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« on: Wednesday 17 September 08 23:32 BST (UK) »
He must have been a motorman for the NBR (North British Railway) in Kirkcaldy.
The North British Railway operated the Kirkcaldy & District Railway Co. out of Kirkcaldy around 1883-1895. It was formerly the Seafield Dock and Railway Co. and was later taken over by the London North Eastern Railway Co. in 1923. A. Dick and James Smith were porters for the NBR out of Kirkcaldy in 1908 and 1900 respectively.
Found this article on the btp.police.uk/History site which describes the NBR policeman's uniform. There is a photo on the site of an NBR policeman - the uniform he wears is similar in button and collar style but his hat is different than your guy and he doesn't have the leather cuffs. Hope this helps a bit.
Karen
a. NORTH BRITISH
Accompanying Butcher's articles in the BTP Journal in the 1970s is a photograph of a North British Railway Police officer. The image would appear to relate to the period around the turn of the century although the precise date and identity of the officer is unknown.
The officer is wearing a uniform which is virtually identical to 'home office' police of the time - a high-neck tunic with 6 buttons and two breast pockets. The button design is not discernible but an educated guess suggests it comprises the entwined script initials NBR.
The epaulettes are devoid of any insignia, probably because the force would not have been entitled to wear a Crown there. The lack of numerals there is because the officer's identity number appears on the high-collar. The 'collar dog' is of the key-hole design, once much favoured by police in Scotland's central belt.
Normally this was of white metal construction, with metal letters (the force initials) soldered into the pointed part, and the officer's numerals soldered in the circular portion. The NBR police appear to have taken ideas from many different forces in designing their collar insignia. The 'collar dog' is embroidered, and the force initials, NBR, are also embroidered, and seem to be of a different thread.
Interestingly the initials are not block capitals but fancy script, although they appear clearly one after the other and not entwined one on the other as done by Fife, Inverness-shire and many other Forces of the time. Perhaps the need for clarity and ease of identification was the reason. Aberdeen City Police had a similar device, although in metal, again probably due to the fact that three rather than two letters were being used. The numeral, 9, does however look as though it might be of metal rather than bullion thread.
The officer is wearing a tshako cap, a felt-covered cardboard-strengthened pill-box hat with a peak, of a style popular at the time due to its use by the British Army in Africa. The cap band is woven black with presumably a fancy pattern, of a similar style to that recently used by the Scottish SPCA.
This style of hat came into use around the turn of the century, at a time when Scottish forces were seeking a (cheap) replacement for the fancy helmets worn in the reign of Victoria. Her death meant that the ornate helmet badges, usually incorporating the Victorian Crown, had to be replaced and the expense and hassle of getting new badges with the Tudor (King's) Crown was reason for a selection of different hats and caps being taken into service around Scotland.
The joy of the tshako was that it called for only a small badge, and many forces simply put the collar insignia on it as a badge, and it looked the part superbly (and cheaply!!)
The NBR seemed to have copied the trend, and the script initials (again apparently embroidered) appear on the officer's cap. This cap device appears identical to that in the collar badge. A contemporary photograph in the author's possession, of a group of rail staff (along with an Inverness-shire Constabulary officer) at a North British Station, shows rail staff wearing exactly the same NBR hat badge as the policeman in the BTP Journal.
The station staff photograph - suggested as being Mallaig - comprises four NBR staff, two other gentlemen in civilian clothing, and the Inverness-shire Constable. Of the four obvious railwaymen, the two men seated in the front wear tshako-type caps but much smaller than the police style - which the County Policeman happens to be wearing, which is very convenient for purposes of comparison.
Both these men have the script NBR as hat badges, but none of the rail staff have high-neck tunics. Of the 'managers' (standing) one wears a flattened form of tshako with what appears to be the letters NBR (but in block capitals) in a laurel wreath and no other obvious insignia. The other has a form of tshako - but more akin to the Japanese army jungle cap - with lettering (possibly 'Foreman') thereon.
Of interest is that he wears a collar and tie, and a jacket with script NBR on the lapels. Obviously the script NBR was standard issue, but high-neck collars appear to have been solely for police. It would appear therefore that standard police uniform and standard rail insignia were merged when it came to the NBR police.
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