Description
Physical description
A bi-metal headdress badge for the South Staffordshire Regiment, the badge is shaped around the emblem which comprises the Stafford Knot surmounted by an Imperial (King's) crown, below the Knot is a scoll inscribed "SOUTH STAFFORDSHIRE". The scroll is in gilding metal and the remainder in white metal, complete with a slider on reverse.
History note
Pattern of badge as worn 1901 to 1958, but with Queen's crown from 1953.
The predecessor Regiment was raised in Lichfield in 1705 as Colonel Luke Lillingston's Regiment of Foot and was known by a series of colonels' names until 1751. It served for a continuous period of fifty-seven years in the West Indies from 1707, including service as Marines 1707-1710. It finally returned to the UK in 1764, serving then in Ireland.
In 1747 it was ranked as 38th Foot and formally named as such from 1751. In 1782 it was re-designated as 38th (1st Staffordshire) Regiment of Foot, at which time it appears to have adopted the Staffordshire Knot above the number 38. The Knot was the badge of the Stafford family, subsequently incorporated into the Arms of the County and Borough of Stafford.
In the Cardwell/Childers Reforms of 1881 the Regiment merged with 80th (Staffordshire Volunteers) Regiment of Foot. This latter had been raised in 1793 as the 80th, and also had adopted the Staffordshire Knot above the regimental number. The merged Regiment was briefly called the North Staffordshires (Prince of Wales's) but very quickly this changed to the South Staffordshire Regiment. Its badge included a Sphinx on a tablet inscribed EGYPT, presumably derived from the old 80th Regiment, which served in Egypt in 1801.
With the adoption in 1898 of the field service cap and consequent need for a new style of badge, the Stafford Knot surmounted by a crown was adopted, with scroll below, which pattern survived until 1958. From 1935 a "Holland" (light brown) patch was worn as a badge backing, a distinction sanctioned by King George V to commemorate the 38th's service in the West Indies 1707 – 64, a period in which they were obliged to patch their uniforms in local "Holland" cloth for lack of the official scarlet wool.
The Stafford Knot badge remained unaltered other than the details of the crown until 1958 when the Regiment merged with the North Staffordshires to form the Staffordshire Regiment (Prince of Wales's Own). They became part of the Mercian Brigade and the Brigade badge was to be worn. In 1970 the Regiment regained an independent existence and a new badge, incorporating elements of both the South and North Staffords' badges, including the Staffordshire Knot, and were named the Staffordshire Regiment (The Prince of Wales's).
In 2007 the Mercian Regiment was formed, the Staffords becoming its 3rd Battalion and adopting its badge.