Page 110 - The Royal Lancers Chapka 2017

108 REGIMENTAL JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL LANCERS (QUEEN ELIZABETHS’ OWN)
Overview of Other Ranks Collar Badges of the 16th/5th Queen’s Royal Lancers
We are most grateful to Mr Rob Pegler who, as a collector and writer, is well known to Home Headquarters and both museums. Mr Peglar has studied and researched British Cav- alry/RAC insignia for approximately the last 20 years, and now retired, has started to commit his findings to paper. This hope- fully will be the beginning of a series of articles:
In 1922, sixteen line cavalry regiments were amalgamated, the 16th The Queens Lancers and the 5th Royal Irish Lancers were two of them. However, although known as the 16th/5th Lancers (16/5L) they were perhaps better described as a composite regi- ment until 1929, in the sense that both the two squadrons of 16th Lancers (16L) and the squadron of 5th Lancers (5L) retained their former insignia.
This is illustrated in a photograph taken at Tidworth 8th July 1926 (Fig.1), showing two squadron sergeant majors, one from the 5L squadron and the other from a 16L squadron.
By 1929 the 16/5L had become well established and it was decid- ed to unify their insignia, whilst retaining the ‘golden thread’ of its formative regiments. The two colonels, Lieutenant General Sir James Babington of the 16L and Field Marshall Viscount Al- lenby of the 5L, accepted the regiment’s proposal that the 16/5L would wear the cap and collar badges of the 16L and 5L Irish harp (Maid of Erin) NCO arm badge. The only new insignia was to be ‘16/5L’ shoulder titles.
An un-matching pair of 16L collar badges are shown in Fig.2. These may well have been used by, or indeed manufactured for the 16/5L. Their dimensions are, on the left, 30.8mm high, 41.3mm wide, with two loops EW 17.3mm, and on the right, 31.2mm high, 41.4mm wide, with two loops east/west 18.6mm. Their height is measured from top of crown to base of scroll. The rectangular braze holes seen on the reverse of the badges would probably indicate they are both pre-WWII, as later badges did not require these braze holes to fix the white-metal overlays due to advances in technology.
Fig. 1. Picture courtesy of Linaker and Dine (QRL)
When viewing 16/5L troopers in the 1930’s and 40’s, to all in- tents and purposes, they would have appeared to be 16L apart from the ‘5’ in the ‘16/5L’ shoulder titles.
This fact seems to have been later observed, when Princess Eliz- abeth was appointed colonel-in-chief of the regiment in 1947,
Fig. 2
Fig. 3