NSN: 8465-99-975-7475 - Link type. Three ply. Blue. Length 84cm. Diameter/Width 1cm. Link 43cm. Loop Knot 41cm. Soldiers and Attached Personnel. Royal Signal. We have over a million object records online, and we are adding to this all the time. Our records are never finished. Sometimes we discover new information that changes what we know about an object, such as who made it or used it. Sometimes we change how an object is interpreted. We sometimes make mistakes in our spelling, transcription or categorisation, or miss information out of our records. It may surprise many readers that this particular piece if leg-pulling is repeated in various forms. The gold stripe in the Gunner stable belt stems from the colours of the uniform at the time the stable belt was introduced. It was not a question, as the jokers would have it, of yellow stripes for cowardice! The links I posted related to lanyards being used on friction fuses some sixty years before your post says that lanyards became a form of dress. There has long been a tale-usually told by Sappers-about the Gunners wearing a white lanyard for cowardice, allegedly for deserting their guns. Of course, the story is nothing more than a piece of leg pulling. The tradition of winding up stems from the age-old rivalry between the two sister corps founded under the Board of Ordnance and trained together in Woolwich. However, I am still being asked by ARRSE members whether this story is true, so it is time it was put to rest.

I got the artillery link and the colour denoting arm/corps/regiment (like the waffenfarbe set up with the German services)Equally ludicrous is the suggestion that the Gunners has seven flames, as opposed to the sappers nine, because we lost two guns at some point in history! Apart from that if you look at historical pictures of uniforms of the napolionic era there are lanyards all over the shop! Did you write the original or have you copied it word for word from either http://groups.msn.com/24thMissileRegtRA/lanyard.msnw http://www.atra.mod.uk/Atra/ITG/ATRP/structure/royal_artillery/ or http://www.23fdraaassociation.homestead.com/HistoryoftheLanyard.html? Another link, shows a 1913 dictionary definition of an artillery lanyard being twelve feet long with a handle at one end and a hook on the other. It used to be said, if I remember my days in the JTC, that gunners wore them as a spare should the one that fired the gun break. That seemed unlikely and in those days (40's and 50's) of battledress iI think they were merely ornaments. Many regiments and corps had coloured lanyards.

Now as an ex Cavalryman I found that as a lot of bull and looked for the answer but was down to the PK and the spike which was used to clean the horses hoofs and that was why the soldier tied it to a lanyard. In recent times perhaps but in a WW1 front line situation I suspect they were used to anchor all sorts of things. I've certainly seen WW1 illustrations of officers blowing whistles attached to lanyards On WW1 mobilisation all soldiers, infantry included, were issued with a lanyard for the clasp knife. I have a piccie of one of my great-uncles who was in an Infantry Labour Coy then the Labour Corps wearing one and want to know why.Silicone Sprinkle Bead,Silicone Confetti Bead,Round Silicone Bead,Bulk Silicone Bead,Silicone Bead Wholesale And some 1840 cavalry pistols with ....oh look, lanyard loops, at http://www.elalcazar.com/items/157116/item157116store.html

There is an interesting story regarding the humble lanyard and the 216 Parachute Signal Squadron. Following the Normandy landings by the 6th Airborne Divisional Signals on 6th June 1944, the commanding officer Lt. Col. 'Pygmy' Smallman-Tew encouraged each man to plait himself a lanyard from the camouflaged rigging lines from the parachutes still scattered over the DZ. The object of this was that every man would have a length of strong cord which might be useful should he be involved in any attempt to escape capture by the enemy. All the men followed his instruction and wore the lanyard. Some weeks after the landings the Lt.Col. was killed by a German mortar. The lanyard continued to be worn in respect of the extremely popular officer. Started in the 18th century as a means of identifying Corporals who wore linen ribbons on their shoulder much the same as a lanyard until chevrons were introduced to indicate rank. As much a decorative item as a useful one until friction igniters were used by the Gunners.Red Whistle with 36 Inch Lanyard - Loudest high Visibility -Unbreakable Aluminum - EDC Whistle - No Pea - Double Tubes for Hiking, Camping