BADGE - Scotland - Ross & Cromarty Constabulary cap badge whitemetal : 無料・フリー素材/写真
BADGE - Scotland - Ross & Cromarty Constabulary cap badge whitemetal / conner395
| ライセンス | クリエイティブ・コモンズ 表示 2.1 |
|---|---|
| 説明 | Part of my Scottish Police insignia collection.Up until the end of the 19th century the Ross and Cromarty Constabulary wore helmets with large badges - an oval belt, within a laurel wreath. surmounted by Queen Victoria's Crown - and with the badge centrepiece being nothing more interesting than the officer's numerals. The wording read “Ross-shire Constabulary” despite Cromartyshire having been absorbed in 1889 – the force had also allowed its Chief Constable to command the small Cromartyshire force since 1869 and from 1880 the Cromartyshire officers were regarded as part of the Ross-shire force. This lack of coat-of-arms came about because the County of Ross & Cromarty did not have any armorial bearings (coat of arms) at that time -indeed there was no such thing as a County Council in Scotland until the 1890. (at which point Ross and Cromarty had just merged). The expense of changing all the helmet badges to include the new title simply was not justifiable. Indeed the collar badge – individual block letters – read “RCP”, presumably originally Ross County Police, but just as simply could have stood for Ross (and) Cromarty Police!The death of Queen Victoria created an insignia dilemma for police forces at home and abroad, as protocol required badges be replaced with ones bearing the crown associated with her successor. Such being a King, the crown to be used would be the Imperial one, a very different shape. Ross & Cromarty - like many Scottish forces - opted to do away with helmets rather than spend a considerable sum on new badges. The kepi or tschako/shako (peaked pillbox) cap, made popular through military use especially in the South Africa Wars, was adapted for use (produced in back!) as a lightweight and inexpensive replacement. Being smaller it therefore required only a small item of insignia. Many forces thus used their collar/epaulette insignia as a cap badge, although it is not known if Ross & Cromarty did. They certainly did use the next best thing, a Royal Crown (even if it was the Queen Victoria one) - also worn on epaulettes as an indication of their allegiance to the Crown, and of the Scottish Police Constable's duty to maintain the Sovereign's "Majestic Peace" as laid down by an Act of the Scottish Parliament from the 17th century.The crown was however a stop-gap as flat caps were duly adopted towards the end of the first decade of the 20th century, and force pride required something more auspicious as a badge. Thus Ross & Cromarty Constabulary devised its own unique badge. A King’s (“Imperial” or “Tudor”) Crown-topped circlet in a laurel wreath - but unusually no lettering on the circlet. Instead some very ornate “leaf-and-stem-work”. Perhaps the lettering "Ross & Cromarty Constabulary" would not fit in the space available? - or perhaps the cost of applying such an amount of text? Alternatively the designer (likely the Chief or Deputy Chief at Dingwall) did not attempt to fit in the necessary lettering, and simply introduced some squiggles to indicate where the lettering should go, and this was misinterpreted by the badge-maker as being an indicator or some fancy artwork instead!!) If so, the confusion would not have become known until the badges were delivered – too late! Though similar in some respects to other police badges, its centrepiece is novel, comprising the force's collar/epaulette badge "R&C") in a shield, topped by what could be a fleur-de-lis.The cap badge was something of a downsizing of the previous helmet badge, albeit the cap badge had a wreath of thistles, rather than of laurel leaves. I have two examples of the cap badge in my collection – one in white-metal and the other with a lacquered brass effect. Both appear to come from the same casting, which is very detailed, and years of polishing have not diminished the detail of the badges.This cap badge would continue in use until the early 1930s, when it was superseded by the Scottish Constabulary crest ("Semper Vigilo") badge. Intriguingly though, it would appear that the first issue of collar/epaulette badges produced in association with the cap badge matched the cap badge - reading "R&C" - while subsequent issues were simply "RC". It would seem that the fragility of the thinner, more ornate ones with the “ampersand” in the middle were not fit for purpose. In any case, other forces (Roxburghshire and Renfrewshire) were using the “RC” design, so it would be cheaper to order these. The “Ampersand” (&) however remained in place on the cap badgeRoss & Cromarty Constabulary merged with Sutherlandshire constabulary on 16th May 1963. Both forces were using exactly the same (script entwined initials style of Force insignia, so a new epaulette badge was designed for the new force. It was a completely different style - being BLOCK CAPITALS “R & S” on a pair of rails – such rails making the device that much more robust than the R&C one of earlier times. That badge was proudly worn until Ross & Sutherland merged with the other police forces of the Scottish Highlands & Islands on 16th May 1975 to form Northern Constabulary (which is turn became part of the Police Service of Scotland) on 1st April 2013. |
| 撮影日 | 2014-06-20 12:16:51 |
| 撮影者 | conner395 , Inverness, Scotland |
| タグ | |
| 撮影地 | Dingwall, Scotland, United Kingdom 地図 |