This would have been worn on the puggaree (the white cotton band worn round the body of the helmet in many folds) of the solar topee. The Indian Police had a tremendous tradition of service, not just in a civil capacity, but also as military police battalions on the frontier. This badge would have been worn by both civil and military units.

This would have been worn from the Edwardian era through to the 1930s, when, in all probability, as in the UK, metal shoulder titles were replaced with cloth ones. The Bombay Sappers & Miners were an elite unit, insomuch as all Indian S&M units were fighting troops first and foremost and road engineers/pioneers second.

This is the badge which was worn on the pouch belt by the officers of the British Indian police. The police was divided into two components in India: the paramilitary police battalions who served on the frontiers (viz Burma and NWF) and the local police, who kept order in the cities and towns of India.

This is a bazaar casting of the badge of what could possibly be from a bandsman's pouch or perhaps an officer's undress pouch belt. The 4th Hussars were a prestigious British light cavalry regiment and no doubt this badge was cast in the bazaar to replace a British original which had been lost.

This little badge (7.5cm across) may be of Indian parentage, inasmuch as its provenance is Indian and it appears to be a one-peice bazaar casting in brass. I think it would have been worn on the top pocket of a tunic, as it appears to be too large to have been worn as a shoulder title.

These were worn by Royal Engineer officers in combat dress, worn throughout WW2 and the Korean War. It is marked Gaunt London on the reverse and is a nice, crisp die-struck badge.

The four badges (clockwise from top left): the Royal Army Ordnance Corps, the Army Signallers sleeve badge, the Army Educational Corps (AEC) and the Royal Armoured Corps. All are typical of the type produced between 1920 and WW2. The AEC, raised in 1920, was the lineal successor to similar establishments dating back to the 18th century.

This die-struck gilding metal badge would have been worn on both the full dress caps of the regiment and also on the khaki gor-blimey caps of WW1. The regiment was converted to artillery after WW1, as were most of the yeomanry regiments, at which point they would have sported the ordinary gunners badge, I suspect.

This shows quite a nice head-and-shoulders portrait photo of Baden-Powell wearing the hat popularised later by the Boy Scout movement, which he founded. His original glory came from the defence of Mafeking. There were great celebrations throughout the Empire when Mafeking was relieved and this is an example of what this euphoria produced.

The 17th Lancers gained eternal fame in the Charge of the Light Brigade, along with other Light Cavalry regiments, but their use of the skull and crossbones as an emblem goes back to the 18th century. According to King & Kipling's Head-Dress Badges of the British Army vol. 2, this exact design was a sealed pattern of 30th July 1927.