badge, headdress, British, Machine Gun Corps

Gilding metal headdress badge to the Machine Gun Corps, being crossed machine guns surmounted by an Imperial (King's) crown.

First World War period British Army cap badge associated with the service of Second Lieutenant Edward Carl Kestell Colle MC. Citation for the MC is as follows: London Gazette 14th November 1916 (Page 11049). 'For conspicuous gallantry in action. He fought his Tank with great gallantry, reaching the third objective. Later, on several occasions he went to the assistance of the infantry and finally brought his Tank safely out of action'. Colle, the son of a notable Cardiff tailor, was born on 12 February 1893 and prior to the war worked as a chartering clerk at Messrs Lysbergs (Limited) based at Cardiff Docks. Early in the war Colle joined the Glamorgan Yeomanry in which he reached the rank of Sergeant Major. He was later commissioned into the Heavy Section of the Machine Gun Corps. He subsequently served in the Royal Tank Regiment during the Second World War, in India and the UK, reaching the rank of Temporary Major. A large collection of documents accompanying Lieutenant Colle's medals has been transferred to the IWM's Department of Documents. The Machine Gun Corps was formed in October 1915 in response to the realisation that conditions on the Western Front called for specially trained personnel to operate the weapons in massed fire units. The Corps had Infantry, Cavalry and Motor Branches, with a training centre and depot and Belton Park, Grantham and a base at Camiers in France. The Motor Branch was formed from the MMGS and the disbanded Royal Naval Armoured Car Service. In March 1916 a Heavy Section Machine Gun Corps was formed at Bisley, a cover name for the infant tank arm. Men from this Section crewed the tanks in their first action on the Somme in September 1916. In November that year the Heavy Section became the Heavy Branch and in July 1917 the Branch split from the Machine Gun Corps to become the Tank Corps, later The Tank Regiment. The Machine Gun Corps saw action in various theatres after the War in Europe but was disbanded in 1922.