Part 46a - Conductor RAOC and his Badge of Appointment

Ordnance Insignia of the British Army

Conductor RAOC and his Badge of Appointment

The appointments of Conductor and Sub-Conductor have a long and very interesting historical background in the British Army. Perhaps the earliest recorded mention of Conductors is that in a Statute of Westminster of 1327 whereby Edward III enacted that wages of Conductors (Conveyors) of soldiers from the Shires to the place of Assembly would no longer be a charge upon the Shire. As long ago as the Siege of Boulogne in 1544 there were Conductors of Ordnance. There were also Conductors in the train of artillery assembled in 1618. At the capture of Newfoundland in 1762, Lieutenant-General Amherst’s force included a Conductor and a Clerk of Stores. These officials were from the Board of Ordnance depots at New York and Halifax respectively.

Thomas Simes, in his book “The Military Guide for Young Officers”, dated 1776, writes: “Conductors as assistants to the Commissary of the Stores, to receive or deliver out stores to the Army, to attend at the magazines by turns when in garrison and to look after the ammunition wagons in the field; they bring their accounts every night to the Commissary and are immediately under his command”.

By Royal Warrant of 11 January, 1879, a class of Warrant Officers was constituted, “to assist in the discharge of the subordinate duties of the Commissariat and Transport and of the Ordnance Store Departments of our Army, to be denominated ‘Conductors of Supplies’ and ‘Conductors of Stores’ respectively. Their position in our Army shall be inferior to that of all commissioned officers and superior to that of all non-commissioned officers. Conductors shall at the same time have full power to exercise command over any subordinates of the Departments of our Army, or non-commissioned officers or soldiers of our Army, who may be placed under their orders”. In March, May and June, 1879, thirty-five Conductors of Stores were appointed, sixteen from the Royal Artillery and two from the Royal Engineers, while the remaining seventeen were already serving with the Ordnance Store Branch of the Army Service Corps which became the Ordnance Store Corps in September 1881.

The title Conductor of Supplies was abolished in 1892 and that of Staff Sergeant Major 1st Class ASC substituted. Conductors, Warrant Officers, Bandmasters (except in the Royal Artillery), and Schoolmasters originally had no badge of rank, because they wore a ‘distinctive tunic’. Details of which were not recorded. (Clothing Regulations of 1881) However, as they ranked between Officers and Non-Commissioned Officers, it is likely that their uniform was similar to that of the lowest Commissioned Officer, but without any badges of rank. From 1879 to 1897 there is still no reference to any badges of rank for Conductors and Sub-Conductors, but on 20 February 1897, an official minute records the following, “Badges for Conductors, Army Ordnance Corps, for wear with khaki drill. Various proposals were put forward, i.e., crown, crown with laurel wreath, officers shoulder straps, VR, officers field cap badge - but nothing definite decided”. It would appear that by 1898 Sub -Conductors had been raised to senior warrant officer rank because in the clothing regulations for that year they are bracketed with Conductors and shown as having no rank badge. (Clothing Regulations of 1898)

On 11 July, 1900, however, it was decreed that Army Ordnance Corps Conductors and Sub-Conductors would in future wear distinguishing badges, Crown in Wreath, Gold on Scarlet for Conductors and Crown Gold Large, on Scarlet for Sub-Conductors. These it would seem were obviously full dress badges.

There seems to be no direct evidence as to when the practice started, but from circa 1898 to 1909, Conductors and Sub-Conductors wore gorget patches on khaki drill, the patches being dark blue edged with 1/8 inch scarlet material. For some years therefore it would appear that these warrant officers wore both rank badges and gorget patches on their khaki drill frocks. (The Staff Sergeant Major 1st Class RASC was identified by the wearing of a white sash)

In 1901 the Crown within a Laurel Wreath was officially introduced as the badge for the Conductor, Army Ordnance Corps and the Staff Sergeant Major 1st Class, Army Service Corps (Priced List of Clothing and Necessities, March 1901) Sub-Conductors had to wait till 1904 for their badge, A Large Crown, to be introduced or at least mentioned (Clothing Regulations, 1904)

Service Dress was introduced for wear by the British Army at home in 1902, and the price list for that year (Priced List for Clothing and Necessities 1902) records badges for use with it were of (drab) worsted. By 1907 however (Priced List for Clothing and Necessities 1907) both brass and worsted badges had again been taken into wear.

Following the introduction of the rank of Warrant Officer Class II, in February, 1915, An army order was issued specifying the badges to be worn by Warrant Officers Class I and II In this order, (Army Orders 70 & 174 of 1915) the Conductor wore the Crown in Laurel Wreath, while the Sub-Conductor wore the Royal Arms. The Large Crown being now used by the newly created Warrant Officer Class II

Crown in Laurel Wreath & Large Crown

It was not until October, 1918 however that the badges of rank question was finally settled (Army Order 309 of 1918)
For a Conductor RAOC and Staff Sergeant Major 1st Class ASC -The Royal Arms in Laurel Wreath,
and for Sub-Conductor RAOC and Staff Sergeant Major ASC - The Royal Arms.

Royal Arms in Laurel Wreath & Royal Arms
(All badges illustrated are examples as to pattern and design, and may be of a later issue)

Towards the end of 1947 (A.C.I. 991 of 1947) it was decided that, in battle-dress, the worsted badges of the Royal Arms in Laurel Wreath and the Royal Arms would be worn upon background of colour appropriate to the arm of service. The colour was to be the same as that used for the backing of Officers rank badges. (In the case of the RAOC, Red) It is not often, however that this was put into practice till the introduction of the ‘Queens Crown’ (Saint Edwards Crown) versions of the badges in 1953. Examples of ‘Kings Crown’ (Imperial Crown) Royal Arms on a Red background and with embroidered Red piping have been noted, but so far no examples of a ‘Kings Crown’ Royal Arms in Laurel Wreath with coloured backing/surround have been seen. This may be just an example of using up existing stocks.

1965 saw the supply functions of the RASC transferring to the RAOC under the Macleod reorganisation, with the remainder transport functions being re-titled the Royal Corps of Transport (RCT)

There was at this time five grades of Warrant Officer Class 1 within the RAOC, that of Conductor, Staff Sergeant Major 1st Class, Sub-Conductor, Staff Sergeant Major (SSM) & Regimental Sergeant Major (RSM). In 1967 this was rationalised to just three, that of Conductor RAOC, WO1 SSM & RSM.

The final change to the title was in April 1993 when the reminder of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps was absorbed into the newly formed Royal Logistic Corps (RLC) and the title became Conductor RLC

M Comerford - September 2003 - HTML Revision 1

Referances:
Official Publications as referanced within the article.
The Navy and Army Illustrated Magazine, May 28th 1897
The Badges of Warrant and Non-Commissioned Rank in the British Army, by Major N.P. Dawnay, Socirty for Army Historical Research, Special Publication No 6, 1949
RAOC Gazette, May 1958 - Article by Lt Col WHJ Gillow MBE (A much quoted article on the Conductor RAOC by the then Curator of the RAOC Museum)
RASC Journal, Nov 1960 - Article by Lt (QM) R.K. Cooley. (Whats so special about a SSM 1st Class)
Crown Imperial, March 1998 - Article by John McKenzie.(Bringing the story more up to date after 1965)
Soldier Magazine, March 2002, My Army - Article about WO1 (Cdr) Mike Hobbins MBE
Room for some more on top: The modern day Conductor RLC, 2002 - Ariticle by WO1 (Cdr) Mike Coyle (V)