RAC insignia group

[Garth Thompson]

Found this little grouping on Ebay and managed to talk the fellow into selling it to me outright. Lots of crying and snivelling . The soldiers name was RONALD ASHLEY BAKER. Any help in locating a website were I can do a little research from the US would be appreciated.
Garth

#1 21st Armoured Brigade sewn on tan, 4th ID 2nd pattern, 2 on slides and 17/21st Lancers embroidered tabs.

[Garth Thompson]

#2 Sgt Chevrons on an armband, printed RAC tabs, RAC insignia

[Garth Thompson]

#3 More of his chevrons plus a white lanyard which I forget the purpose of.

[SHEARING-CROSS]

jeeeeus .h .......... i missed that lot Garth ,
where did ya find that `cracking ` set ...... e,bay.planet mars ?????
very ,very nice thanks for showing ,Michael.

[Garth Thompson]

Michael, old son,

I contacted the owner and had him close it out literally hours after he listed the grouping. It was on Ebay,UK.

Cheers,
Garth

[Jack Dutton-Roberts]

That set of 21st Armoured Brigade are orgasmic! Very nice set of badges

[SHEARING-CROSS]

E.bay uk ???
you colonials never could stay on the right side of the ranch......

best wishes ,Michael.

[Ciaran Byrne]

Really like the 17th/21st Lancers shoulder titles. Very nice indeed. One thing though. Can anyone tell me why the 16th/5th Lancers shoulder titles were red with green lettering and the 17th/21st were navy and white ? Surely they should have been the same, both lancer armoured regiments.

Great find there mate. Well done. I have always found cloth lancer shoulder titles quite rare.

[DJT]

Nice group, I think the white lanyard indicates volunteer!?

[leigh kitchen]

Really like the 17th/21st Lancers shoulder titles. Very nice indeed. One thing though. Can anyone tell me why the 16th/5th Lancers shoulder titles were red with green lettering and the 17th/21st were navy and white ? Surely they should have been the same, both lancer armoured regiments.

Great find there mate. Well done. I have always found cloth lancer shoulder titles quite rare.

The regiments had different coloured plastron facings & tunics, same way that infantry had different coloured facings, sometimes units used these colours in their cloth titles either officially or unofficially. Are'nt the 17/21 white on black rather than blue?

[Jim Maclean]

White is the regimental lanyard colour for 17/21L, 16/5L, 15/19H, 13/18H, QDG, Scots DG, 4/7DG and a bunch of others. It appears to be the predominant lanyard colour for the RAC units.

Nice group, I think the white lanyard indicates volunteer!?

[Garth Thompson]

Really like the 17th/21st Lancers shoulder titles. Very nice indeed. One thing though. Can anyone tell me why the 16th/5th Lancers shoulder titles were red with green lettering and the 17th/21st were navy and white ? Surely they should have been the same, both lancer armoured regiments.

Great find there mate. Well done. I have always found cloth lancer shoulder titles quite rare.

The 17/21L titles are white on black. The scanner washed out the black a little. As Leigh states this is the traditional color for their plastron.

[Ciaran Byrne]

The regiments had different coloured plastron facings & tunics, same way that infantry had different coloured facings, sometimes units used these colours in their cloth titles either officially or unofficially. Are'nt the 17/21 white on black rather than blue?

Leigh,
I'm no expert and am not doubting your word but how does that rule apply to the 16th/5th Lancers ? Their colours were red with green lettering. Now if the red applies to the tunics worn by the 16th and the green relating the Irish connection of the 5th Lancers (distant link I know) then surely the colours for the 17th/21st should have been white lettering on navy - the navy colour reflecting the tunic colour?? May be wrong but its just an obeservation .

[leigh kitchen]

Leigh,
I'm no expert and am not doubting your word but how does that rule apply to the 16th/5th Lancers ? Their colours were red with green lettering. Now if the red applies to the tunics worn by the 16th and the green relating the Irish connection of the 5th Lancers (distant link I know) then surely the colours for the 17th/21st should have been white lettering on navy - the navy colour reflecting the tunic colour?? May be wrong but its just an obeservation .

I don't know why those particular colours were chosen, although I was under the impression that the 17/21st used white lettering because of the plastron colour, the point I'm making is just that there was no one colour scheme for Lancer's titles, same way that there was no one scheme for infantry. The line infantry were lumbered with white on red, but soon started using or readopting other colour schemes.
The original colours for all line cavalry, not just lancers was blue on yellow.
Having been introduced about the time Queen Victoria died, they were replaced by metal shoulder titles, though the Guards wore the cloth titles during WWI.
Only the Grenadiers wore them post WWI, until the rest of the Guards & the Household Cavalry regiments started wearing them again in the early 30's.
The khaki slip ons were introduced for battle dress during WWII, but some units continued with unofficial stitched on titles in colours of their choosing, often the colours of facings, unofficially & in defiance of instructions to cease.
In 1940 instructions were issued re using the horizontal arm of service strips & rank pip backings - in the case of the line cavalry the pip backings was yellow & the little colour strips yellow & red. The Guards did'nt wear these strips, they carried on with the embroidered titles.
In 1943 the embroidered titles were readopted for wear in the UK, RAC were red lettering on yellow.
I think all line cavalry wore these titles rather than regimental?
I had an idea that the 16/5 wore blue & red tunics, but may be wrong.

[Ciaran Byrne]

I had an idea that the 16/5 wore blue &red tunics, but may be wrong.

No, that is 100% correct, in fact they were the only lancer regiment to wear red tunics, hence the name "The Scarlet Lancers" but they did not wear any green as I said so not sure where the green lettering came from.
I think your comment about the fact that infantry units being lumbered with red with white lettering is along the lines of what I was thinking for lancer regiments having standard colours.