This week’s photograph is a rather impressive unit photograph of a Royal Tank Regiment unit in 1953, which has some interesting uniform details to consider in it:

As was often the case in the immediate post war period, a variety of uniform styles and insignia could be seen in the same unit as uniform patterns were updated and older patterns of battledress continued to be worn alongside more modern patterns. Older patterns such as service dress for other ranks were retained for certain roles, such as the buglers here who wear the ‘1922’ style of service dress:

Note the elaborate aiguillettes worn by the buglers. Others in the photo are wearing the older style of battledress that wasn’t cut to be worn with an open collar, although here it has been opened to allow it to be worn over a shirt and tie. The medal ribbons indicate that this sergeant has been serving in the regiment since the Second World War, which probably explains his older pattern of blouse:

The officers are again wearing different styles of uniform, the soldier on the left appearing to be in officer’s service dress, while the officer on the right seems to be wearing some variation of battledress. Both have much paler shirts and ties than their men:

Most of the men, however, are wearing the 1949 pattern battledress with its open collar:

The formation badge on the sleeve is that of the 49th Division which had used a polar bear badge since early in World War II. This wide variety of uniform variants would be far less common in modern units where more effort to get strict uniformity is maintained, but was very common in the 1950s and makes these photographs fascinating for the uniform anorak to study.