Colours held high.  This is the origin of the “trooping”. 

The Regimental Colours also bear the battle honours of the regiment.  Battle Honours are awarded to a regiment in recognition of service with courage and distinction. They are a reminder of the Military Heritage of the regiment, of hard-won victories, heroic endeavours and fallen comrades.  The Guards are the Sovereign’s own Household Troops and the five regiments of Foot Guards (Grenadier Guards, Coldstream Guards, Scots Guards, Irish Guards and Welsh Guards) troop their colours in turn. 

Trooping the Colour is believed to have first been performed during the reign of King Charles II (1660-1685). Since 1748 the parade has been used to mark the official birthday of the Sovereign. (Queen Elizabeth II’s actual birthday is 21 April).  It became an annual event in 1760 after the accession of George III, although interupted by the two World Wars.  Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II has taken the salute at every parade since her accession in 1952 except for 1955 when the parade was cancelled due a national rail strike. Until 1986 Her Majesty took the salute riding her horse, Burmese, and wearing the uniform of the regiment whose Colour was being trooped that year.  She now takes the salute from a dias having arrived by carriage. She not longer wears military uniform.

The stirringly patriotic music for the parade is provided by the Bands of the Foot Guards and the Mounted Bands of Household Cavalry. The Life Guards and Blues and Royals play an integral part of the parade. The King’s Troop, Royal Horse Artillery are the Saluting Battery of Her Majesty’s Household Troops.  The Colours of the King’s Troop are the guns.  When the guns are on parade the regiment is the most senior on parade, in recognition of their contribution during the First World War.  In addition to the troops present on Horse Guards Parade (the open space on which the Troop takes place) Foot Guards also act as route liners.  This year there were 254 Guardsmen marking the Queen’s route from Buckingham Palace.  If you take a look at news footage from the early 1950′s it is amazing to see that these route liners are virtually shoulder to shoulder all the way.  The newsreels I have seen are in black and white. It must have been an even more incredible sight to see in colour!

The Trooping the Colour parade ceremony has changed over the years but currently consists of nine phases being the March On, the Sovereign’s Arrival, in Inspection of the Line, the Troop of the Massed Bands, the Collection of the Colour, the Trooping of the Colour through the ranks (slow time), the Foot Guards March Past (first slow then quick time), the Ride Past by the King’s Troop, Royal Horse Artillery and the Household Cavalry (Life Guards and Blues and Royals) and finally the March Off.  Each regiment of Guards has its own regimental slow and quick marches and the bands change tune in mid stanza!  Today, as in many recent years, the Queen has returned to Buckingham Palace for a flypast by the Royal Air Force.

 The Colonel of the Grenadier Guards is currently the Duke of Edinburgh so we watched as he took the salute last week. This week he accompanied his wife, the Queen, in her carriage.

HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, Regimental Colonel of the Grenadier Guards

I love British military pageantry – can’t get enough of it! – but being present at part of this years Troop was especially poignant as I have a link with the Grenadier Guards.  My great grandfather’s brother died whilst serving with the regiment in Belgium in 1917.  That’s him on the Military Heritage logo.  He has no known grave but is commemorated on the Memorial to the Missing at Tyne Cot.  He was a war time volunteer and therefore probably never wore the scarlet tunic or took part in the parade, but no matter, I am proud of the sacrifice he made and the fact that I have a Grenadier Guard in my Military Heritage.

Did your ancestors serve with the Guards? Maybe they took part in the Trooping the Colour parade, or lined the route to protect the Sovereign.  What’s your Military Heritage?

This amazing publication extends to fourteen volumes.  London accounts for five of these, Bedford and Northampton are contained in one volume and the other places mentioned above have one volume each.  They were original published shortly after the end of the war by the National Publishing Company in an attempt to record the service of as many men and women who “answered their Country’s call in her hour of need, and who, whether on land or sea, or in the air, in hospital, or camp, or workshop, were ready to lay down life itself, if need be, that Britain might live and Right prevail over Might.”

The foreward also states that “The National Roll makes no claim to being a complete book of reference – in fact no such record could be compiled – but it may safely claim to supply a wonderful memorial of splendid services, truly worthy of the thankful remembrance of a grateful Empire.”

Entries are generally fairly brief but very informative.  Most, but not all, entries relate to those who survived the war.  With the destruction of so many records during the blitz of World War II sometimes the National Roll provides the only record of service.  Here is a typical entry I have picked at random from Volume I, which is one of the London volumes:

“LEATHERDALE, O., Sapper, R.E.
He joined in June 1916 and at the conclusion of his training was drafted overseas, where he took at active part in many engagements in various sectors of the Western Front. He was wounded during his service overseas. He holds the General Service and Victory Medals, and was demobilised in January 1919.
50 Wakefield Street, Upper Edmonton. N.18″

Many of the entries refer to men holding the General Service Medal but these are clearly references to the British War Medal 1914-20.

Some entries make reference to previous military service, such as in the Boer War, including medal entitlements for that conflict, whilst others gives more detail after diseases contracted whilst on active service.

Unlike many records of service for the Great War the National Roll also includes women. Here’s an entry, again from the first London volume:-

“DONNE, C. (Mrs), Special War Worker
This lady was for three years at Perival Munition Factory, where whe was engaged in the T.N.T. and C.E. shops. She served in this dangerous and arduous occupation untiringly for this period, and her services were very valuable and commendable.
20 New Holly Lane, Willesden.”

What a fantastic insight into the life of an ancestor during the Great War!

Of course with only fourteen volumes covering the areas mentioned there is a very high chance that most of us will not find our kin in these pages. As yet I have not found any of my family, but no matter, it is still an incredible document and a fascinating read and one day it might just shed new light on an otherwise hidden past.

The National Roll of Honour can be accessed through Ancestry.co.uk or purchased from the Naval and Military Press. Links for both can be found on our website at www.militaryheritage.co.uk.

Good luck with your research!

Graves at Tyne Cot Cemetery, Passchendaele, Belgium.

Recently we have been inundated with requests to identify cap badges through our free service. It’s great being able to shed a little light on which regiment your ancestors served with and, hopefully, put you on the right track to find out more.  However, it is amazing how many people assume that their ancestors’ regiment will be the county regiment of the place where he was born or known to have lived.  We get many people saying “Oh no, he never went there”!

Whilst much has been made, and rightly so, of the sacrifice made by Pals Battalions and devastation caused to communities when lads from a small geographical area or social group joined up, served and died together the fact is that many men had no obvious link to the regiment they joined.  Here are a few possible reasons …

My grandfather was born and bred in Somerset and, with the exception of a couple of years on the Isle of Wight, worked there all his life.  However when he and his best friend decided to join the colours in 1915 his friend suggested a great regiment he had heard about back in his native London. Thus the two of them travelled up to the capital and joined the Honourable Artillery Company. I might have been left to ponder how grandad had come to be in the HAC had the story not made the local press in Somerset.

Certain regiments have traditionally recruited in surprising areas and recruitment officers regularly travelled to other areas to find men.  Local newspapers frequently printed articles stating how many men of eligible age had joined up, and how many were yet to do so.  If your ancestor was in the Coldstream Guards for example, would you assume he was a Londoner? He could have been from Devon – a traditional recruitment area for the Coldstream Guards. Similarly the Grenadier Guards have a long history of recruiting in the Manchester area.

Not all recruiting serjeants  (that’s how they spelt it during the Great War) were happy to ignore the lies told by boys attempting to join the army under age.  If the recruiting serjeant of the local regiment was known to the family boys would often go elsewhere to join up knowing that they had far less chance of being rejected as underage. Of course others were simply told to come back when they were older. They walked around the block and presented themselves again to be accepted.

Some men simply couldn’t wait to get to the Front and so looked for regiments which they thought would get them there more quickly.  The brother of Honourable Artillery Company VC winner Capt A O Pollard was posted as a deserter from the HAC.  He had become so restless when they did not get to France as quickly as he wanted that he “left” and joined the Grenadier Guards instead.  Now I know they could both be thought of as London units – but he could so easily have gone to a county regiment.

My great, great uncle started his army life in the Somerset Light Infantry, he was after all a Somerset man. However, when his battalion were so reduced in number after a battle that they could not continue as an effective force all those left fit to fight were transferred to the unit next in line. Thus when he made the ultimate sacrifice it was not under the badge of the Somerset Light Infantry but the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers.  To my knowledge he had never seen Ireland.

Thousands of men served in corps with no geographical allegiance such as the Army Ordnance Corps, Royal Engineers, Army Cyclist Corps, Royal Artillery, Royal Flying Corps, Royal Army Medical Corps etc.  Men joined these corps from all over the country. Sometimes they joined a corps because they had a specific skill eg. doctors in the RAMC, miners in the Royal Engineers etc. but it isn’t safe to assume that just because your ancestor was in a particular corps he had a pre-war skill, trade or training relevant to it.  The army frequently took what it could and made it into what it needed.

One of the great sources of information about casualties of the Great War is a publication (now available online) called Soldiers Died in the Great War 1914-19.  As I write I have in front of me Part 37 which relates to the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry, although it could be any volume.  Reading the birth places of the casualties of the 1st Battalion illustrates this very topic; Staffordshire, London, Banffshire, Warwick, Devon .  The 14th casualty on the list is the first to herald from Cornwall. In fact of the first 50 casualties listed for the battalion only 6 came from Cornwall.

So just in case your family research wasn’t proving to be hard enough, once again you can’t take anything for granted. Oh, and don’t assume that the war memorial is necessarily correct either … but that’s another story.  There’s no substitute for looking at prime documents so get out those photos and a magnifying glass and don’t forget the Military Heritage free cap badge recognition service.

Good luck with your research!

COLLINS, P.O. Gilbert Preston, 233640, RN. HMS “Royal Arthur”. Died of injuries (burns) 25th July 1920. Age 30. Son of Frederick George and Elizabeth Collins, of 12 Fern Street, Greenheys, Manchester.  

FLORENCE, Ldg Ck. G.W. M/4585, RN. HMS “Royal Arthur”. Died of burns 26th July 1920. Age 25. Husband of Mary Florence of Straiton, Loanhead, Midlothian. Born at Straiton.   

Graves of Collins and Florence - Torquay Cemetery

Collins and Florence are buried side by side and I assumed that they must have been comrades in war as well as in death. But what could have happened to cause them to die of burns so long after the armistice?  Had they suffered for over a year only to die one day apart?  

The service records for both Collins and Florence are available through the National Archives online document service under reference ADM188.  These show that Collins was born on 7 April 1887 in Manchester and joined the Royal Navy in 1895, giving his occupation as butcher’s assistant.  He served on fifteen different ships before joining the crew of HMS Royal Arthur on 29 May 1919.  Florence was born on 2 October 1892 in Aberdeen and joined the Royal Navy on 13 June 1912, giving his occupation as baker. He served on three ships before joining the crew of HMS Royal Arthur on 27 February 1915.  Although the two men both saw service on HMS Pembroke the dates indicate that their paths would not have crossed before May 1919.  

Having served their King and Country throughout the Great War, what caused these two men to perish in Torquay? The answer was hinted at in the Admiralty records but a search of the local newspapers revealed the full, horrific truth.  

On Saturday 24th July 1920 Torquay Recreation Ground was the scene of much excitement. Preparations for a carnival organised by the Peace Celebration Committee to augment the fund of the local hospital had been going on for months and the day had finally arrived.  Much of the Atlantic Fleet had arrived in the bay on the Tuesday before and nearly 3,000 men had been invited to take part in a tableau, among them the men of HMS Royal Arthur.  They took their place in the procession dressed as Ancient Britons, their bodies smothered in oakum.  Exactly what happened next was a matter of debate but someone, maybe Collins according to witnesses at the inquest, struck a match to light a cigarette. In an instant Collins’ costume was alight. Florence attempted to help his shipmate, resulting in the fire spreading to his attire.  The two men rushed helplessly into the crowd. Terrified onlookers, including the Mayor, tried to assist.  The flames were extinguished and the two men were taken to hospital. Sadly both died as a result of their injuries.  Collins and Florence were buried with full Naval Honours.  

So, the next time you are searching for ancestors in your local cemetery look out for the small, usually white, headstones of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. They may reveal an unexpected story.  

As a footnote, Collins and Florence were not the only ones to lose their lives in connection with the peace celebrations that day. A Miss Grant, watching the procession from the balcony of the Public Library, fell through the glass dome and died of her injuries on 9th August 1920.

Cap badges for sale are often said to be “genuine” or “restrike”.  A restrike is generally accepted as being a reproduction, but just what is a genuine badge and what is a reproduction?  If a badge is the second made from a die does that make it a reproduction?  What about if a badge was officially produced but never actually issued to the troops – does that make it a fake? 

Apparently “fake” military badges, by which I mean badges manufactured purely for sale with no intention that they should ever be issued, were being produced as early as the 1920′s.  Even the existence of the makers mark is no guarantee that a badge was ever intended to see service as this could also have been copied as part of the die.

Nowadays one of the most telling features of a poor reproduction is the quality of the metal.  If you can bend the badge with your fingers it is almost certainly a fake.  Older reproductions are more difficult to spot and even modern reproductions can be “aged” to look like the real thing.  It would be great if you could assess the age of a badge from the price if nothing else, but it will come as no surprise in this day and age that there are those out there more interested in your money than the true value of what they are selling.

So, if there is no absolute definition of a restrike and even the most experienced can be confused by whether a cap badge is an original or not I suppose the question is “Does it really matter?”.  When I first started collecting cap badges many years ago I felt that it did.  I searched long and hard for what I thought were originals, and was offered many which were claimed to be but clearly were not.  However it is quite possible that my collection, and many other collections, contain cap badges which are such good copies as to be indistinguishable from the originals.  If ten so called experts took a look at those I would probably get a 50/50 split of opinion.  No-one will ever be able to determine whether they have been attached to the appropriate military attire or not, and in those cases I feel happy to keep them as part of my collection.  That said, I do keep them separate – well old habits die hard! 

If you are going to buy military cap badges my best advice would be to be happy with the price even if it is a reproduction. Don’t be taken in by any claims made by the seller – he may have been taken in himself.  I am assuming that you would want the badge to keep rather than to sell on so won’t have to make any claims to its being genuine yourself later.  Shop around and if you find one considerably cheaper than the others it is probably a restrike, unless it is a bargain!  Of course if the badge you are looking at purports to be for a unit which never existed (oh, yes they are out there), or contains a spelling mistake (yes, they are out there too) or other obvious error it isn’t “rare”, it is “fake”.  Be careful when buying online – there is no substitute for testing the quality by sight and feel.

One final challenge for the purchaser is that badges haven’t always been made in metal! In 1941 the Army Council announced that some regimental cap badges would be produced in plastic due to a shortage of metal.  Metal badges were never officially abandoned but plastic ones were produced for many infantry regiments. They were made in three colours – grey, pale fawn and chocolate brown – and were extremely unpopular.  They generally command a higher price than their metal counterparts.

If you are looking for a cap badge to enhance your family history research and would prefer to avoid all of  the headaches you could always nip to the Military Heritage website and purchase our cap badge photo cards, either in download or printed format.  We are photographing our own and others collections to bring you the perfect enhancement to honour your military ancestors.  Unlike cap badges they will slide into your research files, they are cheaper and you won’t have to worry about whether you have an original or not. If you cannot see the badges you want please send us your wants list!

Just as everyone familiar with family history research cannot forget the year 1837, anyone interested in military history must be aware of the significance of the year 1881.  It was in that year that the Cardwell Reforms took place, a massive reorganisation of the British infantry from 109 separately numbered regiments into regional regiments consisting of two battalions each.  Thus the 11th Regiment of Foot became the Devonshire Regiment, the 48th became the Northamptonshire Regiment and the 22nd became the Cheshire Regiment, for example.

In 1878 the British infantry, corps and Royal Engineers had formally adopted the use of a spiked helmet, not unlike ones that we might associate with German military uniforms. The Royal Artillery used a similar style of helmet but with a ball rather than a spike. Previous to this the head-dress generally used had been a shako; a tall, cylindrical, sometimes tapered, peaked hat made of felt and leather. In order to indicate their indentity, regiments used first shako plates and then helmet plates but there is no clear date for the change as it was common for plates to simply be removed from a shako and attached to a helmet.  Shako plates were large and normally brass.  A helmet plate was a large eight pointed star with the regimental designation in the centre in detachable brass numerals.

The introduction of the 1881 reforms made it necessary to redesign the old helmet plate centres to reflect the new named, rather than the old numbered, regiments.  A new universal star plate was created with a space in the centre measuring one and seven eighths of an inch (how British is that!) to take a standardised badge. This consisted of a circle bearing the name of the new regiment and a device in the centre, often a collar badge.

As well as the spiked helmets regiments also used the glengarry – and not just the Scottish regiments. It was not popular and during the 1890′s the first field service caps became general wear. Helmet plates were too large for the new caps and were therefore temporarily replaced with a collar badge but by about 1898 most regiments of both cavalry and infantry had sealed patterns for cap badges.

Exactly when a regiment, battalion or man started to use a particular cap badge cannot be accurately determined. Battalions serving abroad when new badges were issued frequently had to wait until their return home. Some changes were delayed due to objections raised by Commanding Officers who managed a degree of autonomy in far distant regions of the Empire.

By the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914 cap badges were established as the symbol of a regiment or corps.  Although not the only insignia worn during the period, the cap badge goes some way to defining the experience of that soldier, and so provides insight into the lives of our ancestors.  Was your ancestor in the cavalry, the infantry, the Royal Artillery, Royal Engineers for example? In addition it is possible to access records of a particular regiment or battalion to find out its movements during the Great War. So, whilst an individual man probably won’t be named in the war diaries, we can make some educated guesses as to his wartime experience based on his cap badge.

Don’t forget, if you have a photo of your ancestor, especially during the Great War period (1914-1918) but cannot identify the cap badge, Military Heritage has a free cap badge identification service.

I have uploaded some of the photos I took years ago and been inspired to go out and take some more. Now I just need to find my previous notes and start adding the details so that this becomes a useful archive to all.

My interest in researching those commemorated on war memorials stems from my interest in family history. It is fascinating to learn about the most turbulent periods in our history through the sacrifice of ordinary people, whether they are your ancestors or not. Why not research your local war memorial?