Page 4A More Clothing

RCMP INSIGNIA More RCMP Clothing

NOTE -- some pictures will load slowly.

This is a continuation of the clothing items from Page 4.

Since there are clothing items from several ranks pictured here, note the number of people holding each rank as of October 2013, per the RCMP web site---

Commissioner 1

Deputy Commissioner 6

Assistant Commissioner 27

Chief Superintendent 58

Superintendent 170

Inspector 380

Corps Sergeant Major 1

Sergeants Major 3

Staff Sergeants Major 15

Staff Sergeants 862

Sergeants 2,015

Corporals 3,586

Constables 11,566

Special Constables 68

BELOW - an old RCMP forage/duty hat with the King's Crown hat badge and yellow piping near the top.

The 2 side buttons both have King's Crowns.

BELOW - closeup of the above RCMP hat badge.

BELOW - old RCMP fur cap with King's Crown hat badge. Not sure exactly how old this is. The front flap has been sewn into the top area of the hat so that the front flap never falls down. The 2 lugs on the back of the hat badge were removed and a screw & bolt installed, and the hat badge screws on to the hat flap.

BELOW -- a closeup of the above RCMP hat badge.

ABOVE - newer hat with muskrat fur; the front is to the Left. The 2 fur ear flaps can be pulled down - at present they are fastened in the Up position with a velcro strap. The tag inside says RCMP GRC and it was made in Montreal in 1997.

BELOW -- RCMP forage hat with the current lower ranks hat badge. Note the yellow band -- this piece of cloth can be removed in warmer weather, showing the yellow mesh underneath it.

The yellow band on the ladies' hat below is narrower than on all the other hats.

ABOVE - the hat for Auxiliary personnel; has black mesh and no yellow band.

In bright sunlight, the hat is actually dark blue.

ABOVE -- RCMP hat for female constables. Inside it's dated 1988. This one has a staybrite badge affixed. I believe these became obsolete around 1990, when the female and male officers began to wear the same hats.

ABOVE hat used by Inspectors and Superintendents, made by Stokes Cap dated 1987.

ABOVE -- RCMP hat for Chief Superintendents and Assistant Commissioners.

ABOVE -- RCMP hat for a Deputy Commissioner or the Commissioner. There are 9 Deputy Commissioner positions in the RCMP, and of course, only one Commissioner. Only these ten people wear the hat with two rows of gold maple leaves on the peak (visor in the US). This photo was angled so you can see the peak better.

BELOW -- RCMP Stetson that came to me with the corporal's red serge shown way above. So this may be from 1981 or earlier. It's in great shape with no holes; as a plus, it even fits.

BELOW -- a pic of the manufacturer's name, Biltmore.

ABOVE - a hat press for the Stetson. I have the bio information on the Member who had this hat press.

ABOVE -- issued baseball cap. STILL NEED a similar cap used by ERT.

ABOVE -- the RCMP breeches that came with the top red serge pictured (from 1981). On the metal tags on the suspender straps is the word, Police. See pic just below.

ABOVE --
Here are 3 different sets of RCMP pants. Left to Right, are overalls, trousers and breeches.

LEFT - The pants with straps at the ends of the legs are known as overalls. They are often referred to as banana pants. This particular pair has a tag inside indicating these were made in 1954. There is also a handwritten 5-digit number, 15774, on the waistband, believed to be the Member's number. The yellow stripe is 1 3/4 inches thick (45 mm).

CENTER - The pants with straight legs and no straps are known as trousers. On this pair, the yellow stripe is 1 inch thick (25 mm). This narrower strip was used for a while - I think in the 70s - but they then went back to using the wider stripe.

RIGHT - The pants with the laces on the leg bottoms are known as breeches. These are the ones that "puff out" near the thighs. The yellow stripe is 1 3/4 inches thick (45 mm). Sometimes these come with suspenders. There are also breeches with the inside thighs reinforced, for the Members of the Musical Ride due to increased wear from riding horses.

ABOVE - cargo pants - I heard these were introduced several years ago but then discontinued quickly, and now they are currently in use again. Note the new, extra pocket.

ABOVE -- Neck lanyard. The part that's curled up at Left is the large loop that goes around the neck. The smaller loop at Right goes on the gun.

BELOW -- the RCMP yellow hatband that goes around the duty/forage caps in colder weather.

ABOVE and BELOW -- I heard this outfit was used by the bike patrol;

also heard they were worn by some at Depot/Academy.

ABOVE & BELOW -

Older patrol jacket. The front POLICE tab pulls out of the pocket. The rear POLICE tab pulls out via a velcro strip. This is from the 1980s and the newer jackets added some high visibility green color to these tabs. The gray area on the tabs is highly reflective.

ABOVE - front view of a vest carrier; photos of Members wearing these are common on the Internet

ABOVE - back view of a vest carrier

ABOVE -- a whistle with the leather strap. The strap would attach to a rivet on a Sam Browne cross strap, and the whistle itself would be slipped into a leather holder on the cross strap. The whistle says on it, THE Metropolitan (the word THE is all caps) and it also says, Made in England. This whistle is different from, and would attach to a cross strap differently, than the one pictured just below.

ABOVE & BELOW -- here is a cross strap with a leather holder for a whistle. As the pic on the bottom shows, the thin leather strap attaches to the whistle so it can be removed from the leather holder, used if needed, and then re-inserted easily.

ABOVE -- Royal North West Mounted Police waist plate. This was a canteen item - available for purchase, but was not an issued item.

ABOVE -- This is an RCMP authorized reproduction of the North West Mounted Police Officers' waist or belt plate (buckle in the US).

This item was used to fasten the sword belts of the new uniform.

The replica shown is made of zinc. The buffalo head is plated with rhodium while the remainder is plated with 24 karat gold. It was manufactured by Canadian Buttons Limited of Montreal to commemorate the 100th anniversary of The Force- as a limited edition of 1,000.

BELOW -- 2 RCMP Sam Browne belts with cross straps. The bottom one appears to be unused. The top one has the officer's name printed on the other side of the belt and the letters RCMP are hand printed on the back of the belt. Both of these have a handcuff case and an ammo pouch. The Bottom one also has the round flashlight holder attached to the belt. I believe the top one was issued starting in 1968 and the bottom one was issued starting in 1976.

ABOVE - pistol holster and gun magazine holder.

ABOVE - current style handcuff case

ABOVE - leather items for a commissioned officer or Warrant Officer (Staff Sergeant Major, Sergeant Major and Corps Sergeant Major). Top Left item is a sword frog. Top Right is a sword knot. Bottom item is the belt and the cross strap is above that. The belt has quite a few differences from the belt worn by the Other Ranks.

ABOVE -- Officer's belt -- STILL NEED one with a King's Crown.

ABOVE -- Officer's belt -- waist plate closeup; compare with the one below.

ABOVE -- newer Officer's belt waist plate - closeup. Note that this badge has 2 voids at the bottom --

openings or holes -- above the words Canadian Mounted. The older officers' waist plate badges

don't have these voids.

ABOVE -- newer Officer's belt; a closeup of the waist plate is pictured just above this pic.

ABOVE -- Officer's belt with attached sword slings (still need the sword).

ABOVE & BELOW -- closeups of parts of the sword slings.

ABOVE - gold sword knot which attaches to the sword handle. The whole thing measures 15 inches (38 cm) end to end, and the acorn part is 3 inches long (7.6 cm). The strap is 3/4 inches (1.9 cm) wide.

ABOVE - the leather sword knot. It measures approximately 19 1/4 inches (49 cm) end to end. The thick knot (acorn) on one end is 3 1/8 inches (8 cm) long. The strap is just over 16 inches (41 cm) long and is 5/8 inches (1.6 cm) thick.

ABOVE -- ceremonial belt for Non-Commissioned Officers with waist plate.

ABOVE -- closeup of the NCO waist plate. At top Left you see the reflection of a room light. These waist plates are as reflective as mirrors.

Some waist plates have a manufacturer's mark on the back. Two known marks include MLS and Firmin.

BELOW - a nice RCMP belt buckle, but not a uniform item.

ABOVE -- RCMP brass belt buckle with RCMP crest. Not a uniform item, but still nice looking.

BELOW -- I have seen old pics of this type and style of belt buckle. It was worn by members of the NWMP long ago.

ABOVE -- RCMP coat button with King's Crown.

ABOVE -- RCMP coat button.

ABOVE -- This is a baldric or sash, used by an RCMP band, by the drum major. It is worn over the drum major's left shoulder. This measures approximately 36 inches long (91 cm) and 6 3/4 inches wide (17 cm).

The ER with Roman numeral II in between the letters, means the reign of Queen Elizabeth II. That's a Queen's crown on top of these letters. Together, these make up the Queen's Royal Cypher.

Below that is the Canadian coat of arms. Below the GRC RCMP is the crest of the Force.

The letter in front of the word, Division, has been blocked from view; this same style of baldric is used in many different RCMP Divisions.

Below that are the various battle honors which the RCMP can use due to its participation in various conflicts.

Thx to the guy who sent me decent pics of this. Below are some closeup pics.

ABOVE -- some closeup shots of the baldric/sash pictured just above.

ABOVE -- RCMP leather high boots - They are approximately 18 inches (46 cm) tall.

STILL LOOKING FOR a pair that might fit me -10 1/2 D. Also need another set of laces.

ABOVE -- RCMP spurs - 2 sets. The top set is believed to be older and has the tabs and straps.

While I am uncertain of the dates that each of these sets were used, the top pair was with a red serge outfit that also had breeches and a stetson. The serge inside tag said it was made in 1981.

The top set uses the leather tabs and straps. The buckles are worn toward the outside, so you are viewing them with the right one and the left one in their proper positions. These are not the true long shank spurs; these are actually short shank. The long shank spurs were discontinued around 1969 after recruits stopped taking equestrian training. One reason for switching to the shorter shank spurs was to make it easier to drive a vehicle with them. A lot of Members still prefer the long shanks because they are traditional, are of better quality, and look sharp. On the Internet, you can see photos of Members wearing both types of pictured spurs, and some are wearing spurs like the top ones with even longer shanks-- the true long shank spurs.

TOP SET -- The spurs with the leather are for the high brown boots (spur tab covers the laces and buckle to outside, strap under the boot) - and, like on these, the leather is often labeled L on one and R on the other, for Left and Right, as they can be mistakenly put on backwards. The nipple of the spur (not sure what it is called) points downward.

BOTTOM SET -- these spurs are called 'box spurs' and go with the 'walking out' order of dress. The center stem actually goes into a box contained in the heel of the dress black ankle boots called 'congress boots'. The bottom set is newer style and this set does not require the straps and tabs.

Somewhere on both sets, it says that these were made in England.

ABOVE - from another pair of boots. Both boots have the fused letters MP at the top. Up until late 1960s or so, boots were issued with the fused MP logo punched through the leather, at least if the boots were made by the Hartt company. It was Hartt that inserted these on to the boots, not the RCMP at Depot. The Hartt Shoe and Boot Company closed in 1999.

ABOVE -

The TOP ROW shows both sides of a pair of gloves made in 2008. While you can’t read it, each glove has a white tag inside that says Raber Gloves, a size number, a stock number, RCMP GRC, and the year 2008.

The MIDDLE ROW shows a pair of gloves made in 1972. These gloves were stored for a long time and are now stiff with age, and very flat. There are many similarities in the patterns of both the old and the new pairs of gloves pictured here, although the pairs were made 36 years apart, by different manufacturers.

The BOTTOM pic shows what is stamped on the inside of each glove pictured in the Middle Row. While it’s difficult to read, the green stamp says Size 11, 1972, Genuine Horsehide, R.C.M.P., Auclair Gloves.

I think the gloves in the top row are made of cowhide instead of horsehide, though the tags don’t say this. I’m unsure when the RCMP switched from using horsehide to cowhide for their gloves. STILL NEED a pair of gloves that might fit me (size 8 1/2 to 9).

ABOVE - a comparison pic for you --

RCMP on the left, and Alaska State Troopers Honor Guard boots on the right.

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RCMP INSIGNIA Page 4 CLOTHING