Insignia

Every man assigned to the regiment, regardless of his battalion, wore the regimental cap badge on his cap. The cap badge, as seen below, was stamped from brass and had a set of plumes on top (to signify the regiment's status of having been adopted by the Prince of Wales), the Staffordshire Knot in the center (as homage to the regiment's home county), and a scroll on the bottom emblazoned with North Stafford. Examples are also found in a bi-metal style. Later in the war, in an effort to conserve metal, plastic economy pattern badges were issued, with the plastic being colored to match the metal of the original cap badge. 

British Army cloth insignia changed dramatically from the outbreak of hostilities in 1939 to when victory was declared in 1945. The information below applies to our impressions as the 2nd and 6th Battalions, North Stafordshire regiment, and only to battle dress uniforms.

Cloth insignia was worn on both sleeves of the battle dress and consisted of a regimental title, divisional insignia, and arm of service strips. Initially, the insignia was embroidered; however, in April of 1942, ACI 852 dictated that only printed canvas insignia was to be procured for issue to troops. That being said, embroidered insignia was issued along side of printed canvas until the stocks were exhausted.

Every man assigned to the regiment wore shoulder titles with North Stafford embroidered or printed on them. Troops from the 2nd Battalion would have worn the white triangle of the 1st Division with two, red arm of service stripes underneath it. Troops from the 6th Battalion would have worn the black slag heap on a blue backing of the 59th Division with one arm of service stripe underneath.