Help with a couple of items to ID

[Lederhose]

Greetings to everyone,

I would really appreciate some expert advice on a couple of items that I acquired about 30 years ago. I was told that they are both Australian?

I was told that the badge was some sort of marksman's award of WW1 vintage?

The shoulder boards are Boer War?

This is just what I was told, but I really have no idea.

Any opinions, comments or feedback is sincerely appreciated.

Kind regards,
Brett

[Lederhose]

Badge close-ups

[Lederhose]

Shoulder Boards...They have the words 'Commissariat Staff' on the button.

[Lederhose]

Shoulder Boards close-ups

[Lederhose]

Back

[australia]

A commissariat is the department of an army charged with the provision of supplies, both food and forage, for the troops. The supply of military stores such as ammunition is not included in the duties of a commissariat. In almost every army the duties of transport and supply are performed by the same corps of departmental troops. An officer of a commissariat is called a Commissary.




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commissariat

British Army?

In the British Army, the Commissariat was a uniformed civilian service until 1869, when its officers transferred to the new Control Department as commissioned Army officers. The supply organization of the British Army went through a number of incarnations, including the Commissariat and Transport Department, Staff and Corps, before becoming the Army Service Corps in 1888.
In the "Major General's Song" in The Pirates of Penzance by Gilbert and Sullivan, the Major-General boasts that when, among many other bits and pieces of seemingly elementary information, he "know(s) precisely what is meant by commissariat", he will be the best officer the army has ever seen (satirizing 19th century British officers' lack of concrete military knowledge).

[Lederhose]

Thanks very much Australia for the detailed definition of Commissariat, muchly appreciated (Where would we be without Wikipedia?...)

Do you know what these shoulder boards actually are? I presume they're Officer's of some rank?

Any idea on the 'Marksman Award'?

Kind regards,
Brett

[JamesT]

Hi

I believe that the crossed muskets were and still are awarded for particularly skilled shots in the British Army and were designated Marksmen. The Australian Army almost certainly had very similar awards. I'm sure that the criteria has changed regularly over the years.

Marksman badges usually don't have a crown so yours with the crown may indicate something more significant. Your badge is a very fine bullion example that would have been worn on parade tunics lower left sleeve I think.

Nice badge

James

[Lederhose]

Hi James,

Thanks very much for your informative response, very interesting. I really appreciate the insight

Does anyone else have any feedback on the shoulder boards?

Kind regards,
Brett