"Shoulder Titles Issued"

Sydney Fuller, 8th Suffolk at Codford wrote in his diary on 12th June 1915; "Shoulder titles issued - one pair per man."
These titles pressed from gilding metal (brass) were way down on the important list when it came to the new recruits of Kitcheners Army.
Brass was desperately needed for more important war commodities such as shell cases and cartridges before the striking of buttons and badges.
The 9th Battalion at Brighton were issued their titles early in 1915, whilst still in their blue uniforms, but there was however a slight problem. The blue serge jackets were of a pattern which had no epaulettes. In desperation to gain an identity, the men took to wearing them unofficially them on the points of their collars. They were however many other units doing exactly the same.
The 8th Battalion had been in khaki serge since they left Colchester in March, but shoulder titles were in desperately short numbers and it appears that they were worn first by NCOs only. It was not till June, when the high point of the 'shell scandal' had passed and large quantities of ammunition were arriving from the US, could brass be released from the war economy for the production of badges and shoulder titles. 
The government also authorised that a special set of single material badges be produced as a economy measure. "War Service" badges constructed all in brass, were to become the hallmark of a 'Kitchener Man.'

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