Pair of chief superintendent's or superintendent grade one's epaulettes c1970
Name/Title
A pair of chief superintendent's or superintendent grade one's epaulettes c1970
Entry/Object ID
2348
Description
A pair of blue woollen epaulettes, each with a chrome plated Queen's Crown with a red enamel insert, and a single Bath Star.
Use
For a chief superintendent or superintendent grade one, to wear on a shirt to denote rank, when not wearing a tunic.
Context
The use of shirt epaulettes for constables and sergeants only began from the late 1940s and early 1950s when police forces began to use open necked tunics, thus allowing them to wear proper collared shirts, and the possibility of not always having to wear a tunic.
More senior officers had been wearing open necked tunics much longer and would have needed epaulettes to denote their rank when not wearing a tunic. However in the past this would have been rare and confined to inside buildings. So called shirt sleeve order only became common once all ranks were wearing open necked tunics and, even then was confined to the summer months.
The rank insignia of a crown and Bath Star designates a chief superintendent or a superintendent grade one, (depending on the date) and the use of a Queen's crown on these dates them any time from 1952 onwards.
From 1953 until 1974 there were two grades of superintendent. Grade ones used the insignia of a crown and Bath Star and grade twos just a crown. At this time a chief superintendent used the insignia of a crown and two Bath Stars. After 1974 the rank of superintendent grade one was abolished and a crown was used to designate a superintendent, and a crown and single Bath Star to designate a chief superintendent.
We know that these particular epaulettes are from Sussex Constabulary or Sussex Police as they came from a collection of items owned by an ex Sussex Police superintendent and may have been used by him. They probably date to c1970. Metal insignia and numbers on epaulettes was common in Sussex Police until they were replaced by embroidered ones in the mid 1990s
