The British General and Admiral Officer Rank Insignia, Uniforms and Personality Items Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery

Shoulder Strap Insignia

Brigadier

Three stars arranged in a triangle with the King’s crown at the top.

Major General

Crossed sword and baton with a single rank star, this particular example is embroidered for use on the battle dress tunic.

General

Crossed sword and baton, rank star and King’s crown.

Field Marshal

Crossed batons surrounded by wreath and topped by the King’s crown, embroidered for battle dress.

Collar Insignia (Gorget Patches)

Brigadier & Substantiative Colonel

Generals & Field Marshal (Field Marshal has a Field Marshal button)

General’s Battle Dress

Royal Navy Admiral’s Shoulderboard Insignia

Rear Admiral

Crossed sword and baton, single large rank pip and Queen’s crown over a gold brocade fabric with a dark blue underlay.

Vice Admiral

Crossed sword and baton, two rank pips and King’s crown over a gold brocade fabric with a dark blue underlay.

Field Marshal Cap Badges

Here is a nice assortment of original British Field Marshal cap badges, from the various eras. There are a lot of modern copies and fakes being sold on Ebay and various other sites. If you’re a collector, use these examples of exactly what to look for to identify original pieces.

(Courtesy James Ewen collection)

Field Marshal Shoulder Strap Insignia

These are original examples of embroidered Field Marshal badges for shoulder strap attachment.

(Courtesy James Ewen collection)

Uniforms and Personality Groupings

British Field Marshal Sir Bernard Law Montgomery

These uniforms and accoutrements of FM Montgomery reside in the Imperial War Museum of London, England

A full array of Montogomery’s various uniforms and decorations,

all donated by the Field Marshal himself.

Monty’s famous beret that he wore throughout the World War Two campaign

and most famously in Africa.

Monty’s battle dress tunic from World War Two.

Monty’s post war blue dress cap.

Montgomery’s Marshal’s baton. This is a replacement as his original baton was stolen from his home during a burglary in the 1950’s.

The following General officer uniforms reside in a private collection in the United States

British Army Brigadier’s Uniform

(private collection)

British Army Major General’s Battle Dress Uniform

(private collection)

British Army Major General’s Uniform

(private collection)

British Army General Tom Bridges Uniform

Bridges was the first British commander to engage the German’s in WWI at Belgium in 1914 and in 1917 served as the British liaison to the U.S. forces in Washington. After WWI Bridges became the Governor of the State of South Australia in 1922.

(private collection)

I am looking for contributions of original examples rank insignia for the completion of this page. Please visit the submit photography page if you have something you’d like to contribute.