A pair of superintendent's shirt epaulettes c1952 -1970
Name/Title
A pair of superintendent's shirt epaulettes c1952 - 1970
Entry/Object ID
895
Description
A pair of narrow blue cotton epaulettes, each with a chrome plated Queen's Crown with a red enamel insert, and a plain plastic button
Use
For a superintendent 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 designates a superintendent and the use of a Queen's crown on these dates them any time from 1952 onward and they probably date from the 1950s or 60s. They are thought to have been used somewhere in Sussex they were donated by an ex Sussex Police officer.
