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Colonel Willoughby Digby Marsh shows the following dates of rank, campaign service, and army appointments related to his service in the British Army: [1]
Willoughby Digby Marsh was an academician and a technically competent
engineer officer. He spent much of his early career at the School of Military
Engineering at Chatham where he resided for many years with his wife, son,
and daughter at 13, Prospect Row, Brompton.
On the 1st of November 1873, Major Marsh was appointed a Professor of
Military Drawing at the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich. While serving
in this capacity he wrote a detailed account of the planning and construction
of the Institution of Royal Engineers building at Chatham. His work was
published in the Professional Papers of the Corps of Royal Engineers
for the year 1874. On the 20th of September 1877, Lieutenant Colonel Marsh
was appointed Secretary and Treasurer of the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich.
He continued to serve in this position until September of 1885 when, after
almost 12 years at Woolwich, he was appointed to the position of Commander
Royal Engineers, Northern District, with headquarters at York. Colonel Marsh
retired from the Army on the 16th of September 1889 after almost 40 years
of service.
UNIFORM AND PHOTOGRAPH DETAILS:[2]
In this CDV, c. 1870, Marsh is seen with his wife and daugher wearing
the 1857 pattern waistcoat, trousers, and frock coat, with an 1861 pattern
forage cap. The waistcoat is of scarlet cloth, single-breasted, hook-and-eye
design, with gilt studs down the front; plain gold braid all round on the
collar and seam. The pockets on the waistcoat (which cannot be seen in
the photograph) are edged top and bottom with gold braid with a crow's foot
at each end and a treble twist in the centre. The trousers are dark blue
with a scarlet stripe 1-3/4 inches wide down the outer seam. The frock
coat is of dark blue cloth, single-breasted, with a rolling collar and hook-and-eyes.
The coat has eight loops of 3/4-inch (mohair) braid down the front, and
two rows of nettled barrel buttons 1-1/8 inch long on each side. The forage
cap is of dark blue cloth with a gold netted button in the centre of the
crown, which is in eight parts and edged with scarlet piping. The cap has
a band of gold lace 1-3/4 inches wide of the Corps pattern and a horizontal
projecting peak. This style of peaked forage cap was introduced into the
Royal Engineers in 1861. Dress Regulations for this period specify that
"the frock coat to be worn always with scarlet waistcoat ... and forage
cap on regimental courts-martial, courts of inquiry, and committees, inspection
of barracks, etc., and as a common dress in quarters."
2. HUNTER, A.A. Cheltenham College Register, 1841-1910. London, 1911, p. 374.
4. Hart's Quarterly Army List, January 1876, p. 109.
5. Monthly Army List, March 1882, pp. 39, 64, and 191.
6. Monthly Army List, January 1884, pp. 39, 64, and 234.
7. Monthly Army List, September 1885, pp.
4, 59, and 233.
KEALY, P.H. The Uniforms of the Corps of Royal Engineers Up to 1914. The Institution of Royal Engineers, Chatham, Kent, 1934, pp. 507-509.