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Antique British Army Regimental Badge Handkerchief, c.1910–1914.
A fine linen cambric handkerchief printed in full colour with 40 British Army regimental badges - 36 arranged around the four hemstitched border bands, and four more set on the diagonal at each corner of the plain centre field. Every badge carries its regiment\'s name in small print beneath it, making this an unusually informative example. Measures 48 × 49 cm. Marked \"COPYRIGHT\" beneath the 1st Life Guards badge.
Dating:Three independent lines of evidence place this firmly in the years immediately before the First World War.
The 1st Life Guards badge carries the royal cypher of King George V, so the printing is after his accession in May 1910.
The Army Service Corps badge shows the interlaced \"ASC\" monogram within the Garter, with the crown set low - the pattern worn from 1901 until the Corps was granted its \"Royal\" prefix in November 1918, after which the badge changed to carry the royal cypher and a ROYAL ARMY SERVICE CORPS scroll.
There is no Royal Flying Corps (formed April 1912), no Machine Gun Corps and no Welsh Guards (both 1915) - units a wartime printing would almost certainly have included.
Together these indicate a date of approximately 1910–1914. This is a genuine pre-war piece rather than one of the far more common Great War souvenir textiles.
Regiments and corps represented include...
Household & Guards:1st Life Guards · Scots Guards
Cavalry:10th (Prince of Wales\'s Own Royal) Hussars · 19th (Alexandra, Princess of Wales\'s Own) Hussars · 8th (King\'s Royal Irish) Hussars · 12th (Prince of Wales\'s Royal) Lancers · 17th (Duke of Cambridge\'s Own) Lancers · 5th (Royal Irish) Lancers · 4th (Royal Irish) Dragoon Guards · The Inniskilling Dragoons
Artillery:The Royal Regiment of Artillery
Highland & Scottish:The Black Watch (Royal Highlanders) · Gordon Highlanders · Seaforth Highlanders (72nd & 78th Foot) · The Queen\'s Own Cameron Highlanders · Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders · The Highland Light Infantry · The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles)
Irish:Princess Victoria\'s (Royal Irish Fusiliers) · The Connaught Rangers · The Royal Dublin Fusiliers · The Royal Irish Regiment · The Prince of Wales\'s Leinster Regiment
Rifles & Light Infantry:The King\'s Royal Rifle Corps (60th Foot) · The Rifle Brigade (The Prince Consort\'s Own) · The Durham Light Infantry · The Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry
County regiments:The Queen\'s Own (Royal West Kent) · The Essex Regiment · The Northamptonshire Regiment · The Manchester Regiment · The York & Lancaster Regiment · The Prince of Wales\'s (North Staffordshire) Regiment · The Notts & Derby (Sherwood Foresters) · The Middlesex Regiment · The Welch Regiment
Corps:Army Service Corps
Condition:Very good original condition for its age. Clean and bright throughout, with the printed colours remaining strong and all 40 badges clearly legible. The original hemstitched drawn-thread borders are intact on all four sides.Shows honest age-related handling: long-set fold creases from storage, very light overall toning consistent with a century-old linen, one or two faint scattered spots in the plain centre field, and a few loose threads at the hemstitched edges. All are shown in the photographs. No holes, tears, repairs or losses.
Offered unwashed and unpressed, exactly as found, so the buyer can decide how to treat it.
Please message with any questions - happy to provide additional photographs of any individual badge.
