c1948-68 Wessex Brigade Silver Officer & Warrant Officer's Back Cap Badge

Scarce, Wessex Bde period back badge for Patrol Blues / No1 Dress uniform, worn by a Gloucestershire Regiment Offr whilst serving in the Bde. Silver plate on long blades. VGC.

Dia: 21mm.

The Wessex Brigade was an administrative formation of the British Army from 1948 to 1968. The Brigade administered the regular infantry regiments of the Wessex area of south and south west England.

After the Second World War the British Army had fourteen infantry depots, each bearing a letter. The depots were territorially organised, and Infantry Depot H at Bulford Camp in Wiltshire was the headquarters for the six county regiments that recruited in Berkshire, Devon, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight and Wiltshire.

In 1948, the depots adopted names and this depot became the Wessex Brigade, with all regiments being reduced to a single battalion at the same time. The Wessex Brigade was formally formed at Exeter on 28 October 1948 and combined the depots of the following regiments:

The Devonshire Regiment
The Gloucestershire Regiment
The Royal Hampshire Regiment
The Dorsetshire Regiment renamed as The Dorset Regiment in 1951
The Royal Berkshire Regiment (Princess Charlotte of Wales's)
The Wiltshire Regiment (Duke of Edinburgh's)

Code: 400